Posts Tagged: UCCE

Summer Cover Crops - Creating a Drought Resilient Farm

In the current, extreme drought we are experiencing in Placer and Nevada counties, making decisions about row crop production can be challenging. Many of us already employ water efficient irrigation techniques like drip and mulch. But drought planning on the farm needs to be a combination of dealing with current situations while also preparing for the high probability of future, and potentially more severe drought conditions. One production decision addresses both: growing a summer cover crop. By growing a drought tolerant, summer cover crop you can productively fallow land during the dry months to conserve water. A summer cover crop will provide a large addition of soil organic matter which will increase the water retention in your soil during future growing seasons. Cover crops also add nutrition to the soil and decrease weed pressure.

There are a number of great summer cover crops to try.  Sudangrass (Sorghum bicolor) is a great choice for the foothills during the heat of summer. It requires an initial watering at planting but can be dry farmed once established. Take caution before grazing ruminants on sudangrass as it contains highly toxic prussic acid (hydrocyanic acid.)  Sudangrass has lower concentrations of prussic acid than its relative Sorghum or Sorghum-Sudangrass hybrids but it is still present in the leaves and roots of the plant. Hogs and chickens are less susceptible to prussic acid poisoning.

Another great choice for a summer cover crop is buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum.)  Buckwheat will also grow in very dry conditions once established. It creates wonderful forage for bees and beneficial insects, is very fast growing, and helps make phosphorous more available in your soils (http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/covercrop/res/1994-1996/other/mini-review).  Buckwheat's broad leaves and fast growth make it an ideal “smother crop” that will effectively shade out problematic weeds.

Cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata) is a good legume choice for the dry summer. They will add a lot of nitrogen to your soils and will also help suppress summer weeds. Both buckwheat and cowpeas can be used as forage crops as well.

Grow a bed of summer cover crop or grow an entire field. Try a mix of species or just one type of plant. Whichever choice you make, summer cover crops will help you farm productively under the constraints of drought.

For more information on summer cover crops, check out these resources:

http://asi.ucdavis.edu/sarep/database/covercrops

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/hil/hil-37.html

cowpeas and japanese millet

sorgum sudangrass

Marketing Academy on February 15th and 16th

On Friday and Saturday, the 15^th and 16^th of February, the UC Cooperative extension here in Auburn will be hosting a Marketing Academy which will cover topics ranging from increasing sales at farmers’ markets, to learning about wholesale marketing.

 

The first workshop (Friday, February 15^th, 1-4 PM) will focus on using health and nutritional information as marketing tools to help boost product sales.  In the past several months, we at UCCE have been producing nutritional cards for various crops, and distributing them when we do tastings at farmers’ markets.  We have seen a tremendous response to this type of marketing and education, and want to ensure that farmers learn about this process and how to incorporate it into their sales operations. 

 

We will kick off Saturday, February 16^th (8-Noon), with a workshop about increasing sales at farmers markets.  So much of this has to do with relationship building, creating a visually appealing stall, and, of course, brining your best product to market.  Most farm operations can always do better in one or more of these aspects, and many farms can improve in all three.  This workshop will give practical tips and tricks to help boost those sales.

 

To conclude the Marketing Academy, on Saturday the 16^th (1-5PM), we will have a workshop entitled “How to Break into Wholesale.”  This workshop will provide information for growers new to wholesale, as well as for those with some experience with wholesale sales.  Farmers markets, as we all know, each have a limit in the volume of sales.  Wholesale venues give access to larger markets and the potential for a greater volume of sales.  For some operations, wholesale marketing is the key to becoming financially viable.  At this workshop, farmers will learn the “ins and outs” of selling to several wholesale buyers, who range from a small local grocery store, to a wholesale distributor.

 

The importance of marketing in a farming operation should not be understated.  Any farm depends as much upon production as it does upon marketing.  From choosing an appropriate display for a farmers’ market, to deciding whether or not to engage in wholesale marketing, these decisions have profound effects on the viability of a farming operation. 

 

Come and learn more about marketing and ways to improve your strategies for the impending farming year.  For more information and to register for these workshops, click here:  http://ucanr.org/sites/placernevadasmallfarms/?calitem=180483&g=22527

Mandarin Festival Local Food Dot Survey Results

The Mountain Mandarin Festival wrapped up on Sunday, amidst sun and happy shoppers.  Though it rained like heck on Saturday, the Festival nevertheless saw a tremendous turnout.  Overall, the Festival was a huge success.

At the UCCE booth, we held tastings of PlacerGrown fruit, and conducted a simple Local Food Dot Survey.  The shoppers leapt at the chance to taste Fuyu persimmons, Fuji apples, Yali and Okusankicki Pears. 

There were over 300 responses for The Dot Survey, which yielded insightful results.  Full results can be seen on the table below, but here are some of the more thought-provoking highlights:

-          52.9% of respondents answered that they purchased locally grown fruits and veggies weekly.

-          49.2% of respondents answered that they purchased these fruits and veggies at a farmers’ market.

-          47.7% cited convenience as the main factor keeping them from purchasing more locally grown fruits and veggies

-          47.7% defined “local” as “From my county and adjacent counties.”

One main point to keep in mind is that the shoppers at the Mountain Mandarin Festival likely do not represent shoppers in general.  Consider that this festival is billed around locally grown mandarins, add in the non-stop rain on Saturday, and we can surmise that these shoppers are more likely than most to purchase locally grown products.  This is evidenced by the fact that 52.9% said they purchased locally grown fruits and veggies weekly, and 49.2% responded that they purchased these fruits and veggies at a farmers’ market. 

That said, 47.7% still responded that convenience (or lack thereof) was the major factor keeping them from purchasing more locally grown fruits and vegetables.  Based on these results, ease-of-access is paramount to growing the local food movement.  Armed with this data, we will need to consider how to make local food, and the markets that offer it, more readily accessible and convenient. 

One of the more interesting insights cannot be extrapolated from the data on the table.  While speaking with people over the weekend, we noticed that some shoppers believe that any food purchased at a local grocery store (such as Briar Patch Co-op) is “local”.  For instance, one respondent told me that she only purchased locally produced fruits and veggies.  I then asked her if she ate bananas.  She replied that she did.  I then pointed out that bananas are not grown locally, but she countered that they are from Briar Patch.  This was one example of confusion between “locally grown fruits and veggies”, and a “local grocery store.”  I do not know how prevalent this confusion is in our society, but it is something to consider.   The other side of the coin would be that it does not matter, and that as long as people are shopping at a store like Briar Patch, they are inevitably going to run into local produce, so we should not discourage those types of shopping habits. 

All in all, the Local Food Dot Survey gave insight into what we can do to make sure that, in the future, more people are making weekly purchases of locally grown fruits and vegetables.

 

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