Tag Archives: crops

Meet Chris Drake at Sandy Point Farms.

Posted on November 2, 2015 by laurab08

His operation, situated in Southampton County near the southeastern corner of Virginia, produces a number of integral crops for the region including cotton, peanuts, soybeans, and corn. In fact, according to the most recent census, Southampton County is ranked first in the state for cotton and peanut production, second for soybeans, and third for wheat.

Peanut harvest at Sandy Point Farms

When it comes to produce, Sandy Point also excels. While Chris’ father and brother work primarily on the row crop side of the farm, Chris is responsible for managing production of sweet corn and watermelons, neither of which are uncommon on farms around this region. “A lot of people don’t realize that we have a large commercial watermelon production industry,” says Chris. “Ag in Southeast Virginia is extremely diversified.”

Less common, on the other hand, are commercial pumpkin operations in Southeastern Virginia. Sandy Point Farms, with an impressive seventeen acres of pumpkins, stands as an exception. Chris got started with his first acre fourteen years ago. Today, he grows so many pumpkins that he focuses nearly all of his attention on the wholesale market. “Most others are around two or three acres and are selling retail,” he says of other operations in the region.

Though Chris has managed to build success with pumpkins, their relative rarity in large-scale production in Southampton County is not without reason. “One thing that’s helped Chris is developing a good market. Growing these crops can be a challenge, but you have to be able to sell and market the crop as well. That might be why most growers around here stick to traditional commodities,” says Austin Brown, the Virginia Cooperative Extension agent who serves Chris Drake and other farmers in the county. “I think Chris has been able to tap into the urban areas and capitalize on the demand from these large populations.”

Austin Brown, Southampton County Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Agent, visits with Chris Drake at Sandy Point Farms.

Austin, who earned an undergraduate degree at North Carolina State University and a master’s degree at Virginia Tech, worked alongside several crop researchers to gain experience in agronomy before he joined Extension. In his current role, he helps producers like the Drake family at Sandy Point who rely on dependable crop management information. When certain field problems arise, timely updates are critical so that growers can protect their crops. “That’s something I try to do to help Chris and all people growing watermelons and cucurbits,” says Austin. “We diagnosed downy mildew, and I called all the producers,” says Austin as he recalls wet, cloudy conditions favoring the development of this disease earlier this summer. “This year has been a mixed bag of weather. It was wet early and we saw some nutrient leaching, then it was like that spigot just turned off,” he says.

Those early wet conditions created special concerns for Chris and his pumpkin crop, as plants on the ground are prone to a number of diseases that can make the fruit unmarketable. “The two biggest challenges are disease control and marketing, in my opinion,” Chris says. He protects his crop throughout the growing season each year, but the threat of rain in late summer can push him to adjust his harvest date expectations. “Weather determines most of that. If it’s wet, we get them off the ground ASAP,” he says. Harvest itself is generally more labor-intensive than other pumpkin chores, often requiring a twelve to fifteen hour work day. In between, there are plenty of tasks and decisions to keep Chris up late and awake early. “A lot of times I’m up at four or five in the morning looking at market reports, deciding what to do for the day,” he remarks.

Prior to developing his current undertakings at Sandy Point Farm, Chris honed his agronomy background in school and at work. His undergraduate degree and master’s degree from Virginia Tech not only equipped him to be the most ardent Hokie fan for miles around, but also prepared him for his current career. When he is not taking care of his farm at home, he serves PhytoGen Cottonseed as a territory agronomist covering northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. He spends a considerable portion of his work running on-farm research plots and yield trials and presenting data at about fifty grower meetings each spring. In all, he is responsible for 250,000 acres of cotton through his job.

Chris and his family grow cotton on their farm.

Though all of the crops at Sandy Point Farms provide a diversified income stream, the pumpkins are a point of pride for Chris because they attest to an uncommon accomplishment for his growing region. When asked what he considers his greatest achievement, he says, “I started out with a half-acre in 2001 and now I’m up to seventeen acres. The quality of the pumpkins I’m producing in this area is competitive with the other growers from Southwest Virginia.” He believes the key to his success lies with marketing a top-notch product. One look at his trailer loads of perfectly orange, evenly-sized pumpkins with textbook stems is proof that know-how, dedication, and an eye for new marketing opportunities can be worth the effort to grow something a little unconventional.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Sandy Point Farms

Specialty Crop Profile: Pumpkins

Meet a Virginia Cooperative Extension Soybean Test Plot

Posted on May 28, 2015 by laurab08

Cover photo credit-Lindy Tucker; above-Taylor Clarke

Instead of our usual narrative, this month we are sharing a video documenting our on-farm soybean test plots and explaining how we use these plots to generate decision-making tools for crop farmers in Virginia. As you will learn, developing test plots requires careful pre-planning and calculations, good management throughout the season, and special data collection at harvest time. This crop performance data becomes available to farmers each year, fueling agricultural progress and profitability. In the video, we explain the whole process from start to finish while tracking one of our plots which was planted in Southside Virginia in 2014. Click the play button to begin watching.

Want to learn more? Read our previous story here about Extension agent Taylor Clarke and his on-farm soybean plot.

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Photo credit (here and images below)-Lindy Tucker

Additional Resources for Readers:

2014 Virginia On-Farm Soybean Test Plots

Virginia Soybean Update

Virginia Soybean Board

Meet Maple Dell Farm.

Posted on January 9, 2015 by laurab08

Introduction: We normally feature Virginia farms, but rules can be broken! I recently visited my hometown and met with the Patrick family at their nearby farm. I also have a bit of a personal connection to their story—Caitlin and Derek Patrick were in the same 4-H program that I was, and I saw the family at the Howard County Fair each year where we all exhibited our livestock.–Laura Siegle

The 160-cow dairy, a fixture in the Howard County farm landscape, is one of the last of its kind in Howard County, Maryland. Nonetheless, a typical day on the farm for the Patrick family at Maple Dell is much like life on any of the many family-run dairies scattered across the state. The cows walk to the milking parlor twice each day, and each cow’s udder is cleaned and milked over the course of several minutes.

Unlike cows, who eat a mixed ration, calves on dairies like Maple Dell drink milk or milk replacer and are slowly transitioned to a diet of “calf starter” and hay as they grow so that they can develop healthy rumens.

In between trips to the parlor and judicious equipment cleanup after each milking, there is no shortage of chores. Each day, the family must blend a ration consisting of farm-grown silage, hay, grain, and minerals and deliver it to the barns. This dairy ration, calculated with precision according to the needs of the cows and the nutrient makeup of each ingredient, consists largely of forages like hay and silage to keep each cow’s digestive tract and rumen microbes healthy.

Manure is cleaned out of the barn regularly to create a clean, comfortable environment for the milking herd. In fact, in one barn, the cows have free access to enter and leave a set of “free stalls” bedded deeply with sand. In another barn, the “pack barn,” cows can lie down as they please on a thick layer of shavings. The Patrick family knows that good housing that enhances “cow comfort,” as the industry calls it, leads to happy, healthy, and productive cows.

Like most dairies, the Patrick family raises their calves in hutches that provide shelter and enable individualized feeding and monitoring of each animal. Heifer calves which have been weaned live together as they grow to breeding and calving age. Aside from caring for the animals, the family also must manage the crops they grow which include corn, soybeans, barley, wheat, triticale, alfalfa, timothy hay, and orchard grass hay.

Maple Dell certainly looks a typical dairy in its day-to-day functions, but its tradition of exhibiting top-notch cattle and supporting the Howard County 4-H program is rather extraordinary. Although most of the herd consists of Holsteins, one of the most common dairy breeds, one third of the cattle are red-and-white Ayrshires. The family exhibits both breeds. In fact, the Patrick family has been showing cattle for the past seventy years ever since David and James Patrick began taking their Ayrshires to fairs. Most recently, Maple Dell cattle have gone locally to the Howard County Fair, the Maryland Spring Show, and the Maryland State Fair. At the State Fair, the family has brought the Holstein Senior Best Three Females for two years in a row.

The Patricks have also traveled to the prestigious All-American Dairy Show and the World Dairy Expo. Their cattle have undergone the “classification” process which objectively appraises animals for a variety of traits on a 1-100 point scale. The outstanding EX-95 classification that has been assigned to three Holsteins and one Ayrshire bred by Maple Dell is a testament to the quality of the cattle the family produces.

Calf hutches provide shelter during cold winter weather.

It would be remiss to look at the farm’s breeding and showing achievements without acknowledging its contribution to the county’s 4-H program. The 4-H program in Howard County has long been a standout opportunity for youth to gain skills ranging from robotics to livestock judging. Farms in the county have dwindled and dairy farms are far more rare, but thanks to the Patrick family, youth with or without farming backgrounds have the opportunity to lease dairy heifers and exhibit them in the Howard County Fair, an event where the 4-H program shines and youth showcase their skills and projects over the course of a week in front of thousands of attendees from the community.

This cow and her herd mates are lying down on a bed of sand. Cows can enter and exit these bedded “free stalls” as they please to go eat, drink, or socialize.

For many years the Patricks have organized a dairy club education and showing program. Youth who join can keep their leased heifer at the farm if they do not have their own facilities. Twenty or thirty heifers from Maple Dell are leased out to children through this program each year. 4-H members who lease a heifer must keep detailed “project records” on their animal, including notes on care and reports on expenditures, and preparing the heifers for the fair is certainly is nothing short of a project. Heifers must first learn to be handled and walk quietly when led. They must also be brushed, bathed, and clipped, among other tasks. The process instills responsibility, confidence, and character in youth who participate in the process from start to finish.

The Patrick family is deeply rooted in their passion for excelling in their business, serving the industry, and engaging youth in agricultural production. This tradition was built by the dedication of parents and grandparents who had high expectations for their cattle and appreciated the value of 4-H programs, and today, the Patrick children and grandchildren carry on the tradition. Walk through the Howard County Fair in August, and you just might spot a barn aisle full of Maple Dell calves napping in the straw after a bath and waiting on their turn in the show ring.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Article about the 4-H leasing program at Maple Dell here

Article about Ayrshires at Maple Dell here

Dairy cattle resource from Virginia Cooperative Extension here

University of Maryland 4-H Program here

Meet Taylor Clarke’s Soybean Test Plot

Posted on December 5, 2013 by laurab08

Taylor Clarke hails from south Brunswick and serves Mecklenburg County as the agriculture Extension agent. Most of his work revolves around tobacco, crops, and cattle. Like many Extension agents across the state of Virginia, he also facilitates on-farm research that enables specialists to gauge performance of crops under varying treatments and conditions.

Field trials and test plots are responsible for a broad spectrum of scientific advances in agriculture in past decades and these tests help agriculturalists make new progress each year. New fungicides, insecticides, and herbicides can be compared and tested on crops for safety and efficacy. Variety trials performed each year measure the performance of new seed for yield, hardiness, disease resistance, and other traits that can help farmers improve their efficiency and profitability. The end results of these tests are unbiased research-based recommendations that farmers can use to guide planting and purchasing decisions each year.

Virginia Cooperative Extension’s crop specialists are primarily housed on-campus at Virginia Tech and Virginia State University or at one of eleven agricultural research and extension centers, commonly called “ARECs,” scattered across the state. These specialists perform research on the plots housed at the ARECs, but sometimes they also opt to take their research projects to outside farms. In some cases, what happens when an experiment is run at the research station plot is not consistent with what happens when it is run on a working farm. In other cases, the more plots that can be planted around the region, the better the data. For these reasons, specialists make on-farm work an integral part of their studies.

This is where county Extension agents like Taylor come in. They communicate regularly with specialists and researchers and foster ongoing face-to-face relationships with local farmers. As a result, Extension agents can locate producers willing to host an on-farm plot and then manage and collect project data from planting to harvest with the support of specialists. Agents in Southside Virginia like Taylor work frequently with the specialists housed at the Southern Piedmont AREC in Blackstone or the Tidewater AREC in Suffolk. Although most data on test plots is compiled at the end of the season and must undergo analysis, farmers benefit in the short-term from these test plots when they are used for Extension field days and demonstrations. Many producers enjoy having the hands-on opportunity to see crop varieties planted side-by-side or visually evaluate plants as they grow in disease resistance or disease treatment plots.

Taylor Clarke runs several tests plots each year, including a 2013 test on his farm evaluating performance of soybeans with and without treatment for soybean rust. Soybean rust, a challenging foliar fungal disease, entered the state in late summer this year and had the potential to hurt yields in field where beans had not reached the “R6” maturity stage. Bean seeds in plants that have reached this stage appear full-sized and are touching within the pod; once the plant reaches this point, infection with soybean rust will not cause significant yield loss. However, specialists worried that some double-crop beans and late-maturing beans had not yet reached R6 when soybean rust entered Virginia this year, so Taylor’s test plot was an effort to evaluate the potential impact of treating double-crop soybean beans that could undergo yield loss if the disease were left unchecked.

The field was planted and various sections were treated according to a predetermined experimental design. Because untreated soybean rust hurts yield in plants that have not reached R6 maturity, Taylor chose to use yield as a means to evaluate the performance of the treatments. To collect his data, Taylor used a combine to harvest each section of the plot individually. For every test section of the plot that was cut, the beans were unloaded into a weigh wagon. Each load was then weighed and evaluated for moisture content of the seeds and test weight of the seeds. Test weight measurements give the number of pounds of soybeans in a bushel. After each strip was cut, Taylor measured the length of the harvested strip in order to determine the square feet harvested. He can now use all of his data to determine parameters such as the predicted number of bushels per acre that each test section yielded.

Harvested beans are unloaded into a weigh wagon.

The wagon weighs each load from the combine.

Moisture levels are tested for each load of beans.

Lunenburg agent Lindy Tucker assists Taylor by measuring test weight on beans from each load.

Taylor measures the length of each harvested strip in the plot.

On-farm research plots are not the only thing keeping Virginia Cooperative Extension agents like Taylor busy on a day-to-day basis. Other duties include taking phone calls, visiting farmers daily to assist with troubleshooting and management decisions, teaching and facilitating workshops and educational activities, and providing information to meet the needs of agricultural producers, homeowners, and landowners. Nonetheless, test plots remain a vital part of Extension work because agents appreciate the value that on-farm research brings to agriculture and the role these projects serve in bringing credible, up-to-date information to the people who help grow the nation’s food.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Virginia Soybean Update Blog with Articles Listed by Topic

Virginia On-Farm Soybean Test Plots 2013

Meet David Smith’s grain sorghum.

Posted on October 24, 2013 by laurab08

David raises cattle on his farm in central Virginia, but this year, he also gave sorghum a shot.

Sorghum—or milo, as some call it—is a summer annual plant that was developed in the Upper Nile region of Sudan. It is quite versatile. Most varieties have been developed for grain harvest, while others are chopped for silage as an alternative to corn. Sorghum-sudangrass hybrids are becoming increasingly popular for hay and forage because they can be grown during the summer months when cool-season grasses like tall fescue hit a slump. Varieties that make up the “sweet” sorghums are valued for the juices that are extracted from the plants’ stalks and turned into sorghum syrup, a homestead specialty that has become rather rare. Furthermore, faculty at Virginia State University and other research centers are developing varieties of sorghum that are suitable for use in biofuel production.

Sorghum has been grown for grain in many states for a number of years, but many new producers in Virginia and North Carolina, including David, have recently decided to try it thanks to an increase in demand from livestock operations in the state. The rising costs of fuel, labor, and fertilizer in combination with past periods of drought have raised the cost of feeding corn on these operations. Managers are looking for alternate feeds that equal corn in nutritional content, so sorghum has become a good pick. Most grain sorghum produced in the U.S. is used as animal feed, but sorghum is growing increasingly popular as a gluten-free, high antioxidant food in the U.S. Many farmers favor sorghum because it is more drought-tolerant than corn. While corn and sorghum may both curl up during a dry year, sorghum can wait longer for moisture to return and will bounce back readily after a rain. Sorghum also adds flexibility and diversity to a crop rotation, resulting in easier disease and pest control.

Sorghum plants closely resemble corn during their early growth stages.

David was among many farmers in the state who faced some challenges during the early part of the growing season. Excessive rain washed nutrients out of the soil in high parts of fields, leaving seedlings with shallow roots temporarily deficient in phosphorus. Seedlings in low areas, especially in flat fields in eastern Virginia, faced the risk of drowning. The heavy, constant rains also created a good environment for pressure from seedling disease issues like damping off and root rot. Fortunately, David’s sorghum weathered the late spring and grew out nicely. The same is true for most of the growers across southside and central Virginia. In fact, the middle and late summer moisture was a boon for both corn and sorghum plants in later stages of development.

This sorghum has developed a head but the gain has not filled yet.

Grain sorghum looks like corn throughout its early growth stages, but rather than developing ears, it grows a head with small, rounded seeds that appear as pyramidal cluster. The grain must be harvested before it becomes dry enough to “shatter” or fall off prematurely before or during harvest. Ideally, it should be harvested between 17 and 20% moisture to prevent losses at harvest. However, grain at these moisture levels will spoil easily during storage, so the harvested grain must be dried so that it reaches a safe storage moisture level of 10-12%.

The grain shown here is well-developed and almost ready for harvest.

The future of sorghum in the state looks bright. Sorghum grain is not a complete replacement for corn and not all growers have the equipment to grow and dry it or access to an increasing market, but acreages in parts of the state near large buyers are expected to increase. This year, the drought-ready traits of the crop did not have an opportunity to shine. However, in view of the uncertainty of next year’s weather, many sorghum producers will be better equipped to withstand a dry year. Sorghum is not new to everyone, but thanks to new growers like David and expanding markets in and around the state, it is enjoying a resurgence and helping farmers mitigate risk and diversify their operations.

Additional Resources for Readers:

Sorghum Marketability

Sorghum Variety Data

United Sorghum Checkoff Program Mid Atlantic Production Handbook

Meet Janet and Dan.

Posted on September 26, 2013 by laurab08

They operate Broadfork Farm in Mosely, where they raise their three children and lots of vegetables. Visitors who step onto the property at this time of year are greeted by bright rows of vivacious greens, carrots, and kohlrabi. It is no surprise that the fall crop is doing so well, considering the hard work Janet Aardema and her husband Dan Gagnon have done to create nutrient-rich soil that supports multiple produce plantings and harvests each year.

Broadfork has been in existence for several years and has entered its third year as a full farm business. Many customers are taking advantage of its ability to serve as a “CSA,” or “Community Supported Agriculture” program. CSAs are not incredibly common in the greater Richmond area, but they are becoming more popular. Customers pay in advance for a weekly or monthly subscription to the farm, and in return, they receive bags and boxes of in-season farm goods. The CSA system helps consumers build deeper connections to agriculture, and according to Janet, “Risk can be mitigated well for a diversified farm like ours.” After all, subscribers invest in the farm’s products and therefore also invest in its success. Janet and Dan are working on expanding the CSA program, but they also take their produce to local markets.

The growing season is not over at the end of the summer. Although tomatoes and peppers are winding down, the farm is host to a plethora of cold-hardy cool-season vegetables including broccoli, radishes, carrots, lettuce, kohlrabi, collards, and more. The farm has plenty of unique crops like frisee, escarole, and microgreens, and this summer Dan and Janet experimented with a tomato grafting project. On the side, the farm helps with programs and field days for the Virginia Association for Biological Farming, an organization for agriculturalists that promotes sustainable practices. Janet is their executive director.

Broadfork Farm relies on research, test data, and sustainability guidelines to govern its farm management decisions. Both Janet and Dan are self-described “soil nerds,” and as such, they rely on soil testing to determine levels of micro and macro nutrients and percentages of organic matter in their fields. Dan spends much of his time studying ways to improve his soil and in turn improve the quality of his products. His ultimate goal is to increase the organic matter on parts of his farm. Why? Organic matter increases the water-holding capacity of the soil, releases plant-available nutrients, and helps form soil aggregates that lead to better soil structure. Soil with good structure is more water-permeable.

Dan studies the cation exchange capacity of the soil on his farm as a means of making his fertilizer program more efficient. The higher the cation exchange capacity of a soil, or CEC, the more positively-charged ions from elements like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium the soil can hold, store, and exchange for plants. Clays and soils with high organic matter tend to have high cation exchange capacities, so Dan uses compost and organic materials to build soils with higher CECs. Knowing the traits of his soils allows him to target the areas that need the most fertility help.

Produce from the farm is “Certified Naturally Grown,” meaning that it is produced under a specific set of management principles and the farm undergoes auditing in order to ensure that it continues to meet the expectations of the program. Janet believes that the certification has been a helpful marketing tool. Without it, she used to explain the farm’s practices to customers but could not use any special labeling or branding programs. Now that the produce is certified in this program, she can point to a specific, consistent set of guidelines that governs the way the farm grows its produce. The “Certified Naturally Grown” program is quite similar to the nation-wide “Certified Organic” labeling program, but it differs in the fact that it is designed to uniquely suit the needs of small farmers and direct-market producers like Janet and Dan. Large farms that sell to large outlets are better suited for the “Certified Organic” program, although all producers have access to it.

Broadfork Farm has been successful in providing high-quality foods for their customers and Janet and Dan look forward to the possibility of expanding the CSA portion of their market. They estimate that they have produced enough food to feed one hundred families each year over the past two years. The future holds some additional greenhouses and storage facilities, an increase in acreage, and new adventures in specialty crop production. The family is especially thankful for a chance to serve the needs of the community and work together to turn their passion for local foods into a viable business. Additional Resources for Readers:

Certified Naturally Grown Program Webpage

Virginia Grown Webpage

Vegetable Production Resources and Guides

Broadfork Farm Webpage

Central Virginia Ag Spotlight

Connecting communities to agriculture

Tag Archives: crops

Meet Chris Drake at Sandy Point Farms.

Meet a Virginia Cooperative Extension Soybean Test Plot

Meet Maple Dell Farm.

Meet Taylor Clarke’s Soybean Test Plot

Meet David Smith’s grain sorghum.

Meet Janet and Dan.