Is winter good for agriculture?

Here are some of the advantages of snow on your fields: Insulates dormant crops like wheat. A layer of snow insulates the crop helping to avoid “winter kill” during bitter cold temperatures. Snowflakes can contain trace amounts of nitrogen from the atmosphere that will help fertilize the next crop.

Do farmers farm in the winter?

But contrary to popular belief, farmers don’t take a break and hibernate during winter. They continue working through the cold months to ensure high-quality produce will be available come spring and summer.

How does a cold front affect farming?

The cold front will not affect Gauteng farmers that much, says Dr Willem Pretorius, president of Agri Gauteng. Farmers in this province are used to the cold conditions, he says, and storms aren’t usually as severe as it is in the Western Cape.

What happens on farms in winter?

As winter starts to unfold, farms will start feeding their livestock more, instead of just letting them graze, because at this point the grass will stop growing and will deteriorate in quality. Because of the incoming colder temperatures, livestock will also usually be housed by November, if not before.

What is a cold farm?

It may sound a little intimidating, but a cold frame is a pretty simple concept. Cold frames are structures that take advantage of solar energy and insulation to create small ecosystems where plants can thrive despite the cold weather.

My son and I decided we were staying in Michigan after I retired, and my wife passed so we decided we would buy a small acreage. I grew up in Kansas on a farm, so it was a natural step for me, and my son is an outdoors enthusiast. We each had a wonderful dog so named the farm Two Dogs Farms. What started to be a small acreage turned into a 75-acre farm when we found the land, we both liked. The 1st thing we decide to do was plant and orchard (50 trees) wherein we constructed an 8-foot fence around the area where the orchard would be planted. Since the farm had about 25 acres of native grass, we purchased baling equipment and began baling and selling grass hay. We also started custom baling for some of the neighbors. We discovered there were 3 maple groves on the property and began a maple
syrup operation. We also discovered several large areas of native blackberries patched, numerous wild grape vines, elderberry trees, crabapple trees and began making jelly with fruit that did not sell at
market. We have since planted blueberries and raspberries. All the grass hay evolved into a beef
operation and we are raising and selling USDA inspected grass fed Scottish Highlander Beef products at Farmers Market. Along the way we construct a 24 by 40-foot hoop house to start flowers and vegetables for our produce plot and to sell at market. We intend to expand the beef operation, and green house operation in the coming years. We have a lot of Russian olive that needs to be cleared to make more land useable. As the market for CBD develops our next venture will probably be into that market. And we want to get into solar energy for our own energy use. It’s been a busy 10 years and who knows where the farm will grow to in the future!