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September 7, 2008

Farm briefs: Sept. 7, 2008

New York Farm Bureau

offers scholarships

ALBANY -- New York Farm Bureau is encouraging high-school seniors who have been involved with agriculture and plan on continuing studies in this field to apply for the New York Farm Bureau Agricultural Youth Scholarship sponsored by the New York Farm Bureau Promotion and Education Committee. Scholarship awards are $1,500 for first place, $1,200 for second and $1,000 for third place. The first-place winner will be invited to present their essay at the annual Spring Conference.

Students applying must have a family Farm Bureau membership or a student Farm Bureau membership (a membership application may be included with scholarship enclosures). Students are required to submit a brief essay answering the question, "If you had the power to change something in your community or on your farm, what would you change and why?"

At the district level, a personal interview and essay presentation may be scheduled at the discretion of the district representative. The county winner will be the applicant scoring the highest for each county. The district winner will be overall highest county winner. District-level winners will have two weeks from the time they are notified to update any part of their applications. The final applications must be sent to New York Farm Bureau, Albany, N.Y., and postmarked within two weeks of the date of notification for the student to be eligible. The state competition is based upon the application and attachments.

County Farm Bureaus are urged to use the talents of these young people for county events such as Earth Day and Ag Day celebrations, special events, county annual meetings and rural-urban dinners.

The application submission deadline is Nov. 21, 2008. To nominate someone for the scholarship or to request an application, call 1-800-342-4143 or visit www.nyfb.org.

4-H camp to hold barbecue fundraiser

MALONE -- 4-H Camp Overlook will be hosting a chicken-barbecue fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 20. Proceeds from the event, which runs from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and includes a chicken barbecue with all the fixings, will help finance ongoing construction of the camp's Great Hall.

Unlimited access to camp recreation including canoeing, kayaking, basketball and volleyball are included in the admission contribution. The admission for the event is $15 for teens and adults, $10 for children (12 and under) or $40 for an entire family.

For more information, call the Camp Overlook office at 483-4769.

More high-tunnel workshops set for September

PLATTSBURGH -- A series of high-tunnel production workshops has proven so successful that four more free workshops are planned for Sept. 15 and 21. The farmer-driven Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has provided funding for the workshops that feature speakers from Cornell University as well as the host growers sharing their experiences with using the unheated growing structures to produce vegetables, fruit and flowers.

Locally, sessions will be held at 11 a.m. at Bonesteel's Garden Center, Route 11, west of Malone; from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at Campbell's Greenhouse, Cringle Road, Saranac; and from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at Rehobeth Homestead, 66 Jabez Allen Road, Peru.

They will feature Cornell University high-tunnel specialist H. Christian Wien, a professor of horticulture at Cornell University Wien will answer questions on high-tunnel design and construction and wind and temperature management.

"Just putting a sheet of clear plastic over plants can profoundly affect many aspects of plant growth and performance," Wien said, adding that he expects the use of high tunnels in New York to return a gain of $500,000 per year in the farm-gate value of the state's horticultural crops by 2010.

At Bonesteel's, Bruce Bonesteel starts seeds in March and harvests flowers and vegetables through November. In 2008, he started growing some of his crops in trays and pails instead of in the ground in his three high tunnels.

"The trick with high tunnels is getting the watering right," he said. "We are working toward an automated system."

At Campbell's, Ken Campbell likes his six high tunnels because "for sure I will get a good crop with the ability to control the amount of water and temperature and not be subject to the elements such as all the rain this year. The tunnels are inexpensive and they are a great investment."

At Rehoboth, Beth Spaugh-Barber uses high tunnels to organically produce early tomatoes and fall/winter salad crops. "I put our chickens in for a week between tomatoes and salad greens to clean up seeds and bugs. At the open house, I will set up row-cover supports to show how I use cover inside the tunnel to protect the greens from the extreme cold outside. Research shows that it may get no colder than 17 degrees (Fahrenheit) under the row cover even when it is below zero outside," Spaugh said.

Open house co-organizer Amy Ivy of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County said that growing certain types of produce and cut flowers makes good sense in the North Country. "The tunnels extend our short growing season by several weeks and reduce disease problems by keeping rain off the plants. More and more calls are coming in to extension offices around our region for information and those who are already using high tunnels love them. These open-house events provide an excellent opportunity to learn first hand from Cornell specialists and regional growers."

For more information on the high-tunnel workshops, contact the local Cornell Cooperative Extension office. More information and resources for farmers are posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program Web site at www.nnyagdev.org.

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