Project Overview
FNE03-459
Project Type: Farmer
Funds awarded in 2003: $6,382.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2003
Matching Non-Federal Funds: $3,340.00
Region: Northeast
State: New Hampshire
Project Leader:
Stephen Davis
Cold Pond Community Farm
Reclaiming Pastureland for Diversified Fruit/Maple Production
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Fruits: apples, berries (other)
- Additional Plants: trees
- Animals: bovine, poultry, sheep, swine
Practices
- Animal Production: free-range, grazing - multispecies, pasture fertility, pasture renovation, range improvement, grazing - rotational, housing
- Crop Production: conservation tillage
- Farm Business Management: new enterprise development, community-supported agriculture, cooperatives, marketing management
- Natural Resources/Environment: biodiversity, habitat enhancement, hedgerows, wildlife, hedges - woody
- Production Systems: permaculture
- Soil Management: green manures, composting, soil quality/health
- Sustainable Communities: partnerships, analysis of personal/family life, social capital, sustainability measures
Proposal summary:
Clearing overgrown and neglected farmland is often done with heavy machinery, but there are alternatives that have low ecological impact and support biological diversity. The farmer will use ten acres of lapsed farmland to develop silvopasture, alley cropping, and forest farming, as well as leave some land for wildlife corridors. A rotation of pigs, cattle, sheep, poultry, and geese will maintain land once it has been thinned or cleared, and crops will include apples, berries, Christmas trees, and rotational field crops. Outreach will be through farmers’ meetings and pasture walks, and through the agricultural media.
