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Inside, you'll find:
- Flooding Resources
- 18th Annual Crops and Soils Field Day Information
- News and Updates
- Events
- Weather Data
- Outcroppings Blog
- Photos
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Flooding Resources
For the third year in a row, parts of Vermont suffered from devastating floods on July 10th. The Northeast Kingdom and Addison County were the most affected areas. As a Team (UVM Extension NWCS), we have always helped our community through difficult times, and this will be no different!
If you or a farmer in your community is in need, please contact Heather Darby at 802-782-6054 or 802-656-7610 or heather.darby@uvm.edu so that we can find ways to assist.
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Our Annual Crops & Soils Field Day is next week!
WHEN: Thursday, July 24, 2025, 10:00 a.m.- 3:30 p.m.
WHERE: Borderview Farm, 487 Line Road, Alburgh, VT 05440
COST: Free for farmers. Other guests are $25 per person. Lunch is included.
Event is rain or shine.
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Session Topics
Keep reading to learn what you can dig into at our upcoming Annual Field Day. This year, we are highlighting many relevant research projects covering pressing topics. There is something for everyone!
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Soil Profile and Compaction
Odette Ménard, Soil and Water Conservation Expert from Quebec
Odette spoke at our No-Till & Cover Crop Conference in February, and she is back by popular demand! She will give a presentation on the soil profile and how your management practices can increase or decrease compaction.
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Organic Vegetable Seed Harvest and Mobile Seed Cleaning Demo
John Bruce, UVM Extension, and Crystal Stewart-Courtens, Cornell University
This season, UVM Extension Research Specialist John Bruce is leading a trial investigating organic vegetable seed production. He will host a session about this trial and will be joined by Crystal Stewart-Courtens from Cornell University. Crystal is bringing her mobile seed cleaner, which contains a Winnow Wizard, small-scale thresher, hand screens, and other tools for small-scale seed cleaning.
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Industrial Hemp Bast Fiber
Laura Sullivan, UVM Extension
Join our bast fiber session in the afternoon for a demo of America’s first mechanized hackler. Procured by the Northwest Crops and Soils team in February 2025, Laura Sullivan will provide a demonstration of the Canadian long fiber machine in action. We will also take a look at the 6 yarn prototypes that the team developed this year in collaboration with Battenkill Fibers in Greenwich New York. These yarns represent the northeast’s first all-local hemp-wool blends in modern history. Not to be missed! All welcome.
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IPM Strategies for Field Crops with the UVM Plant Diagnostic Clinic
Kellie Damann, Ann Hazelrigg, Giovanna Sassi, and Olivia Rist, UVM Extension
Scouting and monitoring your crops is the first step in managing diseases. Session leads will present seed testing disease data from 2024-2025 steam or ozone treatments trials on hemp and grains.
In this session, you will learn about:
- How to scout for problems in the field
- How to identify diseases in the field using symptoms
- Diagnosing in the UVM Plant Diagnostic
- Integrated Pest Management
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Honey Sensory Taste Session
Roy Desrochers, UVM Extension
Our sensory expert, Roy Desrochers, will conduct a sweet sensory tasting session focused on local honey. During this session, Roy will guide guests through a sensory experience where they will learn to detect different flavors in honey and understand where they come from.
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Preservation Party
Kurt Cotanch, Nutrition Consultant, Amber Machia, UVM Extension
Join the NWCS Team and Independent Dairy Nutrition Consultant, Kurt Cotanch, for some fermentation fun! Learn about the process of preservation for ensiled feeds – from harvest to feed out, the key factors that set apart good feed from not-so-good feed. Understand best practices to optimize nutrient and dry matter preservation, conduct a sensory evaluation of forages, and much more!
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Register for the 18th Annual Crops & Soils Field Day now by clicking the button below!
We look forward to seeing you there.
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Field Day at Granite Grains
Our collaborative field day at Granite Grains in Amherst, New Hampshire, was a great success. A big thank you to everyone who attended and supported this event. Click below for a field day recap and to learn more about our partners.
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New Online Course: Production Livestock Grazing
for Technical Assistance Providers
The goal of this course is to provide education and resources for new technical service providers with foundational information around grazing planning and providing grazing-related technical assistance to production livestock farmers in Vermont.
This course can be accessed through the Extension Foundation at https://go.uvm.edu/grazingcourse. You will need to log in or create an account to take the course. This is a free course that can be taken at any time and your own pace.
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Grass-Fed Dairy Pasture Walks
There are 4 upcoming pasture walks in July and August. These workshops will include interactive discussions on grazing management, soil health and fertility, forage quality, and key strategies for success for grass-fed dairy farms. Learn about the experiences of other farmers as you tour their operations. All of these pasture walks are free to attend
Monday, July 28, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Doug and Mary Morse’s Farm, 4422 Dixon Road, Mannsville, NY
Tuesday, July 29,12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Casler Farm, 289 Nulls Road, Little Falls, NY
Steven Weaver’s Farm, 4933 Peterboro Road, Morrisville, NY
Tuesday, August 5, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Lawrence Horst’s Farm, 372 County Route 20, Constable, NY
Wednesday, August 13, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
To register, please contact Susan Brouillette at susan.brouillette@uvm.edu, 802-656-7611 (direct line), or 802-656-7610 (office line).
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Automated Milking System Farm Tour and Discussion
Tuesday, August 19, 2025, 9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Starting at Moo Acres Farm, 312 Church Rd., Fairfield, VT, and ending at Windy Hill Farm, 1525 Kittel Rd., Enosburg, VT.
Join the UVM Extension Dairy Herd Management Team in collaboration with Stonyfield Organic for an in-person workshop and tour of two Franklin County dairy farms utilizing automated milking systems (robotic milkers).
This workshop is free and open to all farmers interested in learning more about AMS. Lunch to be included.
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This percent of normal June precipitation map shows that we had a generally dry month, with some parts of Northeast Vermont experiencing around half the amount of rain that is considered normal for that area.
This chart from the Northeast Regional Climate Center represents weather and climate data collected by the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS).
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This is the 2025 season outlook of Growing Degree Days (GDDs) in Alburgh, Vermont, the location of our program's research farm. As of today, this area has accumulated 1196 GDDs. We have experienced some extreme heat this season, putting us ahead of the "normal" GDDs for this point in the year. As we head into the remainder of the season, make sure to monitor crops for delayed maturity due to heat stress.
This graph was created by the Climate Smart Farming Growing Degree Day Calculator.
© Cornell University, 2016. Credits: Tool Developed by Art DeGaetano, Rick Moore, Brian Belcher & Ben Eck.
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Summer Annual Forages Fill Inventory Gaps
This blog post teaches you all you need to know to successfully grow summer annual grasses for forage. Learn about the best varieties and seeding rates by reading the full blog.
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Evaluating Hay Crop Silage Inoculants for Use in Organic Systems
Naturally occurring bacteria found on forage are responsible for the fermentation process, which preserves the silage. Depending on how many and which bacteria are present, this process could yield very different results. Using an inoculant can ensure the highest silage quality. Learn about different silage inoculants and how to choose the correct one for your operation by reading the full blog post.
| | | One of the flats from the last strawberry harvest of the season on June 30th. | | | As a part of our neonicotinoid project, we are using sticky traps to evaluate overall pest presence. | | | |
UVM Extension NW Crops and Soils Program | Website
278 South Main Street, St. Albans, VT 05478 I 802-656-7610
For more information contact shannon.macdonald@uvm.edu
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| | Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont. University of Vermont Extension, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status. | | | | |
