Brian Snyder joins leadership team of OSU’s Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation

In lieu of our usual Local Food Notes for today, we are going to run this breaking news from the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA):

The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) announced today that longtime Executive Director Brian Snyder has accepted a position by the same title, leading the Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation (InFACT) at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus. The new position will begin in June. The ultimate goal of InFACT is to create sustainable and resilient food systems for Ohio and beyond.  President Michael Drake of OSU has committed a minimum of $100 million over the next ten years to achieve this goal.

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What does Penn State Ag Extension do?

As you likely have heard by now, Penn State President Eric Barron told university trustees at the regular meeting last Friday in Hershey that 1,100 agricultural extension employees face potential layoffs if the current Pennsylvania budget fight isn’t resolved. Along with being a tremendous source of stress for those employees, these layoffs would be a blow to Pennsylvania’s agricultural industry.

While you are of course a fan of local food, you may not be aware of exactly what a university extension office does, and why they are important. They offer a variety of services for not just farmers, but for the entire state since a lot of the food you eat is grown, raised, and/or produced in Pennsylvania. These services range from food safety to business support for small farmers to sharing research on health, gardening, and improving our food system with the public.

So, the Penn State Extension is an important part in not just farmers’ lives, but all of our lives. Here are some examples:

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Tags: extension | farmers | PennState |

Local Food Notes for Feb. 27

Tait Farm has garden seeds (spring!) and a workshop on making tricked-out mac and cheese, the Susquehanna Heartland Wine Trail month to kick off, and learn how to make beer, all in this week’s Local Food Notes.

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Five great varieties to add to your 2016 garden

Back in early January 2015, I wrote about early online seed shopping, and listed some of my favorite vendors. Getting an early start on buying seeds online has its advantages, for example you’re ensured to get them on time for planting since you’re beating the rush, and there are very few seeds that are sold out.

But, that doesn’t mean you can’t order seeds now. The earliest seeds that need started inside, such as onions, pansies, and leeks, can be planted as late as St. Patrick’s Day, while nightshade family members like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and ground cherries need to be started by the last week of March. So, if you order soon, you’ll likely get your seed order on time.

One of the advantages of ordering seeds online is greater selection. There are just so many unusual, delicious, and easy-to-grow varieties that you can only find via an online seed catalog.

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Tags: gardening | seeds |