Northeast farmers are relying increasingly on agritourism to expand farm income, create employment for family members, and strengthen relationships in the local community. For many farmers, agritourism is a new business model, necessitating a shift fro…
Search Results for: "Brian Schilling"
Reinventing New Jersey as ‘Garden State’ With Ethnic Crops, Tourism
Craving a taste of his native Liberia 4,500 miles (7,200 km)away, maintenance worker Alfred Jones drove just 20 miles from his New Jersey home and waded knee deep into rows of pick-your-own African vegetables at Morris Gbolo’s World Crops Farm… With roughly one-tenth of the U.S. population living within 100 miles of central New Jersey – much of it affluent – the state is in a geographic sweet spot for agritourism, said Brian Schilling, a specialist with Rutgers Cooperative Extension, linked to the state university… New Jersey’s location is the reason the legislature approved the nickname in the first place in 1954, said Richard VanVranken, a Rutgers agricultural agent… “It was about everything in New Jersey being ripe for the picking for New York and Philadelphia. That drives a lot of what we do, being able to serve the huge markets that we’re right in the middle of,” VanVranken said.
Agritourism Growth Sparks Concerns Over Safety, Liability
As more farms open themselves up to visitors for apple picking, hay rides and some extra income, experts are advising owners to take steps to prevent accidents – be they small or fatal… The first key is assessing the risks, said Brian Schilling of Rutgers’ Cooperative Extension in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “If you’ve grown up on a farm you’re sort of blind to a lot of these things,” he said, advising owners to have an extension agent, emergency official or insurance agent walk the farm to identify hazards… The extension also has a safety checklist that reminds farmers to, among other things, designate areas that are closed to the public, train employees to property operate farm machinery, secure and restrict areas that contain chemicals, provide hand-washing or hand-sanitizing stations and have employees assist with parking.
Agritourism Growth Sparks Concerns Over Safety, Liability
As more farms open themselves up to visitors for apple picking, hay rides and some extra income, experts are advising owners to take steps to prevent accidents – be they small or fatal… Farming is one of the more dangerous occupations in the U.S. mostly due to the machinery and equipment, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But a growing interest in local food has led to agritourism becoming a big business, with the number of U.S. farms reporting income from such activities rising 42 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the latest Census of Agriculture… The first key is assessing the risks, said Brian Schilling of Rutgers’ Cooperative Extension in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “If you’ve grown up on a farm you’re sort of blind to a lot of these things,” he said, advising owners to have an extension agent, emergency official or insurance agent walk the farm to identify hazards.”
Agritourism Growth Sparks Concerns Over Safety, Liability
As more farms open themselves up to visitors for apple picking, hay rides and some extra income, experts are advising owners to take steps to prevent accidents – be they small or fatal… Farming is one of the more dangerous occupations in the U.S. mostly due to the machinery and equipment, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But a growing interest in local food has led to agritourism becoming a big business, with the number of U.S. farms reporting income from such activities rising 42 percent between 2007 and 2012, according to the latest Census of Agriculture… The first key is assessing the risks, said Brian Schilling of Rutgers’ Cooperative Extension in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “If you’ve grown up on a farm you’re sort of blind to a lot of these things,” he said, advising owners to have an extension agent, emergency official or insurance agent walk the farm to identify hazards… The extension also has a safety checklist that reminds farmers to, among other things, designate areas that are closed to the public, train employees to property operate farm machinery, secure and restrict areas that contain chemicals, provide hand-washing or hand-sanitizing stations and have employees assist with parking.
A Farmer Reclaims Liberian Roots in New Jersey
Morris Gbolo spends a lot of time thinking about the home-cooked dinners he and his wife, Ernestine, used to enjoy before they fled their home amid civil war in Liberia 12 years ago. For Mr. Gbolo, 55, memories of mealtime in West Africa, where he was a farmer, have become a source of entrepreneurial inspiration and a way to make friends: As owner and operator of Morris Gbolo’s World Crops Farm, a 13-acre parcel in Buena Vista Township that he bought in January to grow the produce of his homeland (bitter ball, cassava), he hopes to help fellow transplants connect and feel closer to home… Ethnic crops are a thriving business for small farmers in New Jersey, said Brian Schilling, an extension specialist in agricultural policy at Rutgers University’s Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics in New Brunswick. Farmers often focus on “high-value crops” ike peaches and blueberries to remain “economically sustainable,” he explained, but niche markets, like West African produce, are also becoming more viable… Richard VanVranken, a Rutgers agriculture agent in Atlantic County, said that word about the university’s ethnic crop work was spreading, in part from referrals by the state’s Agriculture Department. “I now get on average a call per week from new farmers or established growers exploring new ethnic markets from around the state and way beyond,” he said.
Dept. of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics Celebrates 100th Anniversary
One day after an on-campus event celebrating the 150th anniversary of Rutgers’ designation as New Jersey’s land grant institution, an important component of that institution – the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics – marked its founding exactly fifty years later, in 1914. The department’s centennial event, held on November 6th in the Cook […]
New NJAES Office of Research Analytics Holds Open House
The newly formed Office of Research Analytics (ORA) of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES) held an Open House last month at its location in Room 003 in Martin Hall, across from the Waksman Room. ORA, a unit of the NJAES Office of Cooperative Research, was initiated by Senior Associate Director Brad Hillman, with […]
Faculty and Staff Accomplishments
We congratulate these SEBS and NJAES faculty and staff on their accomplishments, appointments and awards below. For university-wide announcements, please visit the Rutgers Faculty and Staff Newsletter. 2024 Thomas Molnar, associate professor in the Department of Plant Biology, is the principal investigator of a four-year grant totaling $170,000 from the Ferrero Hazelnut Company (Ferrero HCo), […]
Rutgers Collaborates on National Farmland Preservation Conference
The oft seen bumper sticker “No Farmers, No Food,” conveys a clear message about the importance of farmers. But what about the farmland they – and we – depend on? Preserving farmland everywhere provides abundant local food supplies and many public benefits: ecological services, wildlife habitat, land and soil conservation and open space. Nationwide, 28 […]
