The recently released 2017 Census of Agriculture revealed some troubling numbers. We now know that, between 2012 and 2017, the total number of farms in the U.S. declined by three percent; the average age of U.S. farm producers rose from 56 to 57.5; and farms across the country are increasingly consolidating, with one percent of […]

Second-year dairy grazing apprentice Jessica Matthews considers the journey of milk from cow to consumer and the ongoing dairy crisis. This is the second of three blog posts—read Jessica’s first post, “From Backyard Chickens to Grazing Cattle.”  Though I had no dairy grazing experience when I started my apprenticeship at Hameau Farm, toward the end […]

Second-year apprentice Jessica Matthews shares her journey into dairy grazing. This is the first of three blog posts. I had four day-old chicks nestled under a warm lamp in the spare room. This was my first small foray into animal husbandry, and I hadn’t realized before I brought them home that I’d need straw for […]

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry approved our Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship on March 14th, making it the first formal apprenticeship program for farmers in the state. We developed Diversified Vegetable Apprenticeship to provide a guided pathway for training aspiring vegetable farmers to manage or start a farm while also meeting the employment needs of […]