News Articles

February 2005

Container-Grown Evergreens is the “Woodlots” feature in Farming (March ’05). “For the last five years David Hartikka has grown and field-tested Christmas tree seedlings and transplants from seed in containers under greenhouse conditions at his 250-acre farm in rural Voluntown, Conn. This grower found that his plants performed extremely well under harsh field conditions and decided to gear up for commercial production last year. . . . The species are Fraser, Canaan, Douglas, Concolor and Grand firs; Colorado Blue, White, Meyer and Serbian spruces; and White pine. . . . Hartikka and his farm workers plant seeds in containers that are placed in racks where they are grown in a large greenhouse on the farm. . . . Hartikka is introducing his Power Plugs transplants for sale this spring. These large, two-year-old transplants have been replanted into larger containers and grown on for a second year and eventually brought outside to harden off before they are sold.”

Estate Planning—Why You Need to Think About It Now (Minnesota Fruit & Vegetable Growers Assn., Feb. ’05). “A recent study by Successful Farming magazine shows that two-thirds of all US farmers and food producers have not named a successor for their business. In addition, more than half of those producers have no estate plan. If you think about the billions of dollars in assets held by farm producers, the findings of the survey are certainly concerning. If your family and business goals are to keep the farm business in the family and insure the business continues on, a current transfer plan and associated estate plan are essential. Read more at Farm Survival.

SWOT: Defining Your Business for 2005 (Country Folks Grower, Feb. ’05) recommends SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis as “a good way to measure your business success from many different angles and in doing so, look for ways to improve your performance and bottom line. . . . If you face a number of weaknesses and threats to the business, you need to begin figuring how to turn the threats into opportunities. . . . Likewise, utilize your important strengths and opportunities to seize new customers and sell more product or services. In other words, capitalize on what you already do well and improve on those features even more. . . . There’s no magic or mystery to a SWOT analysis, in fact the process can be a fun way to engage your family and employees in a brainstorming session that will ultimately pay dividends in the long run.”

Climate Change and Agriculture (Farming, Feb. ’05) asks “Scientists have found that even a little change in temperature has a powerful effect. The frost-free growing season in New England is one week longer than it was a century ago. Lake ice breaks up about five days sooner. Across the Northeast, lilacs and apples have been shown to be flowering earlier in the spring than they were in the 1960s. . . . many scientists believe the main culprit behind climate change is human activity that generates carbon dioxide (CO2), primarily by burning fossil fuels. . . . The United States currently leads the world by generating over 5 tons of CO2 per persons per year. . . . There are many ways that farmers can cope with climate change. This could be with a different mix of crops, modified production systems and changes in pest management.” The article also details things farmers can do to “work to mitigate their contribution to the problem.” Read the complete article at Climate Change.

The Wollemi Pine Back from the Brink (Public Garden, Vol 19, 2004). “The Wollemi pine . . . is also often referred to as the Jurassic pine as it is understood to have existed at the same time as the dinosaurs. Scientists who thought that the Wollemi pine had been extinct for millions of years and actually identified it through fossil records claim that its discovery is the botanical find of the century and akin to finding a dinosaur alive. . . . Discovered by chance in 1994 in a remote gorge within the Wollemi National Park (Australia) . . . With less than 100 mature Wollemi pines in the wild, the location is a closely guarded secret.” Many articles about the Wollemi pine are available on the internet by entering “Wollemi pine”into your search engine.

Technology Overcomes Rural Power Limitations (Ontario Christmas Tree News, 2005 , Issue 1) “explains how you can install and economically operate large HP motors to power equipment on your farm, even if you only have single-phase power. . . . The product that makes this possible has been available for a number of years. It is called an AC Drive and is part of a family of software-controlled products known as Programmable Logic Circuits (PLCs).” The author, a Christmas tree grower in Ontario, Canada, learned about AC Drives when exploring “a dedicated power source for the pump to maintain the required pressure in our farm’s irrigation water mains.”

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