Touch the Soil News #2058 (photo – Soil Blocker – Courtesy of Johnny’s Selected Seeds https://www.johnnyseeds.com/search/?q=soil+blockers&search-button=&lang=en_US) Nursery plants are known for their plastic containers, which are a cost for the grower and a waste for the consumer. Enter the world of Soil Blocking, a process that firms up the soil, so no external plastic forms…
Touch the Soil News #2057 (photo – Farmer’s Market – USDA ) While growing your own food is great for a few items, to grow a full spectrum of produce from most of a household’s needs can be a big undertaking. However, if a number of people got together and each one grew different varieties,…
We can always use new ideas from others, especially when it comes to increasing sales. Farmer’s Markets have become a staple for urban settings. It helps to just walk through a Farmer’s Market and see what everyone is doing or not doing. It also helps to talk to market managers about your ideas. The cost…
Touch the Soil News #2055 (photo – Field Corn – USDA NRCS) Each year, new records are broken in terms of farmland sales as a price per acre. While farmland in terms of sagebrush ridden desert acres is worth much less that prime farmland in Iowa, a driver of prices is that acres being farmed…
Touch the Soil News #2054 (photo – Field Corn – USDA NRCS) Farm Journal’s AgWeb news portal reports on a new field of research that studies roots. In this case it is corn roots. The importance of corn research is that this year there will be 91 million acres of corn planted, making it the…
Touch the Soil News #2053 (photo – Vegetables – Courtesy of USDA) Farm Journal’s AgWeb portal brings the story of using biologicals in mainstream farming. When 600 farmers were asked if they used biologicals in farming, more than 61 percent said no. Among those who did us biologicals satisfaction rates were as high as 80…
Touch the Soil News #2052 (photo – Vegetables – Courtesy of USDA) The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a division of the United Nations. The FAO tracks the international prices of five food commodity groups each month and ascribes a number starting with 100 which is the base for the 2014-2016 time frame. The…
Touch the Soil News #2051 (photo – Jakarta – CCA 3.0 Unported, Romli mohamad) The People’s Network News brings and interesting story about food and people living in the city of Jakarta, Indonesia. Jakarta is at the heart of a metro area of almost 35 million people. They are embracing the Ramadan special time. The…
Touch the Soil News #2050 (photo – Vegetables – Courtesy of USDA) The demand for the services of a grocery store is through the volume dollars that show up to buy. However, that demand must not only satisfy the costs of keeping the doors open, but a return on investment established in corporate headquarters hundreds…
The island of Oahu, home to Hawaii’s largest city Honolulu, hosts a population of over 1 million. This relatively small island is mostly mountains with very little land to grow a garden. While there are efforts at expanding community garden plots, there are over 600 people on wait lists. The People’s Network news portal brings…
