Here are this week’s top stories from Farm and Dairy:
1. Team Reese
Eight-year-old Reese Burdette comes from a dairy family in southcentral Pennsylvania. After sustaining burns to 35 percent of her body and lung damage after an electrical fire at her grandparents’ home in May 2014, Reese is still in the hospital but is growing stronger each day.
During the recovery process, she’s had visitors including Washington Redskins players and even her cow, Pantene, and dog, Gator. Her family visits regularly, too, while people pitch in on the farm while they’re at the hospital with Reese. The community has come up with various fundraisers to assist the Burdette family.
2. Soil Health Partnership: Five-year project to determine if changes are worth the cost
The National Corn Growers Association Soil Health Partnership aims to measure the economic and environmental benefits of different soil management strategies and offer specific recommendations to farmers.
Deerfield Farms Service is one of two farms in Ohio to participate in the partnership. The farm’s goal is to find out if cover crops are worth the cost.
3. Utica and Marcellus shale: Activity continues to slow in Ohio, Pa., W.Va.
Only 17 drilling permits were issued by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in August. In addition, Ohio doesn’t have any active rigs in the Marcellus Shale.
In Pennsylvania, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued 144 unconventional well permits in August. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection issued 22 permits total for Ohio, Marshall, Tyler, Monongalia and Wetzel counties.
4. Homegrown apples: How to grow apple trees this fall
If you live in USDA hardiness zones 5-10, fall is the time when you should plant apple trees. Farm and Dairy online columnist Ivory Harlow explains how to plant apple trees and take care of them.
She also offers five tips for planting apple trees, including choosing the right varieties, the right size and how to protect trees from wildlife.
5. There are no real secrets in farming: Big data is met with skepticism from farmers
If you ask Ohio grain and hog farmer Brian Watkins, “there are no real secrets in farming.” In precision agriculture, big data is generated, even though some farmers are skeptical to share it.
In order to gain farmers’ trust, a new Agricultural Data Cooperative, with land grant universities in the center, will give farmers and farmer-led enterprises control of the data.
