By Kate Halstead, WSU Extension
EVERETT, Wash. – Accurate and up-to-date financial records are essential for successful farms and agricultural businesses. A workshop, “Farm Recordkeeping for Productivity and Profitability,” will be offered 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, at Washington State University Snohomish County Extension’s Cougar Auditorium, 600 128th St. SE, in Everett.
RITZVILLE, Wash. – Get to “Know Your Food” and enjoy a lunch featuring local ingredients and Ferdinand’s ice cream during a fun afternoon on the farm hosted by Washington State University Lincoln-Adams County Extension.
By Cathy McKenzie, WSU Mount Vernon
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – Free, voluntary, on-farm assessments will continue through March to help beef cow-calf producers across the state reduce the risk a deadly respiratory disease poses to their herds.
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – Participants will dig into quality, hands-on learning at a “Practical Soil Health for Farmers” workshop 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13, at Washington State University’s Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center, 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon.
EVERETT, Wash. – “Buying local” is among more people’s New Year’s resolutions. Farmers can capture a share of this trend by gaining skills in business planning and direct marketing.
by Brian Charles Clark, College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences
PULLMAN – An international team of scientists from Italy, France, New Zealand, Belgium and the USA have published a draft sequence of the domestic apple genome in the current issue of Nature Genetics.
The availability of a genome sequence for the apple will allow scientists to more rapidly identify which genes provide desirable characteristics to the fruit and which genes and gene variants provide disease or drought resistance to the plant. This information can be used to rapidly improve the plants … » More …
PULLMAN – Washington State University, in partnership with several national agricultural and food organizations, is hosting a one-day, workshop on the preparation and management of competitively awarded, systems-based grant applications. The event will be held 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 8.
Partnering with WSU are the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE), the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), and the Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) within the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
These organizations require that grant applicants use a systems approach to meet challenges faced … » More …
Andy Bary, a researcher at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center, addresses a crowd of people enrolled in a workshop on raising chickens in Tacoma. (Photo by Chris Benedict, WSU Pierce County Extension)
TACOMA — Probably fewer than 100 people in Tacoma raise chickens for eggs, guesses Chris Benedict, WSU Pierce County Extension educator, but that number might double after last weekend.
Prompted by numerous phone calls, Benedict organized a workshop on small-scale egg production that took place Saturday at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. About 110 people attended the class “Chicken Management … » More …
PUYALLUP – Walk through an early spring organic orchard and learn effective marketing techniques for a variety of fruit. Dennis and Nancy Nicholson will share their expertise in direct marketing and running an on-site seasonal fruit stand which features their pears, apples, cherries, peaches, raspberries, grapes and preserves along with neighboring farms’ fruit.
The Nicholsons are third-generation orchardists committed to providing nutritious, fresh food. Of their fifty acres, ten are certified organic, ten are in transition, and the remaining are conventional. “It’s more of challenge to grow organic because the orchards need to be sprayed more frequently and it takes more overall work,” said Nicholson, … » More …
PUYALLUP — This fall local farmers and those interested in becoming farmers have an opportunity to learn about new farming models. Selected county extension offices in Washington and Idaho are now taking registrations for a weekly course titled Sustainable Small Farming and Ranching. This evening course is part of an expanding series developed by the Cultivating Success program of Washington State University and the University of Idaho. Courses are already beginning in some areas, but late registrations are being accepted.
This 12-to-14 week course combines classroom and on-farm experience to give students lessons in technical … » More …