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Strawberry Fields Forever

North Carolina is the nation’s No. 3 strawberry producer, but many of the state’s berries grow on small plots lacking the acreage to carry out sustainable growing practices like crop rotation. That, combined with constant concerns about soil pathogens and reliance on chemicals to rid plants of ubiquitous pests like spider mites, puts immense pressure on these farms’ long-term health.

Can North Carolina withstand this pressure and keep its top-three status behind fruit and veggie behemoths California and Florida, the top two U.S. strawberry producers? (more…)

Learning from the land

By Guest PostNovember 15, 2013Scienceben boo, cfans, cornercopia, courtney tchida, david hansen, freshly tilled soil, horticulture, learning from land, life process, Nature, organic farm, organic food, paul campus, solutions magazine, summer in minnesota, urban agriculture

It’s late May in the freshly tilled soil of a three-plus-acre organic farm on the U of M St. Paul campus. Horticulture student Lindsay Mayer kneels, wearing purple gloves and an orange bandanna to keep the sweat out of her eyes as she plants shallot after shallot.

She’s one of seven College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) student interns hired by farm manager Courtney Tchida to operate Cornercopia. Each spring, and until the ground freezes, a new crop of students step onto the grounds of this outdoor classroom, ready to soak up the lessons of the land, the weather, the insects, the plants—even the chickens. (more…)

Tag Archives: horticulture

Strawberry Fields Forever

Learning from the land