Fruit, vegetable farmers work to keep what they’ve sown [McClatchy Newspapers 5/17/2012] – Commenting on the recent rise in support for specialty crops in the Farm Bill, Thomas Bjorkman (right) says of his Eastern broccoli project, “The project would absolutely not have happened [without the federal help] The audacious expectations of the [research] program also inspired us to think this big.”
Frequent Floods Force Farmers to Rethink Age-Old Practices [Inside Climate News 5/16/2012] – Jonathan Comstock, research support specialist, Department of Horticulture, explains why the weather this spring has hurt New York’s tree fruit crop: “After reaching the chill requirements, most trees need a lot of warm days to put them in a vulnerable position. That happened this year. All those mechanisms were tricked.”
Greenhouse scientists show that soil mix and light matter [Cornell Chronicle 5/7/2012] – Proper light, proper growing medium — it’s all part of the sustainability spectrum, says Glenn Evans, director of operations for Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station (CUAES).