Sustainable Vegetable Production and Marketing

Project Leader: Ruth Hazzard

Participating Extension Staff and Faculty:

• Ruth Hazzard

Project Year: 2009

Brief Description

Vegetable farming in Massachusetts and New England has remained vital in recent decades through constant and creative change: more direct marketing, diversification, selection of high value crops, and adoption of new technologies. The twenty thousand Massachusetts acres used to produce vegetables (worth over $80 million in farm-gate value and over $240 million retail value) are a resource for food, open space, environmental quality, economic vitality, and quality of life in the Commonwealth. Vegetable farmers are key players in the state's 100 plus farmers markets, 150 farmstands, 50 plus Community Supported Agriculture farms, and the wholesale food distribution system. Dairy, livestock and fruit farmers are diversifying by growing more vegetable crops.

Sustainable vegetable production requires new technical solutions to problems of cropping systems and rotations, crop nutrition, soil health, water use and conservation, energy sources and needs, and pest management. As Massachusetts undergoes cultural, economic and climactic changes, both new and established growers must learn to use practices that are economically, environmentally and socially sustainable, and to adapt cropping systems to new market opportunities in Massachusetts. The Sustainable Vegetable Production and Marketing project will undertake research and extension to address key problems and opportunities facing the industry and the public.

Activities

• New England Vegetable Management Guide 2008-2009
• New England Vegetable Management Guide Website
• Field Days and Twilight Meetings
• Winter Educational Programs
• Vegetable Notes Newsletter
• On-Farm Demonstrations of new crops, or innovative production or integrated pest management practices
• Market Analysis for New or Innovative Vegetable Crops
• Culturally appropriate nutrition education for low income consumers
• Proposal submitted for external funding
• Educational programs for immigrant farmers
• UMass Vegetable Program Website
• Research experiments investigating vegetable production and pest management
• New England Vegetable and Fruit Conferences 2009
• Renewable Energy Educational Programs
• Renewable Energy Projects with Growers
• Fact sheet or bulletin on crop of pest management
• Reports and publications on research and extension projects
• Publication in scholarly journal
• Presentations at educational programs

Inputs: Time and Effort

Outcomes:

This Project will document progress towards the following:

• Participants adopt practices that ensure the economic viability of natural resource-based businesses.
• Participants grow and market new ethnic crops, specialty crops or biofuel crops, or access new markets.
• Participants use sustainable resource and crop management practices.
• Participants increase their knowledge and skill for practices that increase the economic viability of natural resource-based businesses
• Participants increase their knowledge about adapting production and marketing of ethnic and other speciality crops or biofules in Massachusetts.
• Participants learn about sustainable management practices for maintaining crop health.

This project is a part of the Agriculture & Landscape program