agriculture

Want CSA Success? Get To Know Your Neighbors

Brady Carlson — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:56:45 +0000

This week some NHPR staffers got their first weekly share of veggies from a nearby CSA – which stands for community supported agriculture.

The idea is that consumers buy a share of the year’s crops in advance – that gives them a weekly supply of produce, while farmers get a more stable income stream than what they might have selling just through farmers markets or farmstands.

Fretting Over The Farm Bill

Laura Knoy — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Congress is in the midst of renewing this giant legislation, after missing its first deadline to do so. And New Hampshire farmers are keeping an eye on this process, they want assurances a final measure won’t just favor big agribusiness, but also, the smaller farms prevalent in our region. We’ll find out the bill might include and what’s at stake for the Granite State.

Guests

Commissioner Lorraine Merrill- NH Commissioner of Agriculture, Markets, and Food; dairy farmer in Stratham
Ray Conner- Beg

Healthy As A Horse, But Is It Safe To Eat?

Virginia Prescott — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 18:49:47 +0000

Americans largely oppose the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Despite the cultural taboo, the United States is a key exporter of live horses to slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada. Each year, more than 100,000 American horses are killed in North America for consumption abroad. Many American horses are given drugs that are carcinogenic to humans, putting consumers’ health at risk.

Traditional Pork Production Finds Home In N.H.

Todd Bookman — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:17:09 +0000

On Edward Epsen’s farm in Salisbury, New Hampshire, around 40 pigs are doing what lucky pigs get to do: forage for acorns and graze in pastures high with Timothy grass.
“So we are going to be killing this pig here, and the other one that was walking around on this side of the electric net," says Epsen. “It slipped out of sight for the moment…oh, there he is.”
The two that will die in a few minutes are American Mulefoots, a rare breed known for its lard.
When Epsen approaches, the 250-pound pigs roll onto their backs.

New England Apple Orchards Face Apple Shortage

Associated Press — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:40:11 +0000

Phil Rymsha is turning away apple-picking and cider-drinking hopefuls at his orchard in Harvard, Mass., because there simply aren't enough apples on his trees.

N.H. Apple Crop Arrives Early

Michael Samuels — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:56:23 +0000

New Hampshire apples are already ripe, about two weeks ahead of schedule. They're available at farm stands and farmers' markets, but that doesn't mean you can head to the orchards to pick them yourself – just yet.

Commissioner Lorraine Merrill on All Things Agricultural

Laura Knoy — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:17:04 +0000

Lorraine Merrill, Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food discusses the new Farm bill in Congress, as well as trends here in New Hampshire -- from the struggles of dairy farms to new efforts promoting exports of Granite State food.

The 2012 Farm Bill

Sun, 13 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

EarthTalk®
E - The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: How do green groups feel about the new 2012 Farm Bill draft recently released by the Senate? -- Roger Wheeler, Miami, FL

At The Community Garden, It's Community That's The Hard Part

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:44:00 +0000
You may think that the great historic debate between communism and private property is over.
Well, it's not. Not at your local community garden.
Take, for example, the experience of Campos Community Garden in Manhattan's East Village.
Eight years ago, the garden was decrepit and abandoned. Beverly McClain walked by it all the time, on the way to her daughter's school.

Wanted: Young Farmers

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:00:00 +0000

EarthTalk®
E - The Environmental Magazine

Record-High Food Prices Boost Farmers' Bottom Lines

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:01:00 +0000

Part of a series
Thanks to high commodity prices and surging productivity, U.S. farmers earned a net income of nearly $98 billion last year — a record, according to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.
Those strong earnings are helping boost the demand for farmland.

Meet Claudia, The High-Tech Cow

Adam Davidson — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:01:00 +0000
Here's the secret of the modern dairy farm: The essential high-tech advances aren't in machinery. They're inside the cow.
Take a cow like Claudia. She lives at Fulper Farms, a dairy farm in upstate New Jersey. Claudia is to a cow from the 1930s as a modern Ferrari is to a Model T.
In the 1930s, dairy farmers could get 30 pounds of milk per day from a cow. Claudia produces 75 pounds a day.
To appreciate a cow like Claudia, you have to know where to look.
"You see her udder? How well attached, how high it is?" says Robert Fulper, who runs the farm.

Farmers Face Tough Choice On Ways To Fight New Strains Of Weeds

Dan Charles — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 05:01:00 +0000
OK, so this story is about weeds and weedkillers, neither of which is ever the hero of a story, but stay with me for a second: It's also about plants with superpowers.
Unless you grow cotton, corn or soybeans for a living, it's hard to appreciate just how amazing and wonderful it seemed, 15 years ago, when Roundup-tolerant crops hit the market.

How Using Antibiotics In Animal Feed Creates Superbugs

Richard Knox — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:05:02 +0000
Researchers have nailed down something scientists, government officials and agribusiness proponents have argued about for years: whether antibiotics in livestock feed give rise to antibiotic-resistant germs that can threaten humans.
A study in the journal mBio, published by the American Society for Microbiology, shows how an antibiotic-susceptible Staph germ passed from humans into pigs, where it became resistant to the antibiotics

Why California Almonds Need North Dakota Flowers (And A Few Billion Bees)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:51:00 +0000
This is one of those stories that reminds us that everything really is connected to everything else.
Here's the web of connections: a threat to California's booming almond business; hard times for honeybees in North Dakota; and high corn prices.
Confused?
OK, let's start with the almonds.