farming

Fretting Over The Farm Bill

Laura Knoy — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:00:00 +0000

Congress is in the midst of renewing this giant legislation, after missing its first deadline to do so. And New Hampshire farmers are keeping an eye on this process, they want assurances a final measure won’t just favor big agribusiness, but also, the smaller farms prevalent in our region. We’ll find out the bill might include and what’s at stake for the Granite State.

Guests

Commissioner Lorraine Merrill- NH Commissioner of Agriculture, Markets, and Food; dairy farmer in Stratham
Ray Conner- Beg

Traditional Pork Production Finds Home In N.H.

Todd Bookman — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:17:09 +0000

On Edward Epsen’s farm in Salisbury, New Hampshire, around 40 pigs are doing what lucky pigs get to do: forage for acorns and graze in pastures high with Timothy grass.

“So we are going to be killing this pig here, and the other one that was walking around on this side of the electric net," says Epsen. “It slipped out of sight for the moment…oh, there he is.”

The two that will die in a few minutes are American Mulefoots, a rare breed known for its lard.

When Epsen approaches, the 250-pound pigs roll onto their backs.

The Muddle Over Milk

Laura Knoy — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:00:00 +0000

We talk to the author of a new book about what he calls the "failed economics of the traditional small dairy farm”

Lessons Learned At Farm Camp

Rick Ganley — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Many kids spent their summer vacation attending camp. Maybe it was the typical cabin-in-the-woods experience, with swimming and archery lessons. Surely you or someone you know was shuttling their young aspiring athlete to and from sports camps of one sort or another. Budding engineers may have headed for science programs. There are kids, however, who spent a week or two learning to milk a goat, as well as the finer points of feeding a 700 pound pig. They did that- among other activities- at the Educational Farm at Joppa Hill in Bedford.

Community Supported Agriculture Brings Farmers Popularity, If Not Prosperity

Brady Carlson and Amanda Loder — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:25:02 +0000

One of the buzzwords we hear around the economy these days is “certainty” – that if we all had a better idea of what the economy was going to throw our way, we’d be better able to prepare for it.

Refugees Start Fresh on the Farm

Todd Bookman — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:31:43 +0000

As a farmer in Bhutan, Laxmi Narayan Mishre provided food and stability for his family.

But when ethnic tensions flared in the small Himalayan country, his land was seized.

With his wife and ten children, Mishre would spend the next two decades living in a cramped refugee camp in neighboring Nepal. Rumors swirled about a possible resettlement to America, and what life would be like here.

At The Community Garden, It's Community That's The Hard Part

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 21:44:00 +0000

You may think that the great historic debate between communism and private property is over.

Well, it's not. Not at your local community garden.

Take, for example, the experience of Campos Community Garden in Manhattan's East Village.

Eight years ago, the garden was decrepit and abandoned. Beverly McClain walked by it all the time, on the way to her daughter's school.

Wanted: Young Farmers

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:00:00 +0000

EarthTalk®
E - The Environmental Magazine

Record-High Food Prices Boost Farmers' Bottom Lines

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:01:00 +0000

Part of a series

Thanks to high commodity prices and surging productivity, U.S. farmers earned a net income of nearly $98 billion last year — a record, according to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.

Those strong earnings are helping boost the demand for farmland.