Virtual Twilight Meetings

Upcoming virtual twilight meetings will be posted on our Upcoming Events page.

Past Meetings

To view recordings of past calls, click the linked titles below.

• April 22, 2020: Early-Season Pest Scouting
  Sue Scheufele, UMass Extension Vegetable Program, presents concepts of vegetable pest scouting, some scouting resources and tools, and details about a few early-season vegetable pests.
• April 29, 2020: COVID-19 Business Relief Programs & Assistance
  Tom Smiarowski, UMass Extension Risk Management/Crop Insurance Program, leads a discussion of business relief programs currently available to MA farms, including the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, the USDA Food Box Distribution Program, the Paycheck Protection Program, and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. Michael Botelho, MDAR Produce Safety and Market Access & Certification Program, and Brad Mitchell, MA Farm Bureau Federation Deputy Executive Director, also present relevant business assistance information.
• May 6, 2020: Organic insect pest management
  Sue Scheufele, UMass Extension Vegetable Program, presents a simple season-long primer on the few OMRI-approved insecticides that are available and their use in managing perennial vegetable pests.
• May 20, 2020: COVID-19 Marketing Adaptations
  Co-hosted by the UMass Extension Vegetable & Fruit Programs. Sue Scheufele, UMass Extension Vegetable Program, moderates a panel discussion about marketing adaptations undertaken by farms amidst COVID-19.
• May 27, 2020: Cleaning, Sanitizing, & Disinfecting on the Farm: COVID-19 and Beyond
  Lisa McKeag, UMass Extension Vegetable Program, discusses the difference between cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting and how to apply all 3 on the farm, in light of food safety pathogens and COVID-19.
  • Presentation slides
  • Additional resources
• June 10, 2020: Greenhouse Fertigation with Judson Reid of Cornell Cooperative Extension
  Judson Reid, Vegetable Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension discusses fertigation in greenhouses and high tunnels.
• June 24, 2020: Vegetable Weed Management Using IPM, with Bryan Brown, NY State IPM Program
  Bryan Brown of the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program, discusses weed biology and management in vegetable crops.
• December 14, 2020: Getting the Most Out of Beneficial Nematodes in Organic Vegetable Production
  Carol Glenister of IPM Labs and Elson Shields, Cornell University, present on commercially available and persistent native entomopathogenic nematodes. Presented by NOFA-MA and the UMass Vegetable Program.
  Q&A: Beneficial Nematodes

Agricultural Water Series

• September 16, 2020 - Part 1: Water Use Regulations, Water Monitoring Tools, and Efficient Irrigation
  • Presentations by:
    • Rachel Schattman, UMaine Agroecology Lab - Water use regulations in New England
    • Joshua Faulkner, UVM Extension – Moisture monitoring technologies and irrigation efficiency
    • Tim Wilcox & Max Traunstein, Kitchen Garden Farm, Sunderland, MA – Tile drainage, wells, and irrigation equipment
    • Part I Resources and Q&A
• September 23, 2020 - Part 2: Water System Mapping & Water Testing for FSMA
  • Presentations by:
    • Vandana Rao, Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs - MA Drought Task Force
    • Scott Monroe, Purdue Extension - Water sampling, understanding risks to source water, and understanding water test results
    • Phil Tocco, MSU Extension - Water distribution system mapping and inspections
  • Part II Resources and Q&A
• September 30, 2020 - Part 3: Post-Harvest Water Quality & Sanitizer Use
  • Presentations by:
    • Amanda Deering, Purdue Extension - Sanitizer background information
    • Phil Tocco - MSU Extension - Sanitizer use demonstration
  •  Part III Resources and Q&A

Southern New England Vegetable Growers' Webinar Series

Hosted by UConn, UMass, and URI Extensions

• January 14, 2021 - Pests of the Year
  A presentation of several of the prevalent and emerging pests of vegetable crops in the 2020 growing season. Ann Hazelrigg (UVM Extension) presents on tomato diseases, Andre Alyokhin (UMaine) presents on Colorado potato beetle, and Ethan Grundberg (Cornell Cooperative Extension) presents on allium leafminer.
• January 28, 2021 - Virtual Winter Greens Field Day
  This webinar focused mainly on spinach downy mildew, with presentations by Jim Correll and Kelley Clark of the Univeristy of Arkansas on US spinach production and the epidemiology of spinach downy mildew, and by Genevieve Higgins of the UMass Extension Vegetable Program on winter high tunnel spinach variety trials. Slides from Sue Scheufele, UMass Extension Vegetable Program, on other diseases and insect pests of winter greens, are available below.
  Slides: Other Issues in Winter Greens
  Q&A: Spinach Field Day
• February 11, 2021 - Greenhouse Seedling Production
  Rosa Raudales of UConn and Andy Radin of URI discuss greenhouse seedling production, including factors to consider when applying nutrients, irrigation water chlorination, plug cell sizes, and compost-based potting media. Part 3 of the 2021 Southern New England Vegetable Growers' Webinar Series, hosted by the Universities of CT, MA, and RI Extensions. Moderated by Shuresh Ghimire, UConn Extension.
• February 26, 2021 - High Tunnel Fertility Research Update
  A presentation of high tunnel fertility topics, including several ongoing research trials. Judson Reid of Cornell Cooperative Extension presents on calcium and pH in high tunnel soils, Becky Maden of UVM Extension presents on developing a customized nutrient management for a high tunnel, and Andy Radin of URI Extension presents on the fate of excess nutrients in high tunnel soils.
  Q&A: High Tunnel Fertility Research Update