Grants available to help schools grow food

New York Ag in the Classroom (NYAITC) has a new grant program called Grow with Us, and we are providing a variety of indoor grow systems and high tunnels to schools encouraging them to grow food all school year long. 

You will see on our website, we are offering a variety of grow systems including Tower Gardens, 2445 Grow Racks, Grow Cubes, and High Tunnels.

Applications close on December 8^th

https://www.agclassroom.org/ny/grants/grow_us.cfm

Ag Literacy follow up

Recently, the team at GardenShare has been helping with the Ag Literacy Week at schools across the County.

It made our day today to get an envelope full of thank you letters from a second grade classroom in Ogdensburg where AmeriCorps volunteer Brianna and student intern Jamie made a presentation.

Here's a sample...

Ag Literacy - Grapes!

Last week was Ag Literacy Week in New York State.  GardenShare staff and volunteers partnered with Cornell Cooperative Extension to get into elementary school classrooms to read and do activities with the students.

This year's activities were sponsored by Welch's and focused on grapes.  Welch's produces grape juice in western New York and donated copies of the book, "The Grapes Grow Sweet" to every school.

In Canton, I helped in a fourth grade classroom, where thanks to one of our great volunteers, we had a whole lesson plan around grapes including interesting facts and even vocabulary words.  Did you know that New York is the third largest producer of grapes in the US?  California is first and Washington second.

We had the students sample three kinds of grapes - purple, red, and green and then vote for their favorite.  In this classroom it was a tie between red and green.  They also got to try raisins and frozen grapes.

I found these fourth-graders attentive and engaged and was impressed with their geography knowledge as we discussed where grapes are grown.

Americorps volunteer Brianna Blackburn and student intern Jamie Oriol went to Clfiton Fine schools into Jessica Schreppel's first grade classroom of 8 enthusiastic students and Tammy Perault's second grade class of 13 students.

"The students of both Mrs. Perault's and Schreppel's classes loved the story of Julian and his first grape harvest," Brianna reported.  "The highlight of my experience were the students reaction to how many billions of pounds of grapes our country consumes, and of course, the grape juice tasting and the students trying to creatively describe the difference between juices. The Concord grape juice was by far the favorite of the two!" 

Shiitake mushroom workshop coming up

The Cornell Small Farms Program is offering a one-day workshop on Sunday, January 29 titled, "Log-Grown Shiitake: Viability for Small Farms" at the Paul Smith's College VIC in Paul Smiths, NY, co-sponsored by Franklin County Cooperative Extension.

The cultivation of shiitake offers farmers and woodlot owners a good opportunity to utilize their forested lands while turning a profit.

Anyone who a resident of New York State and growing commercially, starting up, or considering commercial production is welcome to attend. The workshop content will cover post-production aspects including safety, sanitation, marketing, and regulations.

NOTE: Participants should be versed in the basics of how to produce log-grown shiitake mushrooms prior to attending the workshop. Take a class, or view our free online resources.

On the day following the workshop, current and prospective farmers can schedule FREE one-on-one consultations with extension educators to review their farm goals, resources, and discuss challenges and opportunities for their own production.

 To see the Schedule and Register: visit www.cornellmushrooms.org/viability

Cost: $30/person

Funding for this project is provided by the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant  and administered through the New York Farm Viability Institute.

Upcoming webinars on IPM in Greenhouse/High Tunnel

Save the Dates!

We will be holding a series of short webinars on Greenhouse/High Tunnel Vegetable IPM on Thursdays from 12-1 in February and March.  The intent is for each topic to be briefly covered and then followed by discussion:

Feb 2                  Introduction to the project
Feb 9 & Feb 16    Basics of light, water fertility, media as they relate to pest management
Feb 23                Vegetable crop production in gh/ht
Mar 2                  Disease management in gh/ht
Mar 9                  Insect management in gh/ht
Mar 16                Weed management in gh/ht (lamb)  especially in winter production
Mar 23                How to write/use an IPM plan

Zoom information for each webinar will be coming soon.   All webinars will be recorded in case you can’t attend in person.

During the week of April 24 there will be a training session in Geneva to follow up on these webinars. More information to follow on that, too.

Contact Cornell Cooperative Extension for more information.

Workshop on cover crops coming up

Working Cover Crops into Vegetable Production

A discussion-based program for commercial vegetable growers

Tuesday, Nov 29          6:30-8:00 pm

At the CCE Learning Farm

2043B State Highway 68, Canton NY   

Wednesday, Dec 14    6:30-8:00 pm

At the AARCH Building

1745 Main St., Keeseville, NY

Cover crops are a key component to building soil health but many vegetable growers find it difficult to fit them into their crop rotations. This involves long range planning to allow enough space and strategic timing for one crop to follow another.

Growers are invited to join a discussion on timings and choices with Kitty O’Neil, Regional Agronomy Specialist with the Northern NY Ag Program and Amy Ivy, Regional Vegetable Specialist with the Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program.  Michael Davis, Manager of the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm will join the discussion in Keeseville. Growers are encouraged to bring questions and share their experiences at these discussions.

The program is free and open to the public. For more information contact Amy Ivy atadi2@cornell.edu or (518)570-5991. Registration is not required but appreciated in case of last minute changes due to weather or other issues.

Sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension with support from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program. Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Senate and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Ag Studies Academy Launched at Extension Learning Farm

State Senator Patty Ritchie announced that the new state budget includes $200,000 in “seed money” to help launch the brand new North Country Agricultural Studies Academy, to help introduce and train a new generation of young farmers. “Agriculture is the most important industry in the North Country and throughout New York State, and today’s farmers—and those of the future—need innovative business and technology skills, in addition to good old fashioned farming know-how, to ensure their success,” said Senator Ritchie. Senator Ritchie toured facilities that will be home to the Ag Academy, including buildings once used by SUNY Canton’s agriculture programs, with representatives from Cooperative Extension and BOCES, as well as farmers and future farmer-members of FFA. Click Here to Read More

Vets Growing Berries workshop

Vets Growing BerriesSaturday, April 23^rd, 9am-2pm
Apple Hills, 131 Brooks Rd, Binghamton, NY

Calling All Veterans: 
Do you have an interest in growing strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or other small fruits? Maybe you’d like to start a U-pick, or sell at your local Farmers Market?

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County (Binghamton, NY) will be hosting a workshop with Cornell University faculty to teach about growing and marketing berries, and then will host an on-farm hands-on component at a local farm to see some techniques in action.

Register online here: https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/vetsgrowingberries_203. $15 per person includes all materials and lunch.

Priority for spots will be given to veterans in the New York State, but others are welcome to attend as space permits.

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2015-70017-22882.

Agricultural Literacy Week starts tomorrow

In celebration of New York agriculture, volunteers throughout the state will read a book with an agricultural theme to second graders. Students and teachers will also benefit from hands-on lessons and receive follow up activities. The book will be donated to the school or classroom library with a bookplate recognizing the donor and NY Agricultural Literacy Week. 2,000 books were donated last year while thousands of second graders participated in fun and educational activities.

The selected book for 2016 is The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by G. Brian Karas. This fun and exciting story shares the journey of Mr. Tiffin’s class on a field trip to an apple orchard. The students learn about every aspect of the farm from how apples are harvested, the process of making cider, and the many different varieties of apples. While the class picks their apples and experiences the farm, Mr. Tiffin gives them all a riddle to ponder. This book was selected as the 2015 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Education’s Book of the Year.

This year’s focus on apple production is exciting because of the importance of the apple industry in New York State, as we are ranked second nationally in production. Apples provide over 17,000 direct and indirect jobs, and there are over 680 apple producers on 55,000 acres across the state. Through the Agricultural Literacy Week program teachers, students, and parents can learn more about this nutritionally and economically healthy and essential industry. All lessons, activities, and companion materials are aligned to the Common Core Learning Standards.

More information at http://www.agclassroom.org/ny/programs/literacy.htm

Today is "National Teach Ag Day"

 Each day, thousands of agriculture teachers in the United States inform students about the current issues in agriculture. With a growing population and the need for more sustainable practices, agricultural education provides the platform to educate our students and the public about the importance of agriculture in our daily lives. National Teach Ag Day on September 24th aims to celebrate the contributions agriculture teachers are currently making in the communities they serve and encourage students to consider careers as agriculture teachers, a field that is currently experiencing a national shortage.

“Agriculture teachers do amazing things. From incorporating science, technology, engineering, and math in practical settings for their students, to developing leadership skills and teaching responsibility; agriculture teachers deserve to be celebrated for all that they do,” said Ellen Thompson, National Teach Ag Campaign Coordinator, “National Teach Ag Day is one way we can celebrate their accomplishments and encourage students to pursue a career in agricultural education.”

The highlight of National Teach Ag Day will be a live webcast from the American Farm Bureau Federation and American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s Washington, D.C. office, on September 24th from 1:45-4:00 pm eastern. The event will include special appearances by leaders in agricultural education, panels of current and future agriculture teachers, and tips for pursuing a career in agricultural education. Future agriculture teachers from across the country will be in attendance for the live webcast as well. Teachers and students celebrating across the nation will also have the opportunity to chime in through social media and video conferencing during the live webcast.

To log on to the live webcast, or for resources to help you plan your local Teach Ag Day celebration, visit naae.org/teachag.

$1,500 CHS Classroom Grant Program

One teacher in the Northeast will be award a $1,500 grant to enhance agriculture in their classroom. The grant will be awarded to a K-12th grade teacher whose innovative classroom projects use agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, math, nutrition, science, and/or social studies.  Applications open on July 15th and the grant deadline to apply is September 15th.

Apply Here

AGree: Food and Agriculture Education in the United States

Food and agriculture education in the U.S. has changed dramatically over our nation’s history. Topics to study and careers to pursue go beyond production agriculture and include food and nutrition, natural resources, and information technology. The education system must be strengthened to address the challenges and opportunities facing our global food system and support the young people who will define it. A new AGree paper examines the evolution of U.S. food and ag education, its current structure, and how it must adapt to meet emerging challenges. Read the full paper here.