As part of the Optimizing Your Farm Records Series for Women in Agriculture, an Aug. 15 meeting will talk about evaluating farm profitability and how to use records to gain more insight into the farm’s financial health.

Children are welcome to attend. Michigan State University Extension has partnered with Greenstone Farm Credit Services to cover the cost of pizza for dinner. The Tuscola County 4-H program coordinator will have activities for the kids, or they can sit with you.

A representative from Greenstone will also be present to explain how this affects what they evaluate.

The meeting will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Beith Park in Caro. The first half-hour will be spent eating with adults and children together. At about 6 p.m., the educational discussion will begin, at which time children are welcome to either stay or participate in fun activities with a 4-H program coordinator. Children younger than 3 will need to stay with participants.

Registration is required for food selection, as well for child supervision with age-appropriate activities.

If interested in participating, register here. For more information, contact Cathy Patterson in the Tuscola County Michigan State University Extension office at 989-672-3870.

Sign up for Great Lakes Leadership Academy

For nearly two decades, the MSU Extension-founded Great Lakes Leadership Academy has been helping the next generation of community and agriculture leaders expand their horizons, develop value-guided decision-making skills and create lasting relationships across Michigan industries.

The 2024 cohort is now forming. The full-year program includes three in-person classroom days, meetings in three destinations across Michigan to experience leadership, two virtual meetings and an international capstone experience in South Africa.

Twenty candidates per year are selected for GLLA. Signs of readiness include:

Tuition is $6,000 for the year, including all travel, with limited need-based scholarships available.

Applications are due by Sept. 1. Click here to learn more and to apply.

MSU Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center names manager

Daniel Bacheler, a Michigan State University alumnus, has been hired as the new farm manager at the MSU Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center in Traverse City. The center is part of a network of 15 MSU AgBioResearch centers around the state.

Bacheler, a Michigan native, is joining the NWMHRC team in July, but he will officially begin his on-site duties Aug. 1. As farm manager, he is responsible for providing a high-quality research environment for MSU scientists and building and maintaining relationships with growers and agriculture industries throughout the region.

NWMHRC was established in 1979 and primarily serves fruit industries — particularly cherries and wine grapes — through research on integrated pest management, horticultural best practices, and delivering information to growers and the community via MSU Extension. The region is the most prominent tart cherry-growing area in the U.S., with about 75% of the nation’s production occurring in a five-county area of the northwest Lower Peninsula.

Bacheler brings more than two decades of experience in horticulture and landscape services, including teaching horticulture and irrigation at the college level.

Before joining MSU, Bacheler spent 16 years teaching at Fort Range Community College in Colorado. His classes covered a broad range of topics such as horticulture, irrigation, tree and conifer identification, nursery management, landscape construction, and soil science, among others.

Before teaching, Bacheler managed commercial and residential landscape construction and installation in Colorado and Michigan for seven years.

Bacheler graduated from MSU with a bachelor’s degree in horticulture and landscape design. He is a certified landscape technician and private pesticide applicator in Colorado, and a certified nurseryman in Michigan.