Ten days after spring 2026 started, a serious electric storm hit our part of Central New York. During the early pre-dawn, lightning bolts struck (fortunately not too close to us). This electric storm was caused by the southern branch of the northern jet stream surging northward. In such an event, a ...

Manure safety might seem like a boring, overdone topic, but that isn’t the case when farmers continue to die in manure-related accidents. In many cases, death is due to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) buildup in and around manure storage, spreaders and other handling equipment. Walter Grose has been working ...

Steam billowed from the open windows of the cupola of maple sugarmaker Cory Krieg’s sugarhouse on March 27, within sight of his home on Christian Hill Road in Bethel, VT. Krieg, founder of the 12-member Vermont Maple Farmers’ Collective, welcomed me to watch him make small-batch maple syrup in the t...

At a meeting of the Northeast Cover Crops Council, John Tooker, a Penn State entomologist, showed a photograph of a hay mower in southern Pennsylvania teeming with slugs – tens of thousands of slugs, maybe hundreds of thousands. A photograph of a corn planter taken in Illinois showed similar quantit...

Growing the size of the dairy herd means looking at what to do with the additional manure. These considerations can affect both the farm and the environment. Jason Karszes, Lainey Koval and Kirsten Workman, all with Cornell PRO-DAIRY, discussed “Acres, Cows & Nutrients: Financial & Environmental Con...

In March 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (part of the World Health Organization) pronounced judgment against the herbicide ingredient glyphosate. IARC said that glyphosate “probably causes cancer in humans.” Most of the pillars in the ag chemical community opposed that declarat...

Water is often referred to as the most important nutrient. Providing beef cattle with clear and odorless water is a good first step in meeting nutritional requirements, but looks can be deceiving. In a recent presentation, Cheryl Waldner, DVM, Beef Cattle Council, Western College of Veterinary Medic...

Maine has emerged as a national leader in researching and responding to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in agricultural land. While PFAS contamination has impacted dozens of Maine farms, even causing some to permanently cease operations, Duncan Pfaehler, a senior planner wit...

Pamela Rickenbach is owner, founder and director of Anam Cara Farm in Canaan, Maine, a sanctuary for retired, disabled and homeless workhorses. She is also founder and director of Stardust Organics, offering organic soil treatments that regenerate overworked, distressed soil. For seven years, she ha...