DURHAM, N.H. — Growers and the public are invited to visit two research farms at the University of New Hampshire on the 6th annual Durham Farm DaySaturday, Aug. 18. The Woodman Horticultural Research Farm and the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center, both facilities of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, will be open for free public tours.
Tours of the Woodman Horticultural Research Farm will take place from 10 a.m. to noon. Self-guided tours of the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center are available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visitors can observe the milking process at 3:30 p.m.
The Woodman Horticultural Research Farm is one of the two horticultural farms that are part of the NH Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture. Located at 70 Spinney Lane, the primary activities of this approximately 155-acre farm are research, teaching, and outreach on the production of horticultural and ornamental crops. The farm specializes in conducting research on new cultivation methods and varieties of fruits and vegetables.
Visitors to the farm will learn more about current research and speak with experiment station scientists. Tours will feature the kiwiberry vineyard; the grape cultivar and training trial; day neutral strawberries producing all summer long as part of the tunnelberries project; wildflowers meadows to promote pollinator health; the UNH Bee Hotel for diverse native bees; soil nutrient management for optimal growth of tomatoes in caterpillar tunnels; breeding strawberries for organic growers; domestication of lambsquarters as a New England version of quinoa; and a new eggplant cultivar trial in high tunnels. Children are invited to participate in a scavenger hunt for facts about pollinators.
The Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center is representative of a typical New England Dairy operation, thereby developing new knowledge and management expertise for the region’s dairy farmers. It houses about 90 milking-age cows and approximately 70 growing, replacement animals. Included in that number is the 20-cow, student-managed CREAM herd (CREAM is the acronym for Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management). Research at the farm focuses on nutrition for lactating cows and improving health of calves and heifers.
The Fairchild Dairy Center has been long recognized for its quality milk and operations. The farm has received numerous Gold Quality Awards from the Dairy Farmers of America, and has been recognized as a New Hampshire Quality Milk Producer by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. The farm has received Quality Milk Awards from Dairy One for consistently producing high quality milk with a low somatic cell count.
Woodman Farm will conduct public tours at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.; preregistration is required. To preregister, contact Theresa Walker of the Durham Agricultural Commission at theresawalker@comcast.net or 603-659-7226. Directions to Woodman Farm: http://colsa.unh.edu/nhaes/woodman-directions. Directions to the Fairchild Dairy: https://colsa.unh.edu/nhaes/fairchild-directions.
Founded in 1887, the NH Agricultural Experiment Station at the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture is UNH’s original research center and an elemental component of New Hampshire’s land-grant university heritage and mission. We steward federal and state funding, including support from theUSDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to provide unbiased and objective research concerning diverse aspects of sustainable agriculture and foods, aquaculture, forest management, and related wildlife, natural resources and rural community topics. We maintain the Woodman and Kingman agronomy and horticultural research farms, the Macfarlane Research Greenhouses, the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center, and the Organic Dairy Research Farm. Additional properties also provide forage, forests and woodlands in direct support to research, teaching, and outreach.
The University of New Hampshire is a flagship research university that inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from all 50 states and 71 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top ranked programs in business, engineering, law, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. UNH’s research portfolio includes partnerships with NASA, NOAA, NSF and NIH, receiving more than $100 million in competitive external funding every year to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.
–UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture
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