Sign Up Now for New York State Fair Competitions

From the New York State Fair:

Online registration has begun for the scores of competitions that take place at the Great New York State Fair, Acting Director Troy Waffner said today.  

 

Last year, more than 4,500 exhibitors submitted more than 22,000 entries to one of 49 competition categories. 

 

"There's something for everyone in our competitions," Waffner said. "Some of these are as old as the fair itself and carry forward our state's proud agricultural heritage. Others are more modern. I encourage everyone to check our list of competitions and take part in them."

 

Most fairgoers are familiar with the fair's animal competitions, from the daily horse shows in the Toyota Coliseum to the judging events involving cattle, goats, swine, poultry, rabbits and more. They are also likely to have seen the flower and table setting competitions in the Horticulture Building, or the talent competition on the fair's west end stage.  

 

There are also the professional competitions for wines, dairy products, and Christmas trees.

 

Less well known are the fair's competitions in culinary arts, amateur winemaking and fine arts. The fair also holds some offbeat competitions, such as the daily rooster crowing contest, the Bucket of Junk competition that challenges contestants to turn a collection of parts into something useful, and the poetry competition, which culminates with a public reading of winning poems.

 

To learn more about fair competitions, or to enter, visit http://nysfair.ny.gov/competitions/how-to-enter.

 

This year's New York State Fair, operated by the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, runs from Aug. 25 to Sept. 5, 2016.

NY Begins Farmers' Market Manager Certification Program

The state is beginning a program to train farmers' markets managers.

The state Department of Agriculture and Markets and The Farmers’ Market Federation of NY in Syracuse, in partnership with SUNY Cobleskill and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County, announced Monday the Farmers’ Market Managers Professional Certification Course.

The FMM PRO program is poised to grow and professionalize New York’s increasing number of farmers’ markets and create New York state’s first market manager certification designation, which is recognized through the SUNY system.  

FMM PRO also is geared toward opening new markets and increasing opportunities for New York state agriculture producers.

 

A growing demand from consumers for fresh, healthy local foods has brought an increase in the number of farmers’ markets across the state.  New York state is home to 646 farmers’ markets, up nearly 35 percent from just five years ago.

 

The FMM PRO program provides an online curriculum to ensure the quality and performance of farmers’ markets across the state. The 22 unique training modules will help market managers better organize, administer and promote their markets.

 

The FMM PRO course curriculum includes all aspects of maintaining and growing a successful farmers’ market and is broken down into three modules:

 

1.     Nuts and Bolts of Managing Markets

2.     Reaching Out to the Market Community

3.     Building Market Systems

 

Program participants who complete the full curriculum will receive a certificate and earn the title of Certified Market Manager. As a FMM PRO Certified Market Manager, graduates of the program will:

 

**   Be fully knowledgeable in today’s best practices for managing farmers’ markets

**   Learn tactics to expand and optimize their farmers’ market

**  Be equipped to build successful relationships with farmers and shoppers

**  Be able to use their certification to leverage funding and support for their market

 

The cost of the SUNY Farmers’ Market Managers Professional Certification is $200 for 12 months of access to the online curriculum.  Discounts are available for multiple registrations for market organizations.  

Participants need to complete all 22 sessions within this time frame, including a quiz and homework assignment from each section in order to receive certification. 

In addition, they will need to earn two continuing education credits bi-annually by attending special sessions at the Federation’s annual Farmers’ Market Managers Conference and/or specified manager training webinars in order to maintain their certification.  

The program is also available to out-of-state participants. 

 

Registration for the course is ongoing, enabling participants to register and complete the full curriculum at their convenience. To register, a participant will need to complete an online application and submit payment online. Once your payment is received, participants will be emailed a code to access the online course. 

To register for FMM Pro: Farmers’ Market Managers Certification Program, go to  http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/fmmpro

It's National Seed Swap Day

It's National Seed Swap Day (always the last Saturday in January).

This has always been an important day for gardeners, who are always looking for new seeds to plant.

The website nationaldaycalendar.com states the seed swap is a fundamental part of human history. Seeds were one of the first commodities valued and traded. Today, modern gardeners collect and exchange seeds for many reasons ranging from cultivating rare, heirloom varieties to basic thrift. 

The exchange of seeds perpetuates biodiversity. It is an act of giving and the ultimate form of recycling.
 
Go to http://seedswapday.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-is-national-seed-swap-day.html for more information.

CELEBRATE
Exchange seeds with friends and use #NationalSeedSwapDay to post on social media.

HISTORY
The first annual Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchange was held in Washington, DC, on Jan. 26, 2006. Kathy Jentz, the editor/publisher of the magazine had the last Saturday of January named an official holiday and National Seed Swap Day was born. 

After that event’s success, seed swaps in other cities across the nation have joined in celebrating National Seed Swap Day each year on (or around*) the last Saturday in January.

Specialty Crop Projects in NY Get Funding

From the state Department of Agriculture and Markets:

Awards totaling $1.2 million for 10 projects to grow New York agriculture through research, protection and promotion of the state’s specialty crops were announced last week.

Projects for specialty crops, which rank highly in the nation in terms of both production and economic value, will receive money through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program to provide assistance for research and grower education projects to boost competitiveness of New York farms and enhance long-term viability of agri-businesses.

Specialty crops include a wide range of agricultural products, including fruits and vegetables, herbs, flowers, shrubs and commercially-grown trees. 

Six grants for research and grower education projects based at Cornell University will help provide innovative solutions for a number of critical pest, disease and other profitability challenges to help New York’s farmers improve their practices, enhance operations and remain competitive.

In addition, the Department of Agriculture and Markets will implement four statewide initiatives that will benefit a broad spectrum of specialty crop commodities by providing increased sales and marketing opportunities, and support economic development in local communities throughout the state.

Funding for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program is provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help states improve the competitiveness of specialty crops. The Department of Agriculture and Markets administered the program in cooperation with the New York Farm Viability Institute, which evaluated proposals in the areas of food safety, research and grower education, and marketing. 

The following six research and grower education projects based at Cornell University were awarded funding:

** $105,568 to increase consumer demand for fresh, local vegetables year-round by supporting farmer entrepreneurs with the necessary business analysis tools to successfully enter the emerging field of controlled environment agriculture.

** $51,916 to help growers reduce pesticides by 30 to 40 percent and improve growers’ profitability by offering a series of one-day, in-depth training courses on state-of-the-art spray application techniques.

** $112,149 to evaluate management strategies of leafroll viruses and develop a comprehensive, integrated pest management (IPM) program to be disseminated to the local grape community to increase the overall quality of production and vineyard profitability.

** $111,561 to find better ways to fight the damaging Cercospora leaf spot disease, which affects beets.  New York is the nation’s second largest producer of table beets for the fresh and processing markets, and demand is likely to continue to rise with the opening later this year of Love Beets USA, LLC’s new beet processing and packaging plant in Rochester.  Efforts will include research to find a more effective fungicide, as well as developing optimum methods for rotating crops and disease and weed management strategies;

** $108,977 to reduce the impact of leaf mold in tomatoes produced in high tunnels (covered structures where tomatoes grow horizontally on tall trellises.)

** $109, 829 to help New York apple growers adopt precision management techniques to reduce loss and ensure that a higher percentage of Honeycrisp apples meet the quality criteria necessary for the fresh market. Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Lake Ontario Fruit Program will coordinate this project.

The following four promotion and marketing projects were awarded funding:

** $280,000 to educate consumers about the many environmental, economic, and health benefits of specialty crop consumption.

 

** $100,000 to increase the capacity of schools to procure and serve locally-produced specialty crops and help schools in carrying out their farm-to-school plans and initiatives.

 

** $90,000 to assist specialty crop industry groups in providing information, raising awareness and promoting the state’s specialty crops to buyers and sales leads at the New York Produce Show in New York City.

 

** $58,241 to assist consumers and commercial buyers to more easily search for and locate sources of specialty crop products by expanding the Pride of New York database and its functionality.

Value of Northeast Horticulture Down in 2014

From the USDA:

The northeast region (New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) horticulture survey shows value of all production for 2014 is down 6.6 percent from 2013.
 
The total crop value at wholesale for all growers with $10,000 or more in sales, is estimated at $598 million for 2014, compared with $641 million for 2013.
 
New Jersey continues to be the leading state in the region, with crops valued at $196 million. New York, the next largest producer, is down from the prior year to $155 million in wholesale value.
 
The number of producers with operations having $10,000 or more in sales for 2014, at 1,412, is down 23 percent in the four-state region, compared with the 2013 count of 1,821.
 
The number of producers with sales of $100,000 or more totaled 606 for 2014, down slightly from the 618 producers counted in 2013.

Postal Service To Honor Farmers' Markets

Now this is cool.

The U.S. Postal Service is honoring Farmers' Markets. These will be Forever stamps and will be available in August.

Here is what the USPS says about these upcoming stamps:

Fruits, vegetables, cheeses, flowers, and other fresh products invitingly displayed on tables or bins — farmers markets invite us to share America’s agricultural bounty.

Four stamps depict a table laden with typical farmers-market fare. 

The stamp on the far left has among its products various fresh breads such as baguettes and rolls, cinnamon buns, cookies, artisan cheeses, and both brown and white eggs. 

The produce on the second stamp includes vegetables and fruits: apples, eggplants, watermelons, peppers, grapes, potatoes, broccoli, and gourds. 

Cut flowers adorn the next stamp, with bouquets of bright flowers next to a bucket of sunflowers and a collection of celosia. 

The final stamp on the far right features live plants, with various herbs, tomatoes, and flowers like marigolds and nasturtiums. Most items bear handwritten labels that identify the product and its price.

The artist chose and arranged the products so that each stamp has a large focal point; each stamp is complete in itself yet forms a cohesive whole with the entire stamp strip. The stamp art was created using acrylic paint.

New York State Fair 'One Thing' Series -- Today's Feature, Floriculture

Garden display at the Men's Garden Club of Syracuse

While most people thing of agriculture as being a vegetable or a cow, one of the largest segments of agriculture in New York state is floriculture.

Yes, each spring when you head out to the nursery or greenhouse or garden center to pick up a tree, shrubs or some annual or perennial flowers to surround your home, you are participating in the floriculture industry.

New York state ranks ninth in the nation in floriculture, according to USDA statistics. Commercial sales from stores with more than $10,000 in sales totaled $169 million in 2012.

Bedding and garden plants was the largest segment of that at $102 million. That was followed by potted flowering plants, with sales of $26.6 million in the state.

There were 577 growers in 2012, using 25.2 million square feet of area to grow their flowers, plants, shrubs and trees.

I talked with Mary Haynes, of Syracuse, with the Men's Garden Club of Syracuse, at the club's display inside the Horticulture Building. She said the 'one thing' she wants the public to know is: "The backbone of all gardens is the soil." Without nutritious, properly worked soil, plants and flowers won't do well.

She went on to talk about the importance of knowing the sunlight, water and nutrition requirements of whatever you are planting.