Veggie Farming Pt. 2 (BF121)

From Season-Long Care to Harvest

This course continues where BF120 ends and covers vegetable production from transplanting to harvest, including information on in-season fertility, integrated pest management, weed control options, harvesting strategies, and tips for marketing your products. Be prepared to create an in-season fertility and pest/weed control plan as part of this course.

Weekly homework will focus on preparing you to make good decisions in the coming growing season. (Note: You don’t need to take BF 120 to enroll in this course)

From this course I collected a huge document filled with webinar notes, resources, and links that I will continue to use well past the end of the course.” –June C, Greenfield, MA

Target Audience

BEGINNING to INTERMEDIATE: This course is for aspiring farmers and those with at least one growing season of vegetable farming experience. You should already have a basic understanding of how to select crops, manage bed prep, seeding, and transplanting. Because systems vary so much from region to region, this course targets farmers in the Northeastern United States. Farmers outside the region are welcome to register, but should do so knowing that some of the information presented may not be appropriate for their region

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to

Make good decisions about fertility management for your specific crops.
Understand options available for weed, pest, and disease control.
Be able to identify problem weeds, pests and diseases on your farm.
Learn successful harvesting and marketing strategies.

Webinars

The bulk of the course happens on your own time, with discussions, readings, and assignments in MOODLE, our virtual classroom. To add to the experience, webinars will be woven into the online interface of the course to allow you to meet on a weekly basis to learn from outside presenters and ask questions to address your farm issues in real time. If you miss one, they are always recorded and posted for later viewing. Access details will be posted in MOODLE once you have registered and logged in.

Instructors

Amy Ivy is a regional production specialist for the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE).

Darcy Telenko is a regional vegetable specialist with the Cornell Vegetable Program, and is based at the CCE Erie County, NY office.

Dates

March 1 – 29, with Webinars on Wednesdays from 7 – 8:30pm

Course Outline

Week 1: Transplant care, and using soil tests and vegetable guidelines to tailor your fertility program
Week 2: Weed control options (organic and conventional) for the small farm
Week 3: Integrated pest management: Insect identification and control
Week 4: Integrated pest management: Disease identification and control
Week 5: Harvesting and post-harvest handling strategies

Cost and Registration

Fee for this course is $250. Sign up a month or more in advance of the start date and receive $25 off. Sign up for three or more courses and received $50 off your total.