Richard Wiswall discusses the importance of farm budgets and profitability. He uses the example of keeping 50 laying hens to show that expenses, especially labor costs, can exceed income, making a venture unprofitable. Key expenses included feed, housing costs, and the significant cost of the farmer's own labor of daily chores. The hen venture lost money as total expenses of $8,422 exceeded income of $7,000. Wiswall stresses calculating accurate budgets and accounting for all costs, including labor, to avoid unprofitable ventures.
Demystifying Food Labels: Understanding the Organic Claim with Jodi Koberinskiacornorganic
Jodi Koberinski, Executive Director of the Organic Council of Ontario, spoke about food labels and organic certification. She explained that the proliferation of labels can confuse consumers and discussed Canada's national organic standards and label. While the national label aims to simplify, some criticize that it loses other values like localness. Koberinski noted labels like "natural" and "sustainable" have little meaning without standards, while "organic" has clear production standards prohibiting GMOs, synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. She highlighted both benefits of organic like reduced environmental impacts but also challenges like higher costs for farmers to be certified.
Part 2: Season Extension with High Tunnels with Paul & Sandy Arnoldacornorganic
This document summarizes the methods and operations of high tunnel vegetable production for a farm in New England. It discusses the construction of three high tunnels on the farm, including materials used and sizes. It then outlines the crops grown in the tunnels seasonally, including lettuce, Asian greens, kale and more. Production methods like soil preparation, planting, disease and pest management are described. Temperature data from the farm's weather station is shown.
Regulations and Realities for Value-Added Products with Ed Charter and Mike B...acornorganic
The document summarizes a presentation given by Mike Beamish of Beamish Orchard and Ed Charter of BioFoodTech at an ACORN conference on regulations and realities for value-added food products. The presentation covered trends in natural and organic food development, the product development process from concept to market, and Beamish Orchard's experience developing an apple butter product. It also discussed regulatory issues and potential funding sources for new food product development.
Loic Dewavrin helped found an organic grain cooperative in Quebec called Coop Agrobio Quebec. The cooperative was started in 2006 by a group of 5 farmers who felt they needed more influence in the market as organic producers. The cooperative has now grown to 24 member farms across Quebec and Ontario. Some of the benefits of the cooperative include better marketing opportunities through group sales, sharing of equipment and knowledge, and breaking the isolation of individual farms. The cooperative is working on projects like a mobile seed cleaning facility, export markets, and a shared grain processing facility to help members add more value to their crops.
Organic Poultry Symposium - Tim Livingstoneacornorganic
This document provides a cost analysis for raising organic chickens and selling their eggs. It estimates that it costs $14-16 to raise a pullet to laying age. Direct costs to produce a dozen eggs are $2.74, including feed, carton, and costs to raise the hen. Labor to collect and process eggs is estimated at $1.67 per dozen. Total costs per dozen including labor are $4.41. Broiler production is also analyzed under different scenarios, estimating costs per pound raised and potential profits. Recommendations are provided for egg production practices like lighting, nest boxes, and cleaning.
This document outlines various rules, regulations, and programs related to livestock in Canada. It discusses disease prevention programs like Premise ID that track animal locations. It also outlines regulations like the Livestock Operations Act that govern manure management. The supply of chicken is managed by the Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency. For small egg and chicken farms in New Brunswick, there are limits of 199 hens or 200 chickens per year and requirements for storage, processing and packaging.
Richard Wiswall discusses the importance of farm budgets and profitability. He uses the example of keeping 50 laying hens to show that expenses, especially labor costs, can exceed income, making a venture unprofitable. Key expenses included feed, housing costs, and the significant cost of the farmer's own labor of daily chores. The hen venture lost money as total expenses of $8,422 exceeded income of $7,000. Wiswall stresses calculating accurate budgets and accounting for all costs, including labor, to avoid unprofitable ventures.
Demystifying Food Labels: Understanding the Organic Claim with Jodi Koberinskiacornorganic
Jodi Koberinski, Executive Director of the Organic Council of Ontario, spoke about food labels and organic certification. She explained that the proliferation of labels can confuse consumers and discussed Canada's national organic standards and label. While the national label aims to simplify, some criticize that it loses other values like localness. Koberinski noted labels like "natural" and "sustainable" have little meaning without standards, while "organic" has clear production standards prohibiting GMOs, synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. She highlighted both benefits of organic like reduced environmental impacts but also challenges like higher costs for farmers to be certified.
Part 2: Season Extension with High Tunnels with Paul & Sandy Arnoldacornorganic
This document summarizes the methods and operations of high tunnel vegetable production for a farm in New England. It discusses the construction of three high tunnels on the farm, including materials used and sizes. It then outlines the crops grown in the tunnels seasonally, including lettuce, Asian greens, kale and more. Production methods like soil preparation, planting, disease and pest management are described. Temperature data from the farm's weather station is shown.
Regulations and Realities for Value-Added Products with Ed Charter and Mike B...acornorganic
The document summarizes a presentation given by Mike Beamish of Beamish Orchard and Ed Charter of BioFoodTech at an ACORN conference on regulations and realities for value-added food products. The presentation covered trends in natural and organic food development, the product development process from concept to market, and Beamish Orchard's experience developing an apple butter product. It also discussed regulatory issues and potential funding sources for new food product development.
Loic Dewavrin helped found an organic grain cooperative in Quebec called Coop Agrobio Quebec. The cooperative was started in 2006 by a group of 5 farmers who felt they needed more influence in the market as organic producers. The cooperative has now grown to 24 member farms across Quebec and Ontario. Some of the benefits of the cooperative include better marketing opportunities through group sales, sharing of equipment and knowledge, and breaking the isolation of individual farms. The cooperative is working on projects like a mobile seed cleaning facility, export markets, and a shared grain processing facility to help members add more value to their crops.
Organic Poultry Symposium - Tim Livingstoneacornorganic
This document provides a cost analysis for raising organic chickens and selling their eggs. It estimates that it costs $14-16 to raise a pullet to laying age. Direct costs to produce a dozen eggs are $2.74, including feed, carton, and costs to raise the hen. Labor to collect and process eggs is estimated at $1.67 per dozen. Total costs per dozen including labor are $4.41. Broiler production is also analyzed under different scenarios, estimating costs per pound raised and potential profits. Recommendations are provided for egg production practices like lighting, nest boxes, and cleaning.
This document outlines various rules, regulations, and programs related to livestock in Canada. It discusses disease prevention programs like Premise ID that track animal locations. It also outlines regulations like the Livestock Operations Act that govern manure management. The supply of chicken is managed by the Canadian Chicken Marketing Agency. For small egg and chicken farms in New Brunswick, there are limits of 199 hens or 200 chickens per year and requirements for storage, processing and packaging.
This document summarizes information from an organic poultry symposium, including brooding methods, costs of raising chickens from day-old to laying age, and costs associated with egg production. Key points include the costs to brood chicks for the first 4 weeks, costs to raise pullets from 5 to 20 weeks, costs to raise hens from 21 to 72 weeks, and the net profit per hen of $20.40 over 51 weeks of egg production. Processing costs of $5 per bird are also outlined.
This document summarizes common vegetable crop diseases in New Brunswick from 2014-2016. It outlines both infectious (biotic) and non-infectious (abiotic) plant diseases. For infectious diseases, it describes the causal pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, nematodes, protozoa, and viruses. It then discusses disease development and the disease triangle. The role of insects in transmitting diseases is also noted. The document provides details on specific diseases for various vegetable crops including tomatoes, cucurbits, carrots, alliums, and cole crops. It describes symptoms, pathogens, and management strategies for diseases like late blight, early blight, powdery mildew, and more. Biological control options and resources for
Three key points from the document:
1. Research found that more complex forage mixtures with multiple grass types yielded higher than simpler mixtures, and legumes like alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil provided higher forage quality and nitrogen fixation.
2. Cattle generally had better daily weight gain on pastures with mixtures of timothy, meadow fescue, and bluegrass, but mixtures including tall fescue provided more gain per acre. Reseeding legumes every 2-3 years is important to sustain productivity.
3. Managing grazing to reduce mud and extending the grazing season through techniques like bale grazing can help lower winter feeding costs for cattle in eastern Canada's climate. Shelter, body condition
The Dexter Cattle Company promotes its certified organic beef which comes from cattle raised sustainably and with dignity on PEI. The organic beef has the highest nutrient content and quality fats while having the lowest toxins of any meat. Raising the cattle organically and grass-fed is also economically viable for PEI farmers as it costs less than conventional cattle farming with no grain, fertilizer, antibiotics or vet bills needed.
This document provides information about Halaal meat according to Islam. It begins with a brief history of Islam and how Islamic dietary laws originated from the Quran and Hadith. It explains that Halaal refers to permissible foods and Haraam refers to prohibited foods according to Islamic law. The document then outlines specific food restrictions in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. It provides verses from the Quran regarding prohibited and permitted foods. It also discusses the proper procedures for slaughtering animals according to Islamic and Jewish traditions to ensure the meat is Halaal or Kosher. The document concludes with additional guidelines and customs related to the slaughtering process and storage of Halaal meat.
This document discusses considerations for calculating the cost of production (CoP) on organic farms. It notes that traditional CoP calculations only look at a single growing season and other costs like multi-year investments are not fully captured. The document advocates calculating both costs of production and benefits of production to better assess sustainability. It also discusses how climate change and other risks can make CoP calculations more variable and less effective as a performance measure over time.
This document discusses the importance and benefits of on-farm record keeping. It notes that record keeping allows farms to be managed by providing data on costs, activities, finances, and other metrics over time. Proper record keeping is essential for compliance, financial planning, traceability, and analyzing farm performance and costs of production. The document provides examples of different types of records farms can keep and recommends starting with key questions to determine what specific data should be prioritized. It also discusses best practices for organizing records through entity relationship diagrams and data modeling to facilitate analysis and insights. Spatial mapping of farm features and activities over years is also presented as an important component of comprehensive record keeping.
The document provides relationship advice for farm families based on a presentation by Michelle Wolf at an ACORN conference. Some of the key relationship lessons discussed include using gardening and farmers' market management as metaphors for relationships, understanding love languages and speaking your partner's language, adopting the 100/0 relationship principle of taking full responsibility while expecting nothing in return, building shared habits and rituals, paying attention to "bids for closeness", managing conflict effectively, and developing the skill of having difficult conversations. Resources are offered to help couples strengthen communication and nurture their relationships.
This document summarizes the results of a 2016 survey of over 1,000 organic vegetable growers in the Northeast United States. 210 growers responded to identify their top breeding and research priorities. The highest priority crops for cultivar development identified were arugula, Asian greens, basil, beet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cilantro, cucumber, cucurbits, eggplant, fava bean, garlic, green bean, kale, leek, lettuce, melon, mustard, okra, onion, parsnip, pea, pepper, potato, radish, shallot, spinach, summer squash, sweet corn, Swiss chard, tomato, and watermelon
This document discusses various plant breeding techniques including recurrent selection, pedigree breeding, backcrossing, population breeding, and hybrid breeding. It provides examples of each technique and explains concepts like dominant and recessive traits, true breeding, and heterozygotes. Specific projects are summarized, like developing a sweet striped pepper and an early red bell pepper variety through selection of farmer varieties. Breeding projects acknowledge funders and collaborators.
S2 dynamics of proprietary seed mazourek acornacornorganic
This document discusses the dynamics between public and private seed development over time. It begins with open-pollinated seeds in the early 20th century and the rise of certified seed programs and early seed companies. Later, the development of hybrids, intellectual property protections, industry consolidation, and the resurgence of small seed companies distributing locally adapted varieties are described. The document also outlines the pedigree breeding process and issues around searching for seed, material transfer agreements, licenses, and how the author's university supports their public plant breeding program through royalty structures.
Stock seed, also known as breeder's seed, is the highest quality seed maintained by the breeder to ensure genetic purity. There are different classes of certified seed including breeder, foundation, registered, and certified seed. Maintaining genetic purity of stock seed is important and involves minimizing contamination and strictly rogueing off-types before pollination. Producing stock seed infrequently helps maintain genetic purity over time by reducing genetic drift. Proper storage methods like cool, dry conditions also preserve genetic integrity.
This document summarizes information from an organic poultry symposium, including brooding methods, costs of raising chickens from day-old to laying age, and costs associated with egg production. Key points include the costs to brood chicks for the first 4 weeks, costs to raise pullets from 5 to 20 weeks, costs to raise hens from 21 to 72 weeks, and the net profit per hen of $20.40 over 51 weeks of egg production. Processing costs of $5 per bird are also outlined.
This document summarizes common vegetable crop diseases in New Brunswick from 2014-2016. It outlines both infectious (biotic) and non-infectious (abiotic) plant diseases. For infectious diseases, it describes the causal pathogens such as fungi, bacteria, nematodes, protozoa, and viruses. It then discusses disease development and the disease triangle. The role of insects in transmitting diseases is also noted. The document provides details on specific diseases for various vegetable crops including tomatoes, cucurbits, carrots, alliums, and cole crops. It describes symptoms, pathogens, and management strategies for diseases like late blight, early blight, powdery mildew, and more. Biological control options and resources for
Three key points from the document:
1. Research found that more complex forage mixtures with multiple grass types yielded higher than simpler mixtures, and legumes like alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil provided higher forage quality and nitrogen fixation.
2. Cattle generally had better daily weight gain on pastures with mixtures of timothy, meadow fescue, and bluegrass, but mixtures including tall fescue provided more gain per acre. Reseeding legumes every 2-3 years is important to sustain productivity.
3. Managing grazing to reduce mud and extending the grazing season through techniques like bale grazing can help lower winter feeding costs for cattle in eastern Canada's climate. Shelter, body condition
The Dexter Cattle Company promotes its certified organic beef which comes from cattle raised sustainably and with dignity on PEI. The organic beef has the highest nutrient content and quality fats while having the lowest toxins of any meat. Raising the cattle organically and grass-fed is also economically viable for PEI farmers as it costs less than conventional cattle farming with no grain, fertilizer, antibiotics or vet bills needed.
This document provides information about Halaal meat according to Islam. It begins with a brief history of Islam and how Islamic dietary laws originated from the Quran and Hadith. It explains that Halaal refers to permissible foods and Haraam refers to prohibited foods according to Islamic law. The document then outlines specific food restrictions in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. It provides verses from the Quran regarding prohibited and permitted foods. It also discusses the proper procedures for slaughtering animals according to Islamic and Jewish traditions to ensure the meat is Halaal or Kosher. The document concludes with additional guidelines and customs related to the slaughtering process and storage of Halaal meat.
This document discusses considerations for calculating the cost of production (CoP) on organic farms. It notes that traditional CoP calculations only look at a single growing season and other costs like multi-year investments are not fully captured. The document advocates calculating both costs of production and benefits of production to better assess sustainability. It also discusses how climate change and other risks can make CoP calculations more variable and less effective as a performance measure over time.
This document discusses the importance and benefits of on-farm record keeping. It notes that record keeping allows farms to be managed by providing data on costs, activities, finances, and other metrics over time. Proper record keeping is essential for compliance, financial planning, traceability, and analyzing farm performance and costs of production. The document provides examples of different types of records farms can keep and recommends starting with key questions to determine what specific data should be prioritized. It also discusses best practices for organizing records through entity relationship diagrams and data modeling to facilitate analysis and insights. Spatial mapping of farm features and activities over years is also presented as an important component of comprehensive record keeping.
The document provides relationship advice for farm families based on a presentation by Michelle Wolf at an ACORN conference. Some of the key relationship lessons discussed include using gardening and farmers' market management as metaphors for relationships, understanding love languages and speaking your partner's language, adopting the 100/0 relationship principle of taking full responsibility while expecting nothing in return, building shared habits and rituals, paying attention to "bids for closeness", managing conflict effectively, and developing the skill of having difficult conversations. Resources are offered to help couples strengthen communication and nurture their relationships.
This document summarizes the results of a 2016 survey of over 1,000 organic vegetable growers in the Northeast United States. 210 growers responded to identify their top breeding and research priorities. The highest priority crops for cultivar development identified were arugula, Asian greens, basil, beet, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrot, cilantro, cucumber, cucurbits, eggplant, fava bean, garlic, green bean, kale, leek, lettuce, melon, mustard, okra, onion, parsnip, pea, pepper, potato, radish, shallot, spinach, summer squash, sweet corn, Swiss chard, tomato, and watermelon
This document discusses various plant breeding techniques including recurrent selection, pedigree breeding, backcrossing, population breeding, and hybrid breeding. It provides examples of each technique and explains concepts like dominant and recessive traits, true breeding, and heterozygotes. Specific projects are summarized, like developing a sweet striped pepper and an early red bell pepper variety through selection of farmer varieties. Breeding projects acknowledge funders and collaborators.
S2 dynamics of proprietary seed mazourek acornacornorganic
This document discusses the dynamics between public and private seed development over time. It begins with open-pollinated seeds in the early 20th century and the rise of certified seed programs and early seed companies. Later, the development of hybrids, intellectual property protections, industry consolidation, and the resurgence of small seed companies distributing locally adapted varieties are described. The document also outlines the pedigree breeding process and issues around searching for seed, material transfer agreements, licenses, and how the author's university supports their public plant breeding program through royalty structures.
Stock seed, also known as breeder's seed, is the highest quality seed maintained by the breeder to ensure genetic purity. There are different classes of certified seed including breeder, foundation, registered, and certified seed. Maintaining genetic purity of stock seed is important and involves minimizing contamination and strictly rogueing off-types before pollination. Producing stock seed infrequently helps maintain genetic purity over time by reducing genetic drift. Proper storage methods like cool, dry conditions also preserve genetic integrity.