Upcoming Greenhouse Grower webinar

Benchmarking: How Effectively Is Your Team Performing? Join us for a free webinar on March 23 Space is limited. Reserve your webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/210704024 Paul Thomas Charlie Hall Get a better handle on your bottom line profitability from the University of Georgia's Paul Thomas and Texas A&M's Charlie Hall in the latest installment in the Greenhouse Grower webinar series. One of the most difficult aspects of running a business is assessing the effectiveness of employees. There are many ways to do this, and each has social and economic consequences. In this webinar, Employee And Management Assessment, Paul and Charlie will present several techniques to evaluate individual and team performance, set performance benchmarks based on your company's situation, and establish the economic parameters to allow you to make fact-based personnel and task-staffing decisions. The establishment of supervisory team performance and upper management performance benchmarks will also be discussed. Even if you are a very small company, it is useful to know how well the boss is really doing. This 4-part series, Using Benchmarking To Track Your Recovery Performance, is designed to help you make more informed managerial decisions in the aftermath of an economic downturn that literally turned markets upside down. Title: Employee and Management Assessment Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

It's not too late: CO Agriculture Big & Small Conference

The Colorado Agriculture Big & Small Conference is this week! Thursday and Friday with a special Small Acreage day on Saturday!

Don't miss my presentation on "Managing Diseases in Hoophouses & Greenhouses" Friday at 10am!

This is THE conference for sustainable agriculture in the state. View the full program here.

This year the conference is being held in Adams County, so if you want a tour of the Greenhouse and Nursery Plant Diagnostic Lab, I would be happy to show you!

In case you missed ProGreen 2010...

Here is a link to the talk that Keith Funk (Gard'n-Wise Distributors, Inc.) and I gave on diseases of annuals and houseplants. Geared toward garden centers, there are photos of the most common diseases and management options.

Diseases Of Houseplants And Annuals

View more presentations from bedmunds.

Local produce tops on national chef's survey!

Check out this post from a colleague in North Carolina: Results of the 2010 national chefs survey!
It's looking good for Colorado greenhouse growers interested in producing for local markets!

Japanese Beetle Quarantine in place Jan. 2010

For a summary of the new Colorado quarantine against Japanese Beetle, please click here. This quarantine affects the following plants and plant products brought into Colorado from states that are under quarantine:
Sod
Soil, compost, and manure
All rooted plants in containers or with root balls greater than 12 inches in diameter
All ornamental grasses and sedges
Bulbs, corms, tubers, and rhizomes of ornamental plants (these are exempt when free of soil)

If you bring these items in as a nursery, landscaper, other business or even a private citizen you are required to follow the guidelines of the quarantine language. Make sure to request the full quarantine language from the CDA as it provides details of what is required.

Rule changes approved for the CO Nursery Act

Two rules changes to the CO Nursery act have been approved. These rules increase the state registration fee by $10 and require keeping records of plants brought in from out of state. If you're a nursery owner, please take note and check out the details.

CSU Speciality Crops Program Request for Proposals

Great opportunity for small growers in Colorado! If you want to brainstorm project ideas-feel free to call or email: Brooke Edmunds, 303-637-8016 brooke.edmunds @ colostate.edu

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Grower Research and Education Grants Available!

The Specialty Crops Program at Colorado State University is accepting applications for grower research and education grants for the 2010 production season. The application deadline is Dec. 15.

The request for proposals is intended for research, demonstration, and/or education projects addressing specialty crops production, processing, and marketing issues faced by small farmers, beginning farmers or socially disadvantaged farmers in Colorado.

These classifications are defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as:

· Small farmers receive at least 50 percent of their income from the farm, and have gross farm sales of less than $250,000 per year.

· Beginning farmers are individuals who have not operated a farm or ranch for more than 10 years. The 10-year requirement applies to all operators of the farm or ranch.

· Socially disadvantaged farmers are farmers or ranchers who are members of a socially disadvantaged group. A "socially disadvantaged group" is a group whose members have been subject to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program.

Producers and groups of producers interested in conducting research, demonstration, and/or education projects related to specialty crop production, processing, or marketing are encouraged to apply.

For a downloadable program description and application form of the Grower Research and Education Grant Program, please visit http://www.specialtycrops.colostate.edu, contact Frank Stonaker at (970) 491-7068 or apply by writing to:

Specialty Crops Program RFP
1173 Campus Delivery
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1173