Sustainable Farming on the Urban Fringe
New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station | Rutgers Cooperative Extension
These newsletters provide practical insights for farmers, communities, and policy makers looking to maintain thriving, healthy, durable farms in New Jersey's densely packed urban fringe.
For older newsletters, see the Newsletter Archives.
Wide rows on a u-pick farm provide space for people to make multiple harvests. Plant spacing affects yield.
More and more, people without experience in agriculture are entering “the field” either as new farmers, community economic development sociologists, urban policy planning professionals, or individuals in search of grant opportunities. Goal setting by people new to farming must be grounded in reality.
Implementing new technology, the results of applied research, is one reason American agriculture has been so successful. Innovation is an important component of sustaining farming on our urban fringe.
This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Briefing, we check out how an innovation, newly available in NJ, helps growers save money and lessen environmental impact.
[Read more…]
This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Briefing, we show you where to find answers on figuring out where your energy dollars are being spent and how to maximize efficient energy use – in a way that’s understandable for us mere mortals.
The NJAES Ag Engineering team has produced three fact sheets and, in partnership with NRCS NJ USDA, will hold workshops stepping through the various processes this week. Don’t miss them.
This month in the Sustaining Farming on the Urban Fringe Newsletter:
Today’s market for shipped market tomatoes doesn’t allow us to simply go back to growing the varieties of the 1930’s.
Our breeding program, variety evaluations, and conducting consumer tastings are the path to redesigning a Jersey Tomato to meet the needs of today’s markets and consumer expectations. The Jersey Jems trademark, prepared by Ag Agent Peter Nitzsche, offers farmers a Jersey marketing identity for better grape tomatoes. These projects, together with our work evaluating heirloom tomatoes, connecting with consumers at the Great Tomato Tasting, and identifying superior post-WWII hybrids, contribute to sustaining New Jersey’s signature tomato crop.
