From the Road: “Bike Out Hunger Texas: Fredericksburg to Dallas, Texas” Sometimes I ride for the love of the sport. But sometimes I ride for the love God has given us for other people. Today, it was the latter. As I woke this morning, the fourth day of Bike Out Hunger from woefully too little sleep, I thought about driving a SAG wagon (for non-cyclist this is the motorized vehicle that supports and assist riders on long rides) to give my body a break but I remembered the route and where we were headed. Today we were riding through Priddy.…
Author: urbanagnews
OHP is proud to announce that Triathlon® BA biofungicide is now listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) for organic use. “While Triathlon BA complies with the USDA for organic production, the OMRI listing is a very important additional certification,” notes OHP vice president of sales Terry Higgins. “Triathlon BA is enjoying great success with growers across the country in both organic and traditional growing systems.” Triathlon BA is a broad-spectrum preventative biofungicide for control of a wide variety of fungal and bacterial diseases on ornamentals, fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices grown in greenhouses, nurseries, and shadehouses. Triathlon BA…
Chris Higgins to ride in the Tour de Fresh 2016 to support the Irving Independent School District EVENT DATE: JUL 26, 2016 Tour de Fresh, presented by The California Giant Foundation, is the first-of-its-kind, collaborative event that unites the most significant brands and influencers in the fresh produce industry for a cycling event that raises funds to benefit the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools campaign. The 2014 and 2015 events raised over $300,000 and placed over 90 salads bars in schools across the country! The goal of the 2016 Tour de Fresh and its participants is to privately finance…
September 20-22, 2016 Virginia State University’s College of Agriculture will host the 7th National Small Farm Conference, “Creating and Sustaining Small Farmers and Ranchers,” on September 20-22, 2016, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Virginia Tech. The conference will consist of short courses, oral and poster paper presentations, exhibits, success stories and educational tours in and around Virginia Beach. The National Small Farm Conference, held every three to four years, brings together hundreds of stakeholders who work with small farmers and ranchers. The 2016 conference will include a number of preconference…
Growers at all levels of experience can benefits from four week courses. For the second year, the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension will be offering online training courses in English and Spanish starting on May 30. The courses are to be geared towards helping grower staffs make better crop management decisions. Each course runs for 4 weeks, costs $200 per participant, and includes a personalized certificate of completion. Each week there are two streaming video lessons, readings and assignments (about 3-4 hours total commitment per week), which can be accessed at any time of day. Bilingual…
What’s your definition of a living wage? Average wage for farming is $21,680. This does not cover the annual living expenses for a family of 4 in Dallas, Texas (fairly cheap place to live.) Not even if you multiple it by two assuming both adults are working. Thoughts? (Info graphic was created by Urban Ag News with data from MIT.)
Urban Ag News would like to share the following information that is important to all greenhouse vegetable growers producing organic crops using hydroponic techniques. The following information was provided to UAN from Lee Frankel, Executive Director of The Coalition of Sustainable Organics Many of you have done the difficult work of creating or sustaining successful controlled environment facilities producing fresh produce. You are providing an inspiration to all growers to carefully reconsider all of our assumptions about growing methods. Unfortunately, the very success of your operations is generating a push back from established interests in the organic segment of the market.…
NEW YORK, NY. (April 5, 2016) — Indoor agriculture is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the US as a combination of consumer demand for year-round fresh produce, the partial legalization of medical marijuana and technology advances in lighting and automation drive growth. Indoor Ag-Con – the US indoor agriculture industry’s leading conference – will be returning to New York for the second year on October 5, 2016 to discuss the prospects for this technology-rich industry. The one-day seminar will be hosted at the Helen Mills Theater in Chelsea, NY, and is tailored toward corporate executives from the technology, investment,…
Position: AquaCrop Production Manager Location: Fellsmere, Florida Parabel is an innovative, vertically integrated food ingredient company focused on commercializing novel ingredients produced from water lentils with applications in food, feed and nutrition markets. Parabel has developed two unique food ingredients: LENTEIN and Water Lentil Flour. Parabel’s water lentil products represent more than just superior nutrition, our approach requires: • Taking better care of ourselves and the planet we inhabit • Accountability in the food industry • Bringing responsible global food production and consumption into the 21st Century. We are looking to expand our team to advance our commercial and production activities to meet our growing customer…
AVF Summit 2016 Do you think we should produce our vegetables more efficiently and closer to those that will ultimately consume them? Should we diversify our protein sources to include aquaponically raised fish, or even insects? Do you like the idea of using otherwise wasted materials to grow edible and medicinal mushrooms? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, then you can’t miss the the Association for Vertical Farming Annual Summit and GreenTech 2016 this June in Amsterdam! This year’s AVF Summit will focus on the connection between vertical farming and the notion of a…
Click here to download the issue. Urban Ag News Issue 13 | April 2016 Spring has sprung and so has Urban Ag News Issue 13. Be sure to check out the latest issue which contains some great articles and videos on controlled environment agriculture and urban farming. Urban Ag News’ Issue 13 cover story looks at Green Sense Farms’ efforts to meet the increasing demand for clean, safe produce in both the U.S. and China. Founding farmer and CEO Robert Colangelo talks about how his company is opening additional vertical farming operations in both countries along with a training facility to create job-ready graduates…
Escondido, CA (Mar 1, 2016) – The training division of Archi’s Acres has a new name, Archi’s Institute For Sustainable Agriculture (AiSA). Archi’s Institute For Sustainable Agriculture and Cal Poly Pomona Ag Department announce the launch of a new Hybrid (Sustainable Agriculture Training) Course in addition to the popular Six-week Day Course and 12-Week Nights & Weekends Course. Visit: www.archisinstitute.com to learn more. AiSA has trained transitioning Military Service men and women, as well as members of the general public, to be successful entrepreneurs in the sustainable agricultural industry. Since 2009, more than 300 graduates have learned sustainable methods of growing organic…
Sneak peak into what’s coming up in Issue 13 in April 2016 by Jim Pantaleo It was an honor and a privilege to recently speak with Dr. Gary Stutte, NASA Principal Investigator, and timely too, given the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) events occurring on theInternational Space Station (flowering zinnia and lettuce successfully grown) and in the Oscar-nominated film The Martian. The triple play here is American astronaut Scott Kelly’s safe return to Earth within the past 24 hours after nearly a year aboard the ISS. The below is an excerpt from a larger interview conducted with Dr. Stutte to be…
Gain knowledge and grow your business perspective, obtain key advice and build knowledge from over 20 inspiring speakers tackling over 30 topics in the GreenTech Threatres. Delve deep into the new trends and hottest topics, as well as practical hands-on advice from real-world cases and years of experience. The theatres are focused around the four central themes of GreenTech: water, biobased, energy and crops particularly aimed at growers and investors. A committee of six industry experts advises the organizers on the themes, topics and speakers at the sessions to ensure a high quality knowledge programme that is challenging and…