Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) is a voluntary food safety audit program requiring minimum standards for the production, handling, packing, and storing of fresh fruits and vegetables. Many wholesale buyers, including grocery stores, schools, and other institutions, require GAPs certification from farms in order to purchase their produce. Farms considering expanding their wholesale markets should attend this training.

Open the all Onion Enthusiasts, the 2023 Muck Onion Growers Twilight Meeting will feature new developments in fungicide resistance and efficacy for Stemphylium leaf blight, and roll out of 2023 fungicide cheat sheets. Tour a herbicide trial with demonstrations of what to do if you miss pre-emergent application of Buctril, when it's too dry for Prowl to work properly, and killing big weeds in little onions (post-emergent herbicides). Tour the onion maggot insecticide trial and hear thrips management updates. This educational event is immediately followed by a catered dinner; both are FREE thanks to generous sponsors!

2.0 DEC recertification credits available in categories 1A, 10 and 23, and 0.25 credits in category 4. CCA credits will also be available.

This meeting is a peer learning event that gathers produce auction growers together to tour another farmer's produce farm. A pest management discussion will be facilitated by Cornell Vegetable Program. Details on each topic will focus on field observations at the farm.

DEC recertification credits will be offered (1.75 credits in categories 10, 1a, 23, 24). 

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) is inviting interested parties to participate in a listening session to discuss the proposed changes to the apple crop insurance program. These proposed changes were published in a Proposed Rule with request for comments on December 16, 2021.

RMA invited public comments on this rule through April 15, 2022. RMA received comments to the Proposed Rule from approximately 200 interested parties. RMA is taking this opportunity to engage with interested parties to clarify the intent of the Proposed Rule before finalizing changes.

Walk from crop to crop, learning hands-on pest, disease and weed ID and scouting techniques. IPM control tactics for both preventative and reactive management will be discussed in group dialogues. 2.0 DEC credits offered (categories 1a, 23).

$10 per farm

Pre register by Monday, July 10th at 9 am

Join us for a field afternoon at the Cornell Willsboro Research Farm and Juniper Hill Farm in Essex County to learn about growing small fruit crops in northern New York. We'll discuss considerations for site selection, varieties, pruning, integrated pest management, marketing, and more. In addition to strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, we'll cover novelty small fruits and nuts for specialty markets and hear from local producers who grow them.

1.75 DEC credits approved in categories 1A, 10, and 22

Rain date: This event will be held at the same time on Thursday, July 13th if thunderstorms and/or significant rain are predicted on the 11th

This meeting is a peer learning event that gathers produce auction growers together to tour another farmer's produce farm. A pest management discussion will be facilitated by Cornell Vegetable Program. Details on each topic will focus on field observations at the farm.

DEC recertification credits will be offered (1.75 credits in categories 10, 1a, 23, 24). 

Tour research plots examining various tillage and no-till strategies supplemented by tarp usage for weed control and nitrogen retention. Early plots with rye were planted to cabbage, and later plots with rye and vetch were planted to winter squash. You will also see how tarps are being used on the small-scale (1 acre) garden level to prepare multiple beds for weed-free direct seeding of crops, and see a field being prepared for vegetable crops with no-till drilled cover crop successions. Event is made possible through generous support of the NY Farm Viability Institute.

Calibrating pesticide sprayers for best results

University of New Hampshire Extension Field Specialist Emeritus, George Hamilton will demonstrate the importance of and best techniques to calibrate air blast sprayers. Proper calibration will ensure effective, efficient, economical and legal spraying.  Inadequate spray coverage is usually the cause of poor spray efficacy and additional spray applications. Overuse of some sprays results in unhealthy residues and can lead to fines.

Calibration should be done several times each season, or when you incorporate any new equipment or repairs - from the tractor to the nozzle.  Join us for a refresher or send new employees for training.  This workshop is open for any grower that relies on either an airblast sprayer to deliver plant protectants to fruit or vegetable crops or a boom sprayer.  
Please note that locations and times vary for each workshop. This is the July 18th airblast workshop. For simultaneous Spanish translation and boom sprayer calibration, please sign up for the July 19th workshop.

Both workshops will provide audio amplification, handouts and refreshments. 

Tuesday, July 18 - Airblast Sprayer Calibration Workshop
 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm at Porpiglia Farms
71 Porpiglia Drive, Marlboro, NY  12542

Walk from crop to crop, learning hands-on pest, disease and weed ID and scouting techniques. IPM control tactics for both preventative and reactive management will be discussed in group dialogues. 2.0 DEC credits offered (categories 1a, 23).

Join Mike in Chazy on July 20th to hear about some of the on-farm research trials he's conducting in the Champlain Valley this summer. In addition to his discussion of preliminary findings, you will have the opportunity to observe the various field treatments firsthand.  

Pesticide credits in categories 1A, 10, and 22 pending