Ag Opportunities Volume 18, Number 12 December 2007 Grow Your Farm Have a creative farming idea? Need practical guidance to help turn your farm into a profitable business? If you answered yes to these questions, then the Grow Your Farm course is right for you. Grow Your Farm will help you translate your farming ideas into a successful business venture. Course specifics Grow Your Farm is designed for prospective farmers, beginners with some experience and seasoned farmers who want to make a "new beginning" with alternative farming methods. MU Extension specialists and experienced, innovative farmers teach the sessions. Grow Your Farm meets 11 times over a 16- to 18-week time frame. Classes include eight seminars with three farm tours. Course objectives Information on production techniques is relatively easy to find and use, but what many landowners need is help to develop the farm as a profitable business. With this in mind, Grow Your Farm is designed to assist you, the producer, in creating and planning your farm as a business. This course will help you: *Identify and prioritize personal and family values and use them as the foundation for the farm mission statement and goals. *Learn how to "walk the farm" to assess the land and its facilities. *Learn to evaluate the feasibility of particular farm opportunities. *Understand the components of a business plan and create one of your own. *Understand financial aspects of a business plan and review popular tools to manage financial records. *Consider different types of agricultural marketing and draft a marketing plan. *Become familiar with a variety of legal issues that pertain to farming enterprises. *Network with other farmers. Central MO location TBD Contact: 573-642-0755 Jim Jarman jarmanj@missouri.edu East Central MO location Hillsboro, Mo. Dates: TBD—late Jan/early Feb Contact: 636-797-5057 Dean Wilson wilsondw@missouri.edu Northeast MO location Macon, Mo. Dates: Feb. 5, 12, 19, 26. March 4, 11, 18, 25 Contact: 660-947-2705 Joe Koenen koenenj@missouri.edu Northwest MO location TBD Contact: 816-528-8101 Randa Brunkhorst brunkhorstr@missouri.edu South Central MO locations Lebanon, Mo. Dates: Jan 24, Feb 7, 21, March 6, 20, April 3, 17, May 1, 15 Contact: 417-532-7126 Jim Thompson thompsonjo@missouri.edu Mountain Grove, Mo. Dates: Jan 22, Feb 5, 19, March 4, 18, April 1, 15, 29, May 13 Contact: 417-741-6134 Ted Probert ProbertT@missouri.edu Rolla, Mo. Dates: Jan 21, Feb 4, Feb 18, March 3, 17, 31, April 14, 28, May 12 Contact 573-458-6260 Mick Gilliam gilliamm@missouri.edu Southwest MO location TBD Contact: 417-581-3558 Gordon Carriker carrikerg@missouri.edu West Central MO location TBD Contact: 417-448-2560 Wayne Prewitt prewittw@missouri.edu *************************************************************************** Wind Power in Northwest Missouri by Jim Crawford, Natural Resource Engineering alist, Atchison County With three commercial wind farms either under construction or in operation in Northwest Missouri and several others proposed for the region, people are asking “Why are we looking at wind power?” and “Why are they looking at Northwest Missouri?” Perhaps the easiest of these questions to answer is why we are looking at wind power. The short answer is $70.00 a barrel crude oil. We all know that the price of gasoline has gone up dramatically the past couple of years. When the price of oil increases, other energy sources soon follow suit. Natural gas, propane, and heating oil are all up in price. As the price of fuels has increased, so have the prices for all the products that use them. One of these “byproducts” is the cost to generate electricity since natural gas is used by many electric generating facilities. This same event happened in the mid 70’s when we had the fuel shortages and the rationing. At that time, we started looking for alternative energy sources that do not rely on foreign supplies of a non-renewable fuel source. Solar, wind, photovoltaic, ethanol, and geothermal energy sources were all explored. They not only had the advantages of being domestic sources of energy, but were also clean, renewable, and did not harm the environment. However, when the price of crude oil dropped back to $35.00 a barrel, work on these technologies stalled as we no longer saw the need for them with oil so inexpensive. This recent price increase in oil has once again created interest in alternative, renewable energy sources. The technological advances made in these fields in the past five years have been staggering. Efficiencies for the various means of collecting the energy have increased greatly and the cost to convert the energy into a useable form (electricity, ethanol, biodiesel) has also been reduced compared to what it was just five years ago. Also, these energy sources rely on domestically available products, are renewable and do not have the potential to harm the environment. When compared to the other alternative energy sources for generating electricity, wind power is currently the least expensive per kilowatt hour to generate. So the answer to the question of “Why wind power?” is that we need to find an inexpensive source of energy that does not rely on a foreign supply of fuel or on a fuel that once used, could potentially pollute the environment. But why Northwest Missouri? The answer here can also be directly related to changes in technology. Typical tower height for the current generation of large utility-scale wind turbines of 750 KW (kilowatt) to 2 MW (megawatt) rated capacity is 230 feet (70 meters). Also, as a general rule, utility-scale wind power projects using large turbines that service the electrical grid require an average wind speed of at least 15.7 miles per hour as measured at that height. The original maps that were made in the 80’s showing potential areas for wind generation facilities showed much of Missouri was unsuitable for these facilities. However, new maps made early this century show several areas in Missouri that have the potential for wind power projects with the majority of them located in the northwest region of the state. A wind monitoring program conducted by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources which included the loan of small, monitoring and measuring anemometers, has confirmed several sites in the state that have adequate wind potential. These wind speed maps can be found online at http://www.dnr.mo.gov/energy/renewables/windenergy.htm Wind is a clean, inexhaustible, domestic energy resource that can generate enough electricity to power millions of homes and businesses. New technologies have allowed us to identify areas in Northwest Missouri that may support this endeavor. As long as the conventional energy supplies stay expensive, we will continue to explore and develop alternative, renewable, domestic energy supplies. After all, as my mother always said “necessity is the mother of invention”. *************************************************************************** What can production farmers do for quail? Much of the promotion of quail habitat management is aimed at landowners with recreation land or acreage enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. However, a row crop or livestock farmer can still manage for quail without reducing pmargins. This can be done by working the edges of your fields. Here are a few ideas – *Spray brome/fescue in fencerows and odd areas, overseed with lespedeza. *Cut elms, honey locust, and hedge in fencerows and wood draws to encourage shrubby growth, leave trees where they fall or windrow them parallel to the field edge, do not stack them into dense brushpiles. *Signup for these Continuous CRP buffer practices – filterstrips, field borders, riparian buffers, and contour buffer strips. Do not plant the buffers to fescue or brome. Several of these practices are applicable on pasture ground with opportunities for alternative water for cattle. *Fence your cattle out of woody draws, then edge feather and treat grass with herbicide. *Quail nest along edges – delay haying the outside 30’ of your hay fields until after July 15. *Reduce chemical rates on the outside rows of cropfields. Cost share is available for most of these practices through Quail Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, Missouri Department of Conservation, and the United States Department of Agriculture. (The Covey Headquarters, Vol 6, No 4) *************************************************************************** Census Gives Farmersa Voice in their Future America‘s farmers and ranchers will soon have the opportunity to make their voices heard and help shape the future of agriculture for years to come. This opportunity will come to their mailboxes in the form of the 2007 Census of Agriculture. Conducted every five years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Census is a complete count of the nation’s farms and ranches and the people who operate them. The Census looks at land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expenditures and other topics. It provides the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every county in the nation. “The Census of Agriculture provides information that is not available anywhere else – information that benefits agricultural producers and their communities in myriad ways,” said Gene Danekas, Director of the Missouri Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). “For instance, policy-makers factor Census data into decisions concerning agricultural and rural programs. Community planners use Census to document needs and target services to rural residents. Companies rely on Census data when determining where to locate their operations. And farmers themselves can use Census data to help make critical decisions about their businesses,” he explained. NASS will mail out Census forms on December 28, 2007 to collect data for the 2007 calendar year. Completed forms are due by February 4, 2008. Producers can return their forms by mail or, for the first time, they have the convenient option of completing the Census online via a secure web site. “We’re committed to making this Census the best count ever. It’s about the future of agriculture and rural communities in our state,” Danekas said. “Regardless of how large or small their operation is or what kinds of products they produce, Missouri farmers and ranchers will help themselves and their communities by completing the Census of Agriculture and returning it promptly,” he added. ”We want farmers and ranchers to know: the Census of Agriculture is their voice, their future and their responsibility.” For more information about the 2007 Census of Agriculture, please contact the NASS Missouri Field Office at 800-551-1014 or visit www.agcensus.usda.gov online. *************************************************************************** Wood-to-Energy Town Hall Meetings Coming in 2008 If you either live or have forestland within a 50-mile radius of Fredericktown, Cuba or Thayer, Mo., then you might be interested in the Wood-to-Energy Town Hall Meetings that will be happening in each community during the first quarter of 2008. A recent study by MU foresters of available biomass from forest thinning operations has indicated that sustainable wood-to-energy enterprises could be possible in each of these communities. These enterprises not only have the potential of helping meet the country’s energy self-sufficiency mandate issued by President Bush and supported by Congress, but also the potential to revitalize the rural economy of these communities. But to realize this potential and move forward in a positive manner, there must be consensus among all stakeholders. MU Forestry Extension partnered with the Missouri Department of Conservation and was successful in securing a US Forest Service Wood-to-Energy Jump Start Grant that will allow stakeholders to come together in an initial town hall meeting and learn about the latest woody biomass energy options that are available and have some preliminary interactive discussions. During a four-week interim period, local MU Extension specialists will facilitate additional chat sessions to foster further discussion and allow those who were unable to attend the town hall meeting to participate in the process. Then a second town hall meeting will be held to decide whether or not these technologies make sense for them and what next steps need to be taken. For more information you can contact either Hank Stelzer, MU State Forestry Extension Specialist at stelzerh@missouri.edu or (573) 882-4444; or John Tuttle, MDC Forest Products Specialist at john.tuttle@mdc.mo.gov or (573) 751-4115 ext 3304. *************************************************************************** Upcoming Events of Interest High Tunnel Workshop St. Joseph, MO Thurs, Jan 10 – Essential Equipment for the Market Farmer 8:00 a.m. Registration 9:00 a.m. High Tunnels at Peregrine Farm: A Different look at the Old Tunnel - Alex Hitt, Peregrine Farm, NC 11:30 a.m. Managing Soils in High Tunnels: Survey Results and Recommendations – Sherry Knewtson. 1:00 p.m. Basics of High Tunnel Production – Eldon Everhart, Iowa State University 2:00 p.m. Pest Management for Vegetable Crops in High Tunnels – Linda Naeve, Iowa State University 3:00 p.m. Grower panel Community Supported Agriculture(CSA) Mini-School St. Joseph, MO Elizabeth Henderson - Peacework Organic Farm, NY Tom Ruggieri and Rebecca Graf – Fair Share Farm, Kearney, MO Chris Blanchard – Rock Spring Farm, IA 8:00 a.m. Registration 8:30 a.m. Opening remarks :45 a.m. Introductions 9:45 a.m. The CSA Model – Is it Right for You? 10:30 am Getting Started: Finding Land; Finding members & organizational structure; Establishing a core group; Legal structures & insurance; Keeping members connected: online, newsletter, on-farm events; Distribution 1:00 p.m. Growing the Food: Crop Planning: what to grow and how much; Succession planting; Harvest & postharvest handling; Apprenticeship & labor management 2:15 p.m. The Share: What is a share? Pricing & budgets; Cooperating with other farms; Other markets 3:00 p.m. Questions and Answers 3:30 p.m. Closing. CSA as an Agent of Social Change vs. Marketing Approach 4:00 p.m. Mini-school adjourns Small Fruit and Vegetable Conference Springfield, MO Mon, Feb 18-Bus tour of small fruit and vegetable producers Tues, Feb 19-Keynote presentation, followed by marketing, vegetable production, and blueberry production Wed, Feb 20-Strawberry production, alternative crop options The Conference brings together small fruit and vegetable growers, researchers, extension workers, and commercial suppliers from across the state and around the country. The keynote presentation highlights the focus of the conference on the diverse crops produced in Missouri. There is a trade show that includes vendors for a wide range of products and services and the Missouri Blueberry Council holds its annual meeting. For more information contact: Patrick Byers PLByers@MissouriState.edu Pamela Mayer, 417-547-7533 PMayer@MissouriState.edu http://mtngrv.missouristate.edu Market to Market Workshop Presented by MO Dept of Ag This workshop will be presented six times during the winter throughout Missouri. Workshop Dates: Feb 26-St. Louis Feb 27-Cape Girardeau Feb 28-Springfield March 3-Jefferson City March 4-Kirksville March 5-Kansas City Topics Include: *Establishing a Successful Farmers’ Market *5 steps in Establishing a Successful Farmers’ Market *Get Your Scale Certified for 2008 *Weights & Measures will be at each meeting to certify vendor’s scales *Market Selling Do’s and Don’ts (Q & A) *Health Dept. Guidelines, requirements for shell eggs sold in Missouri, egg licensing, selling methods of retail sale for fresh fruits and vegetables and sales tax for farmers’ market vendors. *Get Your Market Heard (Marketing & Promotions) - Gain valuable tips on how to advertise to increase sales at your farmers' market. Explore different types of promotion venues such as flyer design, business cards, signage, and creation of press kits for newspapers and radio stations. Cover marketing through channels as simple as word-of-mouth or complex as the Internet (branding and blogging). *What can Agri-Missouri and the Missouri Farmers’ Market Association Do for Your Market? *Why to join these organizations, marketing avenues for your market? *************************************************************************** IN THE NEWS Beekeepers will get another weapon against hive-invading pests, a welcome aid while they’re coping with colony collapse disorder. Yo curb invasions of small hive beetles, a severe pest in eastern states, USDA scientists built a trap. The bait is yeast that the beetles release, ordinarily attracting more beetles. Traps with the yeast are attached to hives with one-way openings that let beetles check in...not out. Researchers will use similar traps for a worse scourge: Varroa mites, a terrible bee parasite that takes a big toll on U.S. bee colonies. (Kiplinger Agriculture Letter, Vol 78, No 24) A sea of controversy looms over food safety claims on labels. Such claims are largely an untested arena of regulation. So food regulators face new challenges in policing competing labels that tout fewer pathogens, less contamination or lower risks to health. Claims are hard to verify. However, existing labeling rules from the Food & Drug Admin. require that label claims be verifiable. Moreover, Pa. now bans milk labels claiming no artificial hormones. N.J. and Ohio may do the same. Inspectors say science can’t differentiate the added hormones from a cow’s own, so labels can’t say they’re absent. Meanwhile, the U.S. has long fought the European Union’s ban on meat from animals treated with hormones. Same dilemma: Where are the hormones? We expect courts will be as divided as regulators on this issue, upholding rules for verifying claims but also the right of consumers to information, provable or not, that they believe is important to them. Note that U.S. meatpackers agreed years ago not to make label claims pertaining to safety because all meats are inspected by Uncle Sam. (Kiplinger Agriculture Letter, Vol 78, No 24) The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture reports that after nine years of comparison, clear differences between organic and conventional crop production systems are emerging: the longer rotations and careful management of the organic system show greater yields, increased profitability, and steadily improved soil quality over conventional practices. Those are the conclusions drawn from experimental plots set up at the Iowa State University Neely-Kinyon Research Farm near Greenfield, Iowa, in a study believed to be the largest randomized, replicated comparison of organic and conventional crops in the nation. *************************************************************************** IN PRINT/ON-LINE *Fresh From the Farm: The Massachusetts Farm to School Cookbook* The book, now available online through the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources website, is a tool for school food service staffs, training them how to work with farm-fresh food and introduce more local produce into school lunches. The book contains 46 recipes using seasonal produce, many emphasizing valued-added farm produce such as already sliced carrots or peeled butternut squash, to ease school preparation time. The book also contains educational tips on preparing fresh produce and seasonal buying, along with resources for procurement from nearby farms. http://www.mass.gov/agr/markets/Farm_to_school/index.htm *High Tunnel Raspberries and Blackberries* spells out in detail how it’s done. Topics covered include: Site selection, Tunnel types and construction, Choosing and establishing plants, In-ground and container plantings, Care and management, Season extension and harvesting, Budget for in-ground high tunnel raspberries If coupled with brambles grown in heated greenhouses, Northeast berry growers could produce brambles nearly year-round. An earlier publication, *Greenhouse Raspberries* describes those growing practices: www.fruit.cornell.edu/Berries/bramblehtml/ghrasp.html) Rising energy costs make greenhouse berries more expensive to grow. But these two practices could help shift market supply along the Atlantic seaboard to local sources instead of berries imported from other regions or hemispheres. The 29-page guide is available online at www.fruit.cornell.edu/Berries *Building a Sustainable Future: Ecologically Based Farming Systems* This publication explains how it is possible to support farm productivity while benefiting the environment and the community. The new bulletin focuses on topics such as agricultural landscapes, integrated pest management, community-based food systems and managed intensive grazing, and provides holistic approaches for field crop production and Michigan potato and tart cherry systems. It also has a chapter on organic farming. Publication #E-2983, $17.78 includes tax and shipping from MSU Bulletin Office, 10-B Agriculture Hall, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI 48824-1039. *InfoFarm* the National Agricultural Library’s new Weblog to promote informal, unofficial conversations among Library staff, USDA partners and communities of agriculture worldwide. The purposes of the Weblog are to give the national library of agriculture a human, personal voice, to give others a glimpse into what the library offers, and to give the library a chance to hear from its users http://weblogs.nal.usda.gov/infofarm/ *Artisan Cheese Production and Marketing* features Jessica and Jeremy Little, owners of Sweet Grass Dairy. This video provides information about start-up and development of a handcrafted cheese enterprise. http://www.ssawg.org/virtualfarm.html *Missouri Beef Resource Guide* is a website with valuable information on the production, reproduction , marketing and value added products of beef cattle in MO. http://agebb.missouri.edu/beef/ *Tools for Managing Internal Parasites in Small Ruminants: Copper Wire Particles* and *Tools for Managing Internal Parasites in Small Ruminants: Sericea Lespedeza* and *Biodiesel Use, Handling and Fuel Quality* are all available from ATTRA by calling 800-346-9140 or online at http://www.attra.org *Farmers' Markets Today* premiered in June 2007, with a second issue in October, and a December issue near release. Free subscriptions are available to managers of farmers markets, market vendors and direct market farmers who sell through CSAs, u-pick farms or farm stands, or directly to restaurants, grocers, co-ops, institutions or other organizations. The new magazine offers information to help farmers and farmers' markets be more successful and profitable in selling their products direct to customers. The magazine shares stories about what growers, artisans and farmers' markets are doing to promote their businesses, reach new customers and develop value-added products. http://www.scissortailproductionsllc.com/FMTHome.htm *************************************************************************** ON THE CALENDAR Dec 8-Stretching Winter Feed Supplies, Linneus, MO. Email CarrTA@missouri.edu Jan 4-5-27th Annual Horticulture Industries Show, Tulsa, OK. Call 405-744-6460. Jan 6-7-Governor’s Conference on Agriculture, St Louis, MO. Jan 7-8-Heart of American Grazing Conference, Columbia, MO. Jan 10-High Tunnels Workshop, St Joseph, MO. Call 816-279-7691. Jan 10-CSA Mini-School, St Joseph, MO. Call 816-279-7691. Jan 11-12-Great Plains Vegetable Conference, St Joseph, MO. Call 816-279-7691. Jan 12-Grow Your Own Nitrogen, Lincoln, NE. Call 402-584-3837. Jan 19, Feb 23-Intensive Mini-school Series for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Kalamazoo, MI. Call 877-526-1441. Jan 26-Beginning Beekeeping Workshop, Columbia, MO. Call 573-474-8837, walkaboutacres@agristar.net Jan 26-From Recipe to Reality, Lincoln, NE. Call 402-472-2819 Feb 2-4-Midwest Grape and Wine Conference, Tan-Tar-A. Call 1-800-392-WINE. Feb 8-10-MO Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher Conference, Tan-Tar-A. MO. Feb 14-Invasive Woody Plants, Gray’s Summit, MO. Call 573-522-4170 Feb 15-Organic Marketing Workshop-Missouri Organics on the Move, Jefferson City, MO. Call Feb 16-MO Organic Assn Annual Conference and MO Farmers Market Assn Conference, Jefferson City, MO. Call Feb 18-20-Small Fruit and Vegetable Conference, Springfield, MO. Call 573-522-4170 Feb 20-22-2nd National Forum on Energy Efficiency in Agriculture: "Food and Energy from the Ground Up: Efficiency's Role in Sustainable Agriculture", Des Moines, IA. http://www.aceee.org/conf/08ag/index.htm Feb 22-23-Grow Native! Landscape Design with Missouri in Mind, St Joseph, MO. Call 573-522-4170 Feb 22–23-Missouri Woodland Owners’ Conference, Columbia, MO. Contact Glenda Fry at (573) 634-3252 or Glenda@moforest.org. For more information go online to http://www.moforest.org or http://www.snr.missouri.edu/forestry/extension Feb 22-25-Western Farm Show, Kansas City, MO. Feb 29-MO Assn of Meat Processors Convention and Trade Show, Columbia, MO. Call417-237-0410. March 7-Grow Native! Landscape Design with Missouri in Mind, Cape Girardeau, MO. Call 573-522-4170 March 14-15-MO State Beekeepers Assn Spring Meeting, Springfield, MO. Call 636-394-5395, www.mostatebeekeepers.org March 25-27-SARE’s 20th Anniversary Conference: The New American Farm: Advancing the frontier of sustainable agriculture, Kansas City, MO. Contact outreach@sare.org April 1-3-National Extension Women in Agriculture Education Conference, Oklahoma City, OK. Call Lgw@udel.edu or 302-831-2538.