Easy Farming

Easy Farming

Agricultural History is the journal of record in the field. As such, it publishes articles on all aspects of the history of agriculture and rural life with no geographical or temporal limits. The editors are particularly interested in articles that address a novel subject, demonstrate considerable primary and secondary research, display an original interpretation, and are of general interest to Society members and other Agricultural History readers.
The journal is edited by Albert Way at Kennesaw State University. More information is available on the editorial office and policies.

Accessing the journal is easy. The entire run of Agricultural History is full-text searchable and available for purchase and download, either by the entire issue or individual article, on JSTOR. Current AHS members who have an electronic membership have access to the entire run of the journal. Want to become a member? Click here.

Cauliflower is a cool-season crop and a descendant of the common cabbage. It is more difficult to than its relatives because it does not tolerate the heat or cold as well. For this reason, cauliflower is usually grown commercially.
If you plant to attempt growing cauliflower in the home garden, it requires consistently cool temperatures with temperatures in the 60s. Otherwise, it prematurely “button”—form small button-size heads—rather than forming one, nice white head.
PLANTING
• Select a site with at lesat 6 hours of full sun.
• Soil needs be very rich in organic matter; add composted mature to the soil before planting. Fertile soil holds in moiture to prevent heads from “buttoning.”
• Test your soil! (Get a soil test through your cooperative extension office.) The soil pH should be between 6.5 and 6.8.
• It is best to start cauliflower from transplants rather than seeds. Transplant 2 to 4 weeks before the average frost date in the spring, no sooner and not much later.

Introduction
Bell and chile peppers are members of the same plant family as tomatoes, eggplant, and potatoes. They are unrelated to the spice pepper plant that produces the seasoning ground black pepper. The most popular mild peppers are the bell and banana varieties. There are many types and varieties of chile (hot) peppers with varying degree of pungency or “hotness.” U.S. consumption of fresh bell peppers averaged 10.6 pounds per person and 7.2 pounds per person of chile peppers in 2014. (ERS 2014).

Bell peppers color up as they ripen on the vine and follow the mature green stage. The brighter colored peppers tend to be sweeter than green peppers because the sugar content increases as the pepper matures. Bell peppers are high in vitamin C. Peppers are also excellent sources of dietary fiber and provide small amounts of several other vitamins and minerals.
Marketing
Produced and marketed year round, bell peppers are usually sold as fresh produce.
Production

The six steps are Phase I composting, Phase II composting, spawning, casing, pinning, and cropping. These steps are described in their naturally occurring sequence, emphasizing the salient features within each step. Compost provides nutrients needed for mushrooms to grow. Two types of material are generally used for mushroom compost, the most used and least expensive being wheat straw-bedded horse manure. Synthetic compost is usually made from hay and crushed corncobs, although the term often refers to any mushroom compost where the prime ingredient is not horse manure. Both types of compost require the addition of nitrogen supplements and a conditioning agent, gypsum.

The preparation of compost occurs in two steps referred to as Phase I and Phase II composting. The discussion of compost preparation and mushroom production begins with Phase I composting.
Phase I: Making Mushroom Compost

Jarrahdale, Japanese and butternut pumpkins are grown in Kununurra, Carnarvon and the south-west of Western Australia to supply the local market and eastern Australia.
They are often grown as an opportunistic crop which can be harvested at one time and stored for many months. The biggest pumpkin grown in Western Australia weighed 231kg (Albany in 2000).
Introduction
Jarrahdale, Japanese and butternut pumpkins are annual vegetables in the cucurbit family that includes cucumbers, melons and zucchini. They have vigorous, prostrate vines and produce fruit with a hard shell and yellow to orange flesh.
The traditional large round, slightly flattened, ribbed type of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) has strong, round stems, large roundish, not deeply lobed leaves and a round fruit stalk. The main variety is the Jarrahdale type, a selection from Queensland Blue.

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Processing applications for tomato
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Taking root around 12,000 years ago, agriculture triggered such a change in society and the way in which people lived that its development has been dubbed the “Neolithic Revolution.” Traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyles, followed by humans since their evolution, were swept aside in favor of permanent settlements and a reliable food supply. Out of agriculture, cities and civilizations grew, and because crops and animals could now be farmed to meet demand, the global population rocketed—from some five million people 10,000 years ago, to more than seven billion today.

Greenhouses in the Netherlands have robots on their payroll: the machines glide automatically from one tomato picker to the next, collecting crates of the popular red fruit. A touch of a button is all it takes to make the fully loaded robot car follow magnetic strips on the floor into the warehouse. Although these electronic harvesters aren’t at work all over the world, many tomato growers have already fully automated their processes. Today’s greenhouses are equipped with computer systems that maintain the weather conditions best suited to promoting growth. The modern technology also controls temperature and humidity, and regulates irrigation, ventilation and the amount of light. In other words, computers cater to the tomatoes’ every need. Given the enormous quantities of tomatoes the world now consumes, keeping on top of the work would be almost impossible without automation.

With the government encouraging farmers to diversify in agricultural farming, one farmer in Uasin Gishu County has ventured into horticultural farming.
Thomas Kiptum is taking home close to Sh3 milllion from cucumber and red capsicum farming.

"Horticulture farming is paying well and that is why I decided to venture into it. Our region is well known for maize farming but it has good climate for the kind of farming which few of the farmers have tried to practice,"Kiptum said.
His farm is located at Kuinet in Moiben sub-county where he produces cucumbers and capsicum through greenhouse technology in an acre-piece of land.
The farm has six green houses for the two types of cucumbers: Sariq and local.
Sariq is only grown in a greenhouse while local ones can either do in the greenhouse or in an open field.

"My intention for planting these two types was to establish which variety yields more," Kiptum said.

I’ve been planning for some time to add a Mushroom Production Page to Beginning Farmers. Gourmet mushrooms are a high value crop which can be a great addition to a diversified farming operation, especially if they are lucky enough to be situated on land with a decent parcel of hardwood forest (for log production), or willing to invest in the equipment necessary for more intensive cultivation.

Wild harvesting mushrooms can also be a lot of fun, and fairly lucrative, if you know where to go and when, and can find a buyer. Many gourmet restaurants are thrilled to get wild-harvested mushrooms, so it’s worth trying to make these connections. I have done this with both morel’s and hen of the woods (see pictures below). But make sure you know what you’re doing if you’re going to hunt (for more information see below). Also anyone interested in this topic should check out Paul Stamets on 6 ways mushrooms can save the world.

It may not be the most popular fruit of the bunch, but the eggplant thrives in the summertime and is great for grilling. China is the world’s top producer of the vegetable, and in the U.S. it’s considered a specialty crop. Learn more about the eggplant:
• The eggplant is a member of the nightshade family, which also includes foods such as tomatoes, potatoes and chili peppers. The eggplant is actually considered a fruit.
• Eggplants are related to tobacco, and actually contain a small amount of nicotine, though to a lesser extent than tobacco.
• An eggplant is almost 95 percent water.
• In 2010, an estimated 159.8 million pounds of eggplants were grown in the U.S.
• About 98 percent of eggplants grown in the country are produced for fresh market, with the remainder used for processed products like frozen entrees and specialty dips.
• The eggplant received its name back when white, egg-shaped varieties of the fruit were more common.

Former President George H.W. Bush may not have appreciated the green-headed vegetable his mother made him eat as a child. But there are plenty of us who would savor the tasty and nutritious benefits of learning how to grow broccoli.
A member of the mustard family, this cool-weather crop was originally cultivated in Italy from wild cabbage. Its Italian name, cabbage sprout, is derived from the Latin term for branch or arm, as in those of the tree it resembles.

Broccoli is one of the first plants that can grow in your garden each spring, in as little as 55 days, and one of the last to survive fall’s frosts. It sprouts several heads. Chop off the central crown, generally maturing in 70 to 95 days, and it stimulates smaller side shoots for later pickings. The secondary heads can be harvested for weeks, until there’s a hard freeze and before the flower buds begin to open.

Organic agriculture is practiced in 172 countries, and 43.7 million hectares of agricultural land are managed organically by approximately 2.3 million farmers. The global sales of organic food and drink reached 80 billion US dollars in 2014.
The 17th edition of The World of Organic Agriculture, published by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and IFOAM – Organics International, provides a comprehensive review of recent developments in global organic agriculture. It includes contributions from representatives of the organic sector from throughout the world and provides comprehensive organic farming statistics that cover area under organic management, specific information about land use in organic systems, numbers of farms and other operator types as well as selected market data.

Soil and its Preparation :
Carrots do well in well drained, deep, loose and Loamy soils. Looseness of soils helps in the production of good round-shaped roots and a high yield. After ploughing or hoeing the field to a fine tilt beds of convenient size are made.

Sowing time and Seed Rate :
Carrots are sown from the beginning of March to September the optimum time being August in cold areas while from the middle of August to November in warm areas. The seed rate varies from 7 to 9 Kgs per hectare according to the thickness of sowing/ broadcasting.

Methods of Sowing :
Carrots are sown in raised beds having dimension of 1 metre breadth, any convenient length and raised from 15 to 30 cms. In order to have an evenly sown crop the seeds are mixed with dry/ loose soil. Generally there are two methods of sowing as described below :-

The cabbage (Brassica oleracea var capitata) belongs to the family Cruciferae and is related to cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts. Cabbages are grown 12 months of the year in Victoria and production is concentrated in southern districts. Cabbages are grown for both fresh market and for processing.

Climate
Cool moist weather produces the best quality heads. Consequently cabbages can be grown under a wide range of conditions and are adaptable to most production areas around the state. They are grown all year round in southern Victoria but in the hot northern districts, quality crops can only be produced from late autumn to early spring. Where winter snows are often recorded, such as in parts of the Central Highlands of Victoria, crops are limited to the late summer to early winter markets.
Soils