Category Archives: Agriculture & Food

Bad Weather for Maple Syrup

Posted on 3/27/2007 by AZ

Sunday’s Post-Standard had this article on lagging production Maple Syrup locally. The temperature must be in the low 20s at night and the low 40s during the day for the sap to flow. Warm weather in early winter caused the … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, Climate, Regional News | Leave a comment

Environmental costs of organic versus non-organic food

Posted on 3/26/2007 by AZ

A U.K. Defra report, Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption (pdf warning), compared organic versus non-organic food “life cycles” and concludes that in some circumstances organic agriculture can be more detrimental to the environment than conventional agriculture. Buying organic … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, Research | 1 Comment

Growing Fuel

Posted on 3/13/2007 by AZ

The development of alternative energy and biofuels in Central New York has garnered alot of attention lately. Of course anything to spark our lagging regional economy is met with excitement, but these trends obviously extend globally. Bush’s Latin American tour … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, Biofuels, Economy | Leave a comment

Nitrogen Management on Dairy Farms

Posted on 3/12/2007 by AZ

For the farmers and agronomists out there, I was alerted to this interesting website that assists with the Nitrogen Management on Dairy Farms on the Cornell servers (via the USDA-ARS New & Events Site): Efficient nitrogen (N) management on dairy … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, Sightings | Leave a comment

Biofuels and Manure

Posted on 3/11/2007 by AZ

The biofuel discussion vaguely reminds me of the “biosolids” debate. In the attempt to make the spreading of municipal waste on agricultural land sound more palatable, the sludge was renamed “biosolids” (There is a great little book detailing this story … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, Regional News | Leave a comment

New York’s Part-time Farms

Posted on 5/1/2006 by AZ

The Albany Time-Union has this article on small farms, profiling a “part-time” farmer, Jim Sullivan; a banker who also runs a cattle farm started by his grandfather in Brunswick. Some interesting facts: According to the U.S. Census, which surveys the … →

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Organic Food in the Big Box Economy

Posted on 4/2/2006 by AZ

Last week it was widely reported that Wal-mart has been making substantial moves into the organic food market: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is throwing its weight behind organic products, a move that experts say could have the same lasting effect on … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, Big Box Stores | 1 Comment

Alternative Enery meets the Rural Landscape in Upstate New York

Posted on 3/13/2006 by AZ

Maple Ridge, the largest alternative-energy project east of the Mississippi, as well as other Wind Farm projects are being touted as an “economic bonanza” by some Upstate New York communities according to today’s New York Times (via NYCO). Not only … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, Energy & Energy Conservation, New York Economy | Leave a comment

EPA’s Data for Bullshit Program will Save Factory Farms Millions!

Posted on 1/30/2006 by AZ

To help curb future factory farm pollution, current polluters will be allowed to continue to pollute if they agree to give the government data on the current level of excrement they are releasing into the air. How nice! The Bush … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, General News | Leave a comment

New York Dairy Cooperatives

Posted on 1/8/2006 by AZ

New York State ranks 3rd nationwide in dairy production. Dairy farming is a 2 billion dollar industry in New York State accounting for more than 50% of New York’s farm receipts in 2004 (USDA-ERS New York State fact sheets). Most … →

Posted in Agriculture & Food, New York Economy | Leave a comment