Hoophouses in Summer, AMS Spanish Webinar, Regulatory Burdens

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I thought readers would be interested in the following articles on: Hoophouses in Summer, The First AMS Spanish Webinar, and How Demands on Land Could Create Regulatory Burdens. Simply click the titles to see the full articles.

Hoop Houses During the Summer: How To Use Them With Triple Digit Temperature (by Vinnie Bevivino – Seed and Cycle)

EXCERPT: Hoop houses are used by small and urban farmers to grow year round and get more food off of a small piece of land.  They’re commonly thought of as a way to make a space warmer and therefore allow the farmer to harvest throughout the winter.  However, hoop houses can make it difficult or impossible to grow in the summer unless you can cool them down.  Its very important to design your hoop house so it is both air-tight to prevent winter drafts yet able to be opened to allow for summer growing.  This article discusses the two common ways of attaching plastic to your hoop house, and ways to use hoop houses in year-round operations that doesn’t slow down when the temperatures reach in the triple digits.

AMS Completes First Spanish Webinar (by Karla Whalen – AMS PACA Branch Chief and Christopher Purdy – AMS, Fruit and Vegetable Programs)

EXCERPT: The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) recently held its first Spanish-language webinar: An Introduction to PACA – In Spanish. Pat Romero, Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) Western Regional director, introduced participants to the PACA Branch and discussed how it protects the produce industry. Every day, PACA receives inquiries from produce companies requesting assistance to handle problems such as interpreting inspection certificates, settling contract disputes, and addressing bankruptcy problems.  The branch promotes fair trading practices in the fruit and vegetable industry by establishing and enforcing a code of fair business practices and by helping companies resolve their disputes.

Greater Demands on Land Could Create Regulatory Burden (by Chris Clayton DTN Progressive Farmer)

EXCERPT: Environmental groups and the EPA argue enough isn’t being done to reduce soil erosion, phosphorus in local lakes and nitrogen connected to hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. But traditional federal help for soil erosion, nutrient management or water retention is being carved out of USDA’s budget and flowing downstream as easily as the banks on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers are washing out this year. It’s a recipe for more potential regulation if the next farm bill doesn’t develop conservation incentives that rely less on federal programs moving ahead.