Project Overview
FNE05-545
Project Type: Farmer
Funds awarded in 2005: $9,730.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2007
Region: Northeast
State: New York
Project Leader:
Andrew Fellenz
Fellenz Family Farm
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Vegetables: cucurbits, greens (leafy), peppers, tomatoes
Practices
- Crop Production: multiple cropping
- Education and Training: display, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research
Proposal summary:
Hand setting of transplants is time consuming and raises ergonomic concerns. Small-scale growers tend to plant small quantities of transplants—100 to 1000—at one time, causing logistical problems with equipment traveling over beds and difficulty justifying the capital cost of a tractor and transplanter. This project will build and test a self-propelled transplanter. Several planting trials will be made to test modifications and to compare the economics of the planter to hand transplanting and a tractor-drawn transplanter. Outreach will be through presentations and the media.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.