Water

Pennsylvania Leads Nation in Rescuing Farmland

It wasn't Jane Gordon Fletcher's fault she got rich. Over the years since her birth in 1901, the value of the family farm near Malvern, Penn., just kept rising as people pressure from Philadelphia, 24... more »

Michigan Running Slow in the Race to Preserve Farmland

In 1974, Michigan and Pennsylvania bolted from the starting gate together, as they began efforts to protect farmland from conversion to non-farm use. That year, each state passed legislation providing property tax breaks to farmers... more »

Custom Harvester Aids Carrot Farmer

Glenn Vogel's carrot harvester is the only one of its kind. On a good field with plenty of trucks, it can cover 18 to 20 acres per day, pumping out a 22-ton load of carrots... more »

Penn State Taps Into School Pride With Blue and White Potato Chips

For years, William Lamont, vegetable crops professor at Penn State University (PSU), visualized a line of potato chips sporting the university's colors. Utz Quality Foods in Hanover, Pa., has wanted to partner with Penn State... more »

Funding Cutbacks Force North Carolina Extension To Be Creative

This is the third story in a series about the future of Extension. Mary Helen Ferguson just got a job as a county agent with North Carolina Cooperative Extension. It's the first step in her... more »

Sweet Corn Charlie: Season Extension Is Strategy For Success

If you can have sweet corn by the Fourth of July in northern Indiana, you'll grab customers and, if the corn's good enough, you'll keep them for the entire season. That doesn't mean knee-high corn... more »

Researchers Expect Downy Mildew Pressure In 2007

Cucurbit growers – especially cucumber growers aiming for either fresh market or pickling – should plan now to implement a full fungicide spray schedule this year and assume that the downy mildew epidemic of the... more »

Hydroponic lettuce wins customers’ hearts

People's desire for tender, baby lettuce shows up in the price tag. A small head of Boston butter or Bibb commands $3 or so while bigger heads of iceberg are selling for $1 in the... more »

Downy Mildew Outbreaks Require Sprays for Control

“All growers of vine crops in Michigan should be spraying for control of downy mildew,” said Mary Hausbeck, vegetable disease specialist at Michigan State University. “Fungicides will be needed for the duration of the growing... more »

Fresh Vegetable Harvested Acreage Up 2 Percent

The prospective area for harvest of 11 selected fresh-market vegetables during the winter quarter is forecast at 183,900 acres, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service. This is 2 percent above 2005 and 3 percent... more »