Volume 3 Fall 2013 Issue 4 Annie’s Project Newsletter is a quarterly update on all areas of farming, families and women involved in agriculture. We hope you enjoy this newsletter and keep the network of women in agriculture strong. Please send us updates on your farm, business and anything you would like to share. ***************************************************************************** MidAtlantic Women In Agriculture’s Fall Farm Tour September 18, 2013 Inside this Issue Annie’s Reunion 2 Young Farmers break the bank 3 Young Farmers Inside this issue: 4 cont. Resources for Women In Ag 4 Back to School Computer Tips 5 Facebook Contest Winners 5 Agriculture in Maryland 6 Recipe Corner 6 Upcoming Events 7 MidAtlantic Women in Agriculture is hosting a Fall Farm Tour in Kent County, Maryland 9am– Grand View Farm Swine Operation: Operated by the 5th and 6th generations of the Langenfelder family. 11491 Still Pond Road Worton, MD 10:30- Mason’s Dairy Farm & Eve’s Cheesewww.evescheese.com 23991 Melitota Road Chestertown, MD 12noon– Lunch @ Crow Farm Guest Speaker Judy Gifford– SARE 1pm– Crow Farm and Vineyard www.crowfarmmd.com 12441 Vansant’s Corner Kennedyville, MD Tour of the vineyard ending with wine tasting available. * Wine Tasting will be an additional $5* Cost of the tour is $20/person and will include lunch. RSVP by Sept. 11th to Victoria: vgc@umd.edu or 410-708-5578 or register online www.midatlanticwomeninagriculture.eventbrite.com Page 2 Volume 3 Still Time to Register for the Annie’s Reunion You’re invited to an Annie’s Project Reunion cookout and networking social Wednesday, September 4, 2013 6:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. Harford County 4-H Camp 8 Cherry Hill Road, Street MD 6:00 p.m.—Welcome and networking 6:30 p.m.—Cookout-style dinner 7:15 p.m.—Program discussion Shannon Dill & Jenny Rhodes, MD/DE Annie’s Project Coordinators Valerie Connelly, Maryland Farm Bureau 8:30 p.m.—Dessert and farewell RSVP by August 28, 2013 You are welcome to bring a friend who is interested in learning more about Annie’s Project! Cost is $10 per person. Please make checks payable to “Harford EAC” For more information contact Sara at (410) 638-3255 or sbh@umd.edu Page 3 Volume 3 Young Farmers Break The Bank Before They Get To The Field As the average age of the American farmer has crept up to 60, fewer young people are filling in the ranks behind them. That's prompted some to ask if young people even want to farm anymore. The quick answer is yes, just not in the same numbers as they used to. And surveys indicate many of them don't want to farm in conventional ways. A 2011 survey from the National Young Farmers Coalition showed access to land and capital to be the single biggest factors keeping young people from getting into farming or ranching. The survey also indicated young people are concerned about the environment — they're "generation organic" — and interested in small-scale operations. But it can be difficult to turn dreams of a farm life into reality. In Longmont, Colo., Eva Teague, 31, has learned how difficult it can be to start a pig farm. Teague is a grad school dropout turned farmer, originally from the East Coast. Jaded with academia, she moved to Colorado and began working as a farm apprentice. She bought her first pigs a couple years ago. "[I] didn't have that much cash, so I paid for feed with the credit card just to get going," Teague says. Right now, her biggest challenge, like many other young farmers, is access to capital. She recently secured a low-interest loan from the federal Farm Service Agency, but it's not enough to get her business off the ground completely. Teague still spends her days on the farm and every evening working full-time as a waitress. Next year she plans to take a big leap: She wants to quit her off-farm job and rely solely on her farm income to sustain herself. After searching for plots of land on Craigslist, Teague lucked out and scored a lease for 15 acres at the base of the Rocky Mountains. She taught herself Quickbooks accounting software, and she relies heavily on the skills she picked up during a handful of apprenticeships throughout Colorado. In short, Teague is part of the millennial generation of farmers, a group that often eschews traditional forms of agriculture and favors smallscale operations. "It's a very rare person who's not grown up on a farm that's going to go out and say, 'I want to plant 100,000 acres of corn. I want to invest $300,000 in a tractor. I want to get a confinement hog barn with 300,000 pigs,' " Teague says. Of course, the millennial generation isn't exclusively made up of farmers who've jumped on the local food movement. There are still young people out there who want to get involved with more conventional forms of agriculture, but many of them still find their options limited. "There's no way I'll ever be able to own my own ranch," says Bo Bigler, 25, a graduate student at Colorado State University. He'll graduate in August with a master's degree in beef management, which almost ensures a career working at large feedlots. "The price to buy into it, it's too much; the cost of land is unreal," Bigler says. "The only way that somebody can get into it is if a ranch was handed down to them, unless they're millionaires to begin with." Continued on Next Page- Volume 3 Page 4 Young Farmers Break The Bank Before They Get To The Field cont. Ranch and farmland, not just in Colorado, but across the plains, is going for several thousand dollars per acre, keeping aspiring farmers from buying. Leased land is available, but it leaves farmers at the whim of a landlord who could choose to cancel or refuse to renew a lease agreement. “There's no way they can pay the student loan and pay a land payment and still have enough money left over to live on," says Kraig Peel, a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University. Many of Peel's students come into his classes with idealistic ideas about farming and ranching. These days about 80 percent of his students have grown up in an urban setting. They quickly learn to realign their expectations, he says. "It's very frustrating for a lot of these students that would like to [run a farm or ranch]," Peel says. "Economically it just doesn't make sense." Still, there's a need to bring in young people to large and small ranching operations. Sixty-four percent of the nation's cattle ranches are owned by someone older than 55. But many of Peel's students have chosen to forgo the financial difficulties of running a ranch and work for large agribusiness companies instead. Teague is working on a multiyear business plan to make sure she can add on a few acres of vegetables and some more pigs. "I think a lot of young people want to work outside in sort of a 'farm camp' fun experience," she says. "There are fewer people who would like to work really hard, like 50 to 60 hours a week for not a lot of money, which is what working on a farm is." Teague filled out a form for the latest agricultural census last year. When data is released in 2014, it'll become clearer whether enough young people have joined the ranks to keep the average age of farmers from climbing even higher. For the complete article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/08/21/213905983/young-farmers-break-the-bankbefore-they-get-to-the-field Websites that Provide Resources for Women in Agriculture A few months ago we mentioned that our websites were getting a make-over. Over the past few months we have made some changes to both our Women in Agriculture and Annie’s Project sites. Annie’s Project– www.extension.umd.edu/annies-project will continue to serve as your go to place for information about the upcoming Annie’s Project classes, along with ALL class information when classes are confirmed for each location. This website will also provide links to news articles about Annie’s Project Chapters in other states. Women In Agriculture– www.extension.umd.edu/womeninag This site is now dedicated to empowering women across all interests of agriculture! Not only will you be able to get information about the Annual Women In Agriculture Conference, but now this site will also have a links to resources that will help women grow their passion for agriculture! Check back often as new content is added regularly! Page 5 Volume 3 Computer Tips to help keep children safe this school year Be aware of computer risks. Children may unknowingly acquire virus- es by clicking on a link while researching for homework or stumble upon disturbing images. Encourage kids to use child-friendly search engines that filter search results for schoolwork. These search engines give assurance that kids will not be directed to inappropriate sites. Firedog's recommended sites include: Yahoo Kids, Ask for Kids, Kids Click and AOL Kids. Keep computers in a central location, such as the kitchen or family room, so parents can keep track of what children and teens are doing on the Internet. Add monitoring and filtering capabilities to family computers so par- ents are constantly aware of a kid's computer use, even when they are not at home. Use white listing, which allows access to a pre-approved list of sites deemed appropriate on a computer. Set time limits on Internet access for children. Install software to scan computers frequently and remove malware and viruses. Follow technology trends. There are so many social networking sites and personal technology applications out there, it can be hard to keep up. Making certain parents are knowledgeable about current technology will help guarantee child safety. To read to complete article: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/firedog-announces-must-have-computer-tips-for- back-to-school-100281009.html Congratulations Summer Facebook Contest Winners To keep the summer fun, we have been running a few Facebook contests. Winners of Tervis Tumbler Giveaway: Laura Bartlett Jennifer Kraus Photo Contest Winners: Jennifer Hutton (farm photo shown) Dixie Blades (woman with carrots photo shown) We will have at least one more contest in late summer / early fall, so make sure to follow us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/MidAtlanticWomenInAgriculture Volume 3 Page 6 A New Series Highlights Agriculture in Maryland The Maryland Public Television/Maryland Department of Agriculture series of programs about agriculture in Maryland will premier on Maryland Public Television high definition on Tuesday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m. All 13 segments of the series will air on Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. and then be repeated on Thursdays at 11:30 p.m., Sunday mornings at 6:00 a.m., and Friday nights at 6:00 p.m. on MPT2. The program will run for thirteen weeks, rest for thirteen weeks, repeat for thirteen weeks, rest for thirteen weeks and then possibly have a premiere for season 2 in November 2014. The Maryland Farm Bureau has posted a 3-minute promotion for the series on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7mxM_tCuFtw&feature=youtube This series of programs is intended to educate and inform viewers about food production in Maryland. Maryland Public Broadcasting Tuesday, November 19, 2013, 7:00 p.m.. On MPT Recipe Corner Peach Salsa– Peaches add a delicious twist to this salsa recipe! 3 pounds peaches, peeled, pitted and diced 1 cup cider vinegar 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 tablespoon salt 1 pound tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced 1 red pepper, diced 1 red onion diced 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro Combine the all ingredients except cilantro in a large nonreactive pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Add the cilantro and remove from the heat. Ladle into jars or bowls. Cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 1 week Volume 3 Page 7 Upcoming Events Do you have an upcoming event at your Farm or Small Business? Please email the information to vgc@umd.edu so that we can let others know! THE MARYLAND NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAM PRESENTS “How to Write a Nutrient Management Plan COURSE DESCRIPTION People new to the plan-writing process will benefit from this course. Participants will learn how to write a nutrient management plan from beginning to end and how to use the nutrient management planning software, NuMan Pro. Participants will not come out of this training with a finished nutrient management plan; rather, they’ll have a better understanding of the process and inputs needed to create a plan. This program will award 6 Maryland Nutrient Management continuing education credits. WHO SHOULD ATTEND Anyone who has recently attained Nutrient Management Certification or who is interested in learning more about the plan-writing process in order to be a better-informed consumer of plan-writing services. DATE & LOCATION Friday, September 20, 2013 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Wye Research & Education Center 124 Wye Narrows Dr Queenstown, MD 21658 - Directions phone 410-827-8056 2014 WIA Regional Conference Tuesday, September 24, 2013 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Montgomery County Cooperative Extension 13th Annual WIA Regional Conference will be on FEBRUARY 20, 2014 in Dover , DE SAVE THE DATE! Follow us on Facebook 18410 Muncaster Rd Derwood, MD 20855 - Directions phone 301-590-9638 FOR MORE INFORMATION Call 410-841-5959. For more information on this newsletter or to submit articles contact: Shannon Dill 410-822-1244 sdill@umd.edu www.facebook.com/MidAtlanticWomenInAgriculture Jenny Rhodes 410-758-0166 jrhodes@umd.edu Victoria Corcoran vgc@umd.edu The University of Maryland Extension programs are open to any person and will not discriminate against anyone because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, political affiliation, and gender identity or expression.