Extension News: October 2011 Archives

New Hampshire farmers want to know what strategies they can use to reduce business risks while balancing farm and family life.

UNH Cooperative Extension, continuing its risk management workshop series from prior years, with support from USDA Risk Management Agency, is offering a Nov. 12 workshop on risk management for orchardists, a year in review and planning for the future. This workshop takes place at the Hillsborough County Extension office in Goffstown. Click here to learn more about the topics to be covered and on how to register.

Field Crop Meetings

Next up on Nov. 15 is a 2011 Field Crop meeting in Westmoreland, providing a crop management update with a review of risk management programs and on-farm research. If you can’t make it Nov. 15, this workshop is repeated Nov. 16 in Concord and Nov. 17 in Bath.

These sessions will provide an overview of on-farm research projects over the last year, including herbicide trials to manage bedstraw in hayfields, and evaluating small grains as forage crops. Also on the agenda are nitrogen management in corn, focusing on mid-season nitrogen checks and use of the corn stalk nitrate test, dealing with flood-damaged crops after Tropical Storm Irene, and pest management in alfalfa. Click here to learn more about the topics to be covered and on how to register.

Crop Insurance Deadline

To help protect their investments, orchardists shouldn’t forget the Nov. 20 deadline for crop insurance. Federal apple and peach crop insurance programs provide coverage for crop losses due to natural weather perils such as hail, frost and drought.

To purchase coverage for 2012, contact your crop insurance agent before Nov. 20, the sales closing and policy change deadline date for apple and peach insurance programs.

Business and risk management planning are essential tools for farmers, and the continued existence of their farms. Look for information on future UNH Extension workshops or call 603-862-3234.

Cost of these workshops is minimal, with support provided by USDA Risk Management Agency. Secure your farm’s future success.

Thousands of Events across the Country Celebrate Healthy, Affordable, Sustainable Food

Monday, October 24, marks the inaugural National Food Day, a commemorative holiday aimed at raising awareness and advocacy for a most pressing issue of this 21st century – healthy, affordable, sustainable food.

Food Day brings together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and eaters of all stripes—to push for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way.

“We do food and nutrition, all the time, on National Food Day and every day,” touts UNH Cooperative Extension Family and Consumer Resources Program Leader Charlene Baxter. As an example, “Our Nutrition Connections programs focus on helping people of all ages eat in a more healthful way without breaking the bank. Nutrition Connections is available to income-eligible New Hampshire residents.”

“Our goal is to help limited-resources families and children improve their diets and learn to get the most for their food dollars,” she adds.

Food Day’s six commitments are simple:

• Reduce diet-related disease by promoting safe, healthy foods
• Support sustainable farms & limit subsidies to big agribusiness
• Expand access to food and alleviate hunger
• Protect the environment & animals by reforming factory farms
• Promote health by curbing junk-food marketing to kids
• Support fair conditions for food and farm workers

Baxter points to how UNH Cooperative Extension is focused on the same important initiatives coming from this first-ever celebration. As she notes, “Food Day’s goal is to inspire a broad movement of people who want to eat healthy, affordable food.” That not only means eating fresh fruits, vegetables and healthy whole grains, but supporting New Hampshire farms and farmers that produce them. Extension educators work with new and beginning farmers, and offer a wealth of information to them.

Some recent examples of the many ways UNH Cooperative Extension is raising awareness in local New Hampshire communities this week alone include the following:

In Coos County, Extension educator Heidi Barker is partnering with WIC to provide healthy, fall recipes for clients and looks forward to signing many of them up to learn more through Nutrition Connections.

In Carroll County, Extension educator Ann Hamilton has just met with Ossipee Head Start parents on how the new My Plate system works. MyPlate is a new generation icon launched by the federal government to serve as a reminder to help consumers make healthier food choices. Its focus is to prompt consumers to think about building a healthy plate at meal times and to see more information to help them do that. The new MyPlate icon emphasizes the fruit, vegetable, grains, protein and dairy food groups.

Extension’s Christine Parshall in Cheshire County has a week of events, which include Cooking Matters for Adults at the Swanzey Head Start, working with the Gilsum School After School Program Cooking Group, a visit to Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention for a regular group visit (cooking and nutrition information) she does twice a month, and a Cooking Matters program for Winchester Elementary School families.

In Rockingham County, Extension’s Terri Schoppmeyer is holding a six-week after-school series for middle schoolers in Seabrook, Eating Real - Cooking around the World. Youth visit a new country each week and prepare traditional foods. Students at Exeter High School this week are planting winter crops under the guidance of a Master Gardener, and the Nottingham School Garden and 4-H Club will also prepare a winter garden with some covered crops.

Back on the UNH campus, the National Food Day celebration ends with the Food Day Culminating Event! 6-8 p.m., in the Strafford Room. Participants will be able to hear about the variety of opportunities at UNH and meet with key stakeholders.

Come hear about the goals of various groups trying to make a sustained food difference. Representatives will include, but are not limited to, Slow Food, Student Nutrition Association, Organic Garden Club, Oxfam and Peace and Justice League, Seacoast Eat Local and the Heirloom Harvest Project, local farmers, and others! Free and open to the public.

National Food Day is sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the nonprofit watchdog group that has led successful fights for food labeling, better nutrition, and safer food since 1971. Like CSPI, Food Day will be people-powered and does not accept funding from government or corporations—though restaurants, supermarkets, and others are certainly encouraged to observe Food Day in their own ways.

Learn more at: Food Day website

MyPlate and what it means to you

UNH Cooperative Extension’s programs:

Nutrition Connections

Smart Choices for Eating Healthy

Healthy Schools NH, which partners with New Hampshire schools with a high population of low-income students and want to improve their school nutrition and physical activity environments to enhance children’s health. The Healthy Schools NH program is one component of UNH Cooperative Extension’s Nutrition Connections program.

Youth obesity is a major youth issue in New Hampshire. Almost 33 percent of New Hampshire children between the ages of 6-12 are identified as either obese or over weight, while 13 percent of those 10-17 years of age overweight.

The $55,000 Healthy Living Grant from National 4-H Council and the Walmart Foundation will move forward the Youth Voice: Youth Choice project, which will provide opportunities for a variety of 4-H audiences to meet and work together, whether in school, 4-H clubs, afterschool, Operation: Military Kids or camps. Use of the 4-H name and emblem will help demonstrate that the 4-H program of today is addressing relevant issues with youth and adult volunteers.

Creating Community Partners

“We look to work closely with community partners to meet the goals of the grant. New Hampshire is considered a wealthy state but the recent slow-downs in economy shown by the closing of paper mills, layoff of teachers, and decrease in health related services has resulted in the rural poor emerging as a target audience,” according to Wendy Brock, Extension 4-H Youth Development program leader.

“New Hampshire has embraced the youth and adult partnership concept and is excited to be expanding the ‘Teens as Teachers’ concept in science and nutrition activities,” she added. “We will maintain a balance of teaching around MyPlate, increasing activity with our youth and supporting their communities.”

Partnerships and collaborations with other state and community organizations are key to reaching 2,000 New Hampshire youth. Many partnerships with local food banks have already been established, while Granite State Dairy Promotion and NH 5210 have been identified as partners with this project.

Project Focus

The focus of the project is a combination of nutrition education, an increase in movement, and an understanding of hunger and poverty within a wealthy state. It also will focus on having teens as mentors to create media messages with a youth voice and to inspire younger youth with their positive behavior.

While all are welcome in this program, the recruitment emphasis will be in target areas of vulnerable populations. Most participants will become engaged in community projects, while the scope will be determined by their age and ability.

Healthy Foods Do Taste Good

A goal is to let youth know that healthy foods can taste good. Also planned are family events where the youth will prepare food and recipes for the families and in turn, duplicate them at home.

Extension staff will use the 4-H method of “Hands-on Learning” to teach basic food preparation around MyPlate, to increase the skills and confidence of both the youth and their care givers. Teaching kits will be created to support the teaching efforts of teens, volunteers and afterschool providers.

Summer youth and community gardens will be a cornerstone of the project. The Junior Master Gardener curriculum will provide guidelines for vegetable production and nutrition education to expand their favorite foods list to include an increase in fruits and vegetables. Each gardener also will grow a row for those who don’t have the opportunity to grow their own fresh fruits and vegetables, and to learn about the opportunities to distribute the fresh produce.

Learn more through our 4-H Healthy Living efforts.

In the above photo, children are shown at a Sullivan County 4-H event learning more about eating healthy foods.