Small Farm Blogs

How to avoid 'snake oil' products

The presenter twisted his mustache before grabbing hold of the podium.

"You will double your production! And you will have no pests, no diseases," he said, emphatically promoting an unnamed agricultural product to the audience gathered.

"You ask me, how can you afford this product? I ask you, how can you not afford it?" he said.

After his roaring introduction to participants at the California Small Farm Conference, the presenter Jim Downer, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Ventura County, proceeded to explain the real purpose behind the workshop session. His presentation wasn't about selling a product, but about cutting through promotional language to avoid wasting money on ineffective products.

"I guess what this talk is really about is knowing when you're being sold and when you're buying a product that can help," he said.

Downer explained that many ineffective products make scientific-sounding claims, but often cite studies that are nonexistent, unpublished or even unrelated to the product. He reminded the audience that any product claiming to control a pest — but not registered as a pesticide — is illegal.

"It is a violation of state and federal laws to apply products as pesticides when they are not labeled for that use," he said.

He also specifically addressed:

• Mycorrihizal fungi
• Biological control
• Soil Food Webs
• Compost teas
• Vitamin B-1
• Horticultural myths

Downer has written an informative article about recognizing horticultural "miracle products" and urban legends in Topics in Subtropics. In the article, he explains:

"Snake oil products almost always offer numerous testimonials to support their use. Those who provide testimonials are usually not researchers. Professional horticulturists, farmers and gardeners should be able to recognize snake oil products and avoid their use—we should base our horticultural decisions on sound research based information, not on marketing claims and testimonial based admonitions."

Read the rest of Downer's article "Snake Oil, Horticultural Myths, Horticultural Urban Legends, and Persuaders in our Industry."

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Back to the newsletter: Find more Small Farm News articles from our Vol 1. 2012 edition.

Pedro Ilic Award honors Paul Vossen

A farm advisor who has been instrumental in developing profitable niches for farmers was named "Outstanding Agricultural Educator" with a 2012 Pedro Ilic Award, for his dedication to small-scale farming.

Paul Vossen, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Sonoma and Marin counties, accepted the award on March 5 at the California Small Farm Conference in Valencia.

"Paul has contributed tremendously to the success of the growing California olive oil industry," said Shermain Hardesty, who presented the award and is director of the UC Small Farm Program. "Paul helps farmers connect with consumers who are willing to pay the price premiums necessary for their high-quality products. And he was one of the first to recognize 'local' as a marketing attribute."

Vossen is one of the founders of the UC Davis Olive Center. He was also instrumental in the first organic production manuals published by the university, which were for apples and olives. He conducts field research on specialty crops, including tree fruit, berries and vegetables, to share with farmers in his region and throughout California.

Vossen was nominated by Stephanie Larson and Linda Garcia, current and past directors of UC Cooperative Extension in Sonoma County.

"Paul Vossen has passion, energy and enthusiasm for his profession and his clientele," they wrote. "He easily moves from teaching farm workers to discussing olive oil production with an olive grower visiting from Spain."

Vossen knew and worked with the award's namesake, Pedro Ilic.

"One of the really neat things about Pedro was that he was so passionate about the small farmer, and I really think that's why this award lives on," he said. "He was such a hard worker and so dedicated to the small farmer."

Ilic's untimely death in 1994 prompted the UC Small Farm Program to annually honor those who carry on his legacy of personal commitment to small-scale and family farming. Ilic was a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Fresno County and one of the original advisors of the Small Farm Program when it was established in 1979.

Read more about the Pedro Ilic Awards, including previous honorees and the nomination process.

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Back to the newsletter: Find more Small Farm News articles from our Vol 1. 2012 edition.

Time for awards and conferences

Calling all small-scale farmers and their supporters! Now is the season of awards and conferences in the agricultural world — and that goes for small-scale farmers too. At the moment, we are seeking nominations for the Pedro Ilic Awards, which honor dedication to small-scale farming.

These awards are named for Pedro Ilic, Fresno County small-scale farm advisor, whose death in 1994 prompted the UC Small Farm Program to annually honor those who carry out his legacy of personal commitment to small-scale and family farming. Ilic was one of the original advisors when the Small Farm Program was established in 1979.

Each year, the awards honor an educator and a farmer who embody characteristics that helped make Ilic a success.

Anyone can write a nomination. Take a look at the nomination form, which is now online. The deadline for nominations is Jan. 31.

The awards will be presented at the California Small Farm Conference, March 4-6 in Valencia.

This conference, which rotates location each year, is the state's premier gathering of small farmers, agricultural students, farmers market managers and others involved in the small-farm industry. The three-day educational conference includes day-long short courses and on-farm tours; 25 focused workshops; keynote addresses (Karen Ross! Farmer Hallie Muller! Chef Michel Nischan!) and many networking opportunities.

Presentations at the conference from University of California experts will address food safety, starting a new farm, agritourism, new technologies, farming with limited water, how to recognize snake-oil-like products, and many other topics. You may want to check out the full list of workshops to get a better sense of the practical approach this conference takes to farming.

Other conferences coming up that small-scale farmers may be interested to attend include:

• Nevada County Food and Farm Conference
• PlacerGROWN Conference
• EcoFarm Conference

Know of others that I missed? Please tell us about them in the comments. More events for small-scale farmers are on the Small Farm Program's calendar.

And in the meantime: Do you know an outstanding farmer or agricultural educator? Honor him or her with a nomination for the Pedro Ilic Award!

Strike out on your own 'veggie adventure'

Romanesco, rainbow carrots, party cauliflower and watermelon radishes — the vegetables of the Great Veggie Adventure — are just four of the many vegetables that farm advisors with the UC Small Farm Program have worked with recently.

Richard Molinar, farm advisor with UC Cooperative Extension and the Small Farm Program, frequently finds himself on his own "vegetable adventures" when visiting Hmong and Lao farmers in Fresno county with Michael Yang, agricultural assistant.

"One of the exciting things about this job is you always learn something new," Molinar said. "Our specialty is with the Asian vegetables, with Michael's expertise in that area. Asians have vegetables that are unique to their culture, that they prefer — just like Punjabis have vegetables unique to their culture, and Hispanics have vegetables common to them."

On a recent visit to Tchieng Farms, Molinar and Yang showed me many Asian vegetables I had never tried, including moqua, sinqua, long beans, lo bok, opo and winter melon. (Watch the video above for more)

We walked between the trellised crops and up and down the plant rows, while Yang and Molinar picked samples and talked about how to eat these new-to-me vegetables. Since Tchieng Farms sells at farmers markets, they maintain a wide variety of vegetables throughout the year, planting different vegetable varieties every few weeks.

Yang pointed out that sometimes Asian vegetables include familiar varieties that are grown and eaten in less familiar ways. For example, many Hmong and Chinese farmers grow sugar snap pea plants for the tender shoots, tendrils and leaves instead of the pea pod.

Still curious?

• Find more information about growing Asian vegetables from the UC Small Farm Program
• Visit the official Great Veggie Adventure website by the makers of Hidden Valley Salad Dressings
• More videos? Watch our Great Veggie Adventure playlist

Farm adds carrots and color to plates

 

While growing vegetables for the Great Veggie Adventure, at least one California farm found a new product to sell at its farmers market booths.

Valdivia Farms in Carlsbad normally grows heirloom tomatoes, baby squash and specialty bean varieties. But Ramiro Lobo, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor with San Diego County, asked them to try some colorful varieties of cauliflower, carrots and radishes as part of the Great Veggie Adventure.

"We don't have a research station here in San Diego or close by, so they've allowed us to do research on their farm. That's been invaluable," Lobo said.

Lobo worked with the farm to have a demonstration plot of rainbow-colored carrots, party-hued cauliflower, watermelon radishes and Romanesco as part of the UC Small Farm Program's work with the Great Veggie Adventure.

"After I had the samples I needed, I told them they could pick and pack the vegetables. They bunched all the different colors of carrots together," Lobo said. "I heard chefs in Los Angeles and Santa Monica markets wanted them, so they planted more."

Javier Valdivia, a supervisor at his father's farm, called the multi-colored bunches of carrots a "hot item."

"Chefs and other customers really dig them because they add color to their plates," he said. "The carrots were pretty popular, and they were selling out at the farmers markets. So we just continued with them."

He said they're still growing the purple, red, yellow and white carrot varieties, which can be grown almost year-round in the San Diego region.

Valdivia Farms sells at farmers markets seven days a week in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties. In addition to selling their specialty items at about two dozen farmers markets, they also sell wholesale and from a produce stand on the farm.

Lobo has been working with Valdivia Farms for about 12 years, growing trials there (blueberries, blackberries, dragon fruit, miniature melons) and sometimes answering their agricultural business questions.

"It pays for some of these farmers to try out new products. You never know what's going to spark interest," Lobo said. "Don't be afraid to try new things in small quantities and bring it to market."

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