Conversations

Small-scale/ Backyard Livestock and Poultry Survey

If you have backyard livestock or poultry or are a small-scale producer of livestock or poultry, this survey is for you. This questionnaire asks about the specific practices and perceptions that you apply to your animals’ health, husbandry, and antimicrobial use. It is being conducted for research and outreach purposes in order to find better ways to serve people and communities with backyard and small-scale livestock or poultry.

Conducted by the University of California Cooperative Extension and the School of Veterinary Medicine and funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, this survey will take about 20 minutes to complete. Provided information will be kept strictly confidential. We will not connect your name with your responses.

Originally created as part of the Healthy Animals,Healthy Peopleworkshop series in California, the

Small-scale/ Backyard Livestock and Poultry Survey

If you have backyard livestock or poultry or are a small-scale producer of livestock or poultry, this survey is for you. This questionnaire asks about the specific practices and perceptions that you apply to your animals’ health, husbandry, and antimicrobial use. It is being conducted for research and outreach purposes in order to find better ways to serve people and communities with backyard and small-scale livestock or poultry.

Conducted by the University of California Cooperative Extension and the School of Veterinary Medicine and funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, this survey will take about 20 minutes to complete. Provided information will be kept strictly confidential. We will not connect your name with your responses.

Originally created as part of the Healthy Animals,Healthy Peopleworkshop series in California, the survey is now open to all owners and small-scale producers of livestock and poultry in California regardless of workshop attendance. We would appreciate your time and participation in this survey, accessible here.

Thank you,

Alda Pires

apires@ucdavis.edu

With the California wildfire season already heating up, the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture is teaming up with CAFF & The Farmers Guild to host an online fire resilience course for farmers and ranchers in 2019.

Are you actively farming or ranching? We want to create a course that serves you and those threatened and impacted by fires, so we're seeking your feedback to help us best develop this program.

It takes less than 5 minutes! We take your feedback seriously - your responses will shape the content and design of this course.

Take the Needs Assessment Here

Thank you in advance for your support building fire resilience,

Katie and The MESA Team

Questions? Email katie@mesaprogram.org

For our records! ~ The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the results of the 2017 Census of Agriculture, spanning some 6.4 million new points of information about America's farms and ranches and those who operate them, including new data about on-farm decision making, down to the county level.

Information collected by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) directly from farmers and ranchers shows both farm numbers and land in farms have ongoing small percentage declines since the last Census in 2012. At the same time, there continue to be more of the largest and smallest operations and fewer middle-sized farms. The average age of all farmers and ranchers continues to rise.

“We are pleased to deliver Census of Agriculture results to America, and especially to the farmers and ranchers who participated,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “We can all use the Census

For our records! ~ The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the results of the 2017 Census of Agriculture, spanning some 6.4 million new points of information about America's farms and ranches and those who operate them, including new data about on-farm decision making, down to the county level.

Information collected by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) directly from farmers and ranchers shows both farm numbers and land in farms have ongoing small percentage declines since the last Census in 2012. At the same time, there continue to be more of the largest and smallest operations and fewer middle-sized farms. The average age of all farmers and ranchers continues to rise.

“We are pleased to deliver Census of Agriculture results to America, and especially to the farmers and ranchers who participated,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. “We can all use the Census to tell the tremendous story of U.S. agriculture and how it is changing. As a data-driven organization, we are eager to dig in to this wealth of information to advance our goals of supporting farmers and ranchers, facilitating rural prosperity, and strengthening stewardship of private lands efficiently, effectively, and with integrity.”

“The Census shows new data that can be compared to previous censuses for insights into agricultural trends and changes down to the county level,” said NASS Administrator Hubert Hamer. “While the current picture shows a consistent trend in the structure of U.S. agriculture, there are some ups and downs since the last Census as well as first-time data on topics such as military status and on-farm decisionmaking. To make it easier to delve into the data, we are pleased to make the results available in many online formats including a new data query interface, as well as traditional data tables.”

Census data provide valuable insights into demographics, economics, land and activities on U.S. farms and ranches.

Some key highlights include:

• There are 2.04 million farms and ranches (down 3.2% from 2012) with an average size of 441 acres (up 1.6%) on 900 million acres (down 1.6%).
• The 273,000 smallest (1-9 acres) farms make up 0.1% of all farmland while the 85,127 largest (2,000 or more acres) farms make up 58% of farmland.
• Just 105,453 farms produced 75% of all sales in 2017, down from 119,908 in 2012.
• Of the 2.04 million farms and ranches, the 76,865 making $1 million or more in 2017 represent just over two-thirds of the $389 billion in total value of production while the 1.56 million operations making under $50,000 represent just 2.9%.
• Farm expenses are $326 billion with feed, livestock purchased, hired labor, fertilizer and cash rents topping the list of farm expenses in 2017.
• Average farm income is $43,053. A total of 43.6% of farms had positive net cash farm income in 2017.
• Ninety-six percent of farms and ranches are family owned.
• Farms with Internet access rose from 69.6% in 2012 to 75.4% in 2017.
• A total of 133,176 farms and ranches use renewable energy producing systems, more than double the 57,299 in 2012.
• In 2017, 130,056 farms sold directly to consumers, with sales of $2.8 billion.
• Sales to retail outlets, institutions and food hubs by 28,958 operations are valued at $9 billion.

For the 2017 Census of Agriculture, NASS changed the demographic questions to better represent the roles of all persons involved in on-farm decision making. As a result, in 2017 the number of producers is up by nearly 7% to 3.4 million, because more farms reported multiple producers. Most of the newly identified producers are female. While the number of male producers fell 1.7% to 2.17 million from 2012 to 2017, the number of female producers increased by nearly 27% to 1.23 million.

Other demographic highlights include:

• The average age of all producers is 57.5, up 1.2 years from 2012.
• The number of producers who have served in the military is 370,619, or 11% of all. They are older than the average at 67.9.
• There are 321,261 young producers age 35 or less on 240,141 farms. Farms with young producers making decisions tend to be larger than average in both acres and sales.
• More than any other age group, young producers make decisions regarding livestock, though the difference is slight.
• One in four producers is a beginning farmer with 10 or fewer years of experience and an average age of 46.3 years. Farms with new or beginning producers making decisions tend to be smaller than average in both acres and value of production.
• Thirty-six percent of all producers are female and 56% of all farms have at least one female decision-maker. Farms with female producers making decisions tend to be smaller than average in both acres and value of production.
• Female producers are most heavily engaged in the day-to-day decisions along with record keeping and financial management.

Results are available in many online formats including video presentations, a new data query interface, maps, and traditional data tables. All information is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/AgCensus.

NASS sends questionnaires to nearly 3 million potential U.S. farms and ranches. Nearly 25 percent of those who responded did so online.

Hello there!

Not sure how many of you are familiar with drip irrigation and how efficient it is to be able to utilize so little water to achieve so much more yield.

N-Drip (http://www.n-drip.com) is designed to benefit farmers as a cost-effective alternative to both flood and high-pressure drip irrigation.

We are looking for farmers who are willing to trial our drip system on a 5-10 acre field. If you FLOOD irrigate your field and interested in participating in our program and save money, please contact me directly.

We are not commercial yet, just looking for partners for success.

Take a look at this video from Dell City: https://www.facebook.com/1672075250/posts/10210910789960391?sfns=mo

Feel free to call me and be a part of an amazing, simple and cost-effective system!
Roy

roy.bachrach@gmail.com
713-446-3251

I am a lifelong organic farmer who comes from a family tradition of land stewardship. I have been farming and teaching regenerative farming on the Island of Hawaii for the last forty years. Thirty years ago, I established Malamaki Farm School for the specific purpose of sponsoring/mentoring people who choose to save our planet by means of right livelihood; specifically regenerative farming and associated trades. The post you are reading is a plea for suggestions as to how we can connect with folks who have the appropriate motivation and experience to benefit from what we offer. You might think it preposterous but our biggest challenge is finding qualified beneficiaries for the program.

Apprentices pay no tuition and their room & board is provided. The program also connects apprentices with well-paying work so they have income during their apprenticeship.

Hawaii is rife with agrotourism, permaculture

I am a lifelong organic farmer who comes from a family tradition of land stewardship. I have been farming and teaching regenerative farming on the Island of Hawaii for the last forty years. Thirty years ago, I established Malamaki Farm School for the specific purpose of sponsoring/mentoring people who choose to save our planet by means of right livelihood; specifically regenerative farming and associated trades. The post you are reading is a plea for suggestions as to how we can connect with folks who have the appropriate motivation and experience to benefit from what we offer. You might think it preposterous but our biggest challenge is finding qualified beneficiaries for the program.

Apprentices pay no tuition and their room & board is provided. The program also connects apprentices with well-paying work so they have income during their apprenticeship.

Hawaii is rife with agrotourism, permaculture internships and every other sort of groovy "farm experience". What we lack is any viable means for serious young farmers to get started. Everyone wants to come to Hawaii to pursue their utopian organic fantasies; however, in the forty years that I have fostered apprentices, I have had few opportunities to teach anyone who could endure the daily rigors of the profession for more than a few months. A lifetime commitment is something beyond the imagination of most folks. We are not teaching people and sending them on their way. When someone completes our apprenticeship program, they are given a stake in the farming enterprise.

Perhaps you know of networks/websites/organizations where we can connect with people who have spent enough years engaged in daily farm toil to know that they cannot imagine doing anything else with their lives. In my experience, these are the only people worth teaching.

Please do not share details of this opportunity directly with anyone you think might be interested. Over the years, we have been inundated with people who heard about it and came thinking they were going to "get" something. There is no limit to the deceit in which humans will engage when they believe they can acquire wealth without working. When such people infect the school, everyone suffers. We have an extremely rigorous application process which all applicants must pass. Please do not share any details except our email address. We will take it from there.

We are not limited to sponsoring folks whose focus is regenerative farming. We welcome anyone who is committed to doing whatever is necessary to save our only planet. That could entail anything from regenerative energy to sustainable building, farm mechanics, whatever.

We also welcome skilled people in any relevant trade who would like to teach. Be aware, 90% of our instruction is experiential, in the field. You will not be giving lectures in an air-conditioned classroom. You will be teaching/leading by example. Also, we are non-hierarchical. Everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. You would have no authority beyond what you establish by demonstration of your competence.

Eddie Clark

Malamaki Farm School / Stewardship Services

Cell: 808-938-4844

eddie@stewardshipincorporated.org

P.O. Box 1929

Kea'au, HI 96749

I wanted to ask folks a couple questions about Rust in garlic. I treated early with Horticultural oil and sulfur. I even cut the heavy stuff out. But now two weeks later the whole patch is rusted! Question #1 Is there a PCA that specializes in organic solutions in the Solano/Yolo area. And question #2, at this late stage in the garlic life will it effect the final product. The plants are just now setting out flowers of which i will be cutting back. Thanks in advance.

ben

Cal Ag Roots is looking for people from rural California who want to partner with them in 2019 to produce a podcast that tells a story about their community--and an important moment in the history of farming in California.

Selected story co-producers will be paid a $2000 stipend for working with the Cal Ag Roots Team from June-December, 2019, to produce a twenty-minute podcast that will be released in the fall of 2019. Story co-producers will identify a potential story and work with Cal Ag Roots to conduct interviews, write podcast scripts, record narration and edit audio for the piece. No podcast or audio production experience necessary! Time spent on the story will vary, but we anticipate each podcast will require a time commitment of approximately 4-6 hours/week, over roughly 6 months.

To apply to be a story co-producer, please send an email to Project Director Ildi Carlisle-Cummins at

Cal Ag Roots is looking for people from rural California who want to partner with them in 2019 to produce a podcast that tells a story about their community--and an important moment in the history of farming in California.

Selected story co-producers will be paid a $2000 stipend for working with the Cal Ag Roots Team from June-December, 2019, to produce a twenty-minute podcast that will be released in the fall of 2019. Story co-producers will identify a potential story and work with Cal Ag Roots to conduct interviews, write podcast scripts, record narration and edit audio for the piece. No podcast or audio production experience necessary! Time spent on the story will vary, but we anticipate each podcast will require a time commitment of approximately 4-6 hours/week, over roughly 6 months.

To apply to be a story co-producer, please send an email to Project Director Ildi Carlisle-Cummins at icarlisle-cummins@cirsinc.org that includes: 1) a brief introduction of yourself, 2) your interest in this project, 3) a story idea (or ideas) about a key moment in California farming history that is related to your community.

Please feel free circulate widely and have interested folks reach out to Ildi by email or phone (831-345-2109), with any questions.

We are pleased to announce that a new series of 26 instructional videos on vegetable production is being launched through the University of California’s Agricultural and Natural Resources You Tube channel beginning this coming Monday, May 13^th. We encourage you to sign up at the You Tube channel to begin receiving weekly reminders of new video “premieres” that will be released every Monday morning at 8 o’clock.

Professors from four California universities, UC Davis, Fresno State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Chico State, at which vegetable production courses are offered, teamed up to prepare and produce the videos. The series covers a full range of related topics and while primarily focusing on California, also includes topics from beyond the State as well.

We encourage your help in getting the word out about this series.
If I can be of further help, please call me at (559) 303-9689.

Farm

We are pleased to announce that a new series of 26 instructional videos on vegetable production is being launched through the University of California’s Agricultural and Natural Resources You Tube channel beginning this coming Monday, May 13^th. We encourage you to sign up at the You Tube channel to begin receiving weekly reminders of new video “premieres” that will be released every Monday morning at 8 o’clock.

Professors from four California universities, UC Davis, Fresno State, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and Chico State, at which vegetable production courses are offered, teamed up to prepare and produce the videos. The series covers a full range of related topics and while primarily focusing on California, also includes topics from beyond the State as well.

We encourage your help in getting the word out about this series.
If I can be of further help, please call me at (559) 303-9689.

Farm Progress article coverage: https://www.farmprogress.com/extension/uc-video-series-teach-about-vegetable-production?NL=WFP-01&Issue=WFP-01_20190510_WFP-01_37&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2&utm_rid=CPG020000030

Press release copy is below:

New video series to spark interest in vegetable production of the future

A 26-episode weekly video series will debut May 13 on YouTube to help train the next generation of vegetable crop workers and increase their use of effective stewardship practices in vegetable production.

Projections for near-future retirements of people working in California’s agricultural production, marketing and post-harvest handling sectors indicate severe re-staffing needs in the coming years. Technological advances have reduced manual labor in agriculture, but increased the need for skilled labor to maintain the sustainability of the vegetable industry.

“We already see it happening,” said Jeff Mitchell , UC Cooperative Extension vegetable crops specialist. “Robotic machines are now used for lettuce-thinning in Salinas, but these technologies must be serviced by an educated workforce with knowledge in both mechanics and science.”

Mitchell assembled a team of professors from California’s public universities with agricultural programs – UC Davis, Chico State, Fresno State and CalPoly San Luis Obispo - to pull together a series of videos designed to spark the interest and begin training future farmers and ag workers in sound agronomic, economic and environmental stewardship skills. The team received financial support from the California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crops Block Grant Program.

“We know that maintaining California’s leading role in producing abundant, safe vegetables is critical not only to Americans’ health, but also to the state’s economy,” Mitchell said.

The video series is offered on the UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) YouTube page on a playlist titled “Expanding the Capacity and Training of a New Generation of California Vegetable Producers.” UC ANR is the outreach arm of the University of California which, among other services, provides agricultural research, teaching and advising in all California counties.

Each Monday morning from May 13 through Nov. 4, a new video will premiere in the playlist. The video length ranges from 47 minutes to 7 minutes. The videos will also be made available to high school and college ag professors to use in the classroom.

“We believe that this series of videos on vegetable production will have broad interest beyond the classrooms,” Mitchell said. “The agricultural industry, students in other parts of the United States and the world, and the broader public all have an interest in understanding how the vegetables we eat are produced at the ever-increasing scale at which they are needed.”

The videos depict state-of-the-art technologies and techniques that are in use in many production regions of California today, vegetable farming systems used in other parts of the world, and increasingly popular cottage farming systems that are popping up in urban areas for easy access to healthful foods.

To receive a notification of each video premiere, follow the UC ANR Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/UCANR .

Have you tried vermicomposting? What was your experience like?

Vermicompost is the heterogeneous product of the decomposition of food, vegetable, and plant material along with vermicast (an earthworm’s by-product of the breakdown of organic matter). Vermicompost is an excellent organic fertilizer or used as simply a soil conditioner, as it is rich in readily-available, water-soluble nutrients. Vermicomposting also has various commercial uses besides fertilizer, such as its ability to function as sewage treatment. With all of these benefits, one might perceive vermicomposting as a daunting process, yet with a bit of research and knowledge, the system can be simple to maintain once established. There is an entire internet community with amazing how-to guides. Here is one example: http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/vermicompost107.shtml