Elizabeth Higgins

Business Management Specialist

Hudson Valley Lab
3357 US Hwy 9W
Highland, NY 12528

phone 845.691.7151
cell 518.949.3722
email Elizabeth

Areas of Interest
Business Management & Planning, Risk Management, Agricultural Economics

Liz Higgins started her career in agriculture in policy analysis in Washington, DC. One of her assignments was as special assistant to the Administrator of USDA-AMS on the Final Rule of the National Organic Program. Liz has experience in rural economic development as the director of the Center for Rural Development at Louisiana Tech University and most recently worked with Cornell Cooperative Extension in both Ulster and Sullivan Counties as a program leader in Nutrition and Consumer Programs, Watershed Management and Agriculture and Natural Resources. Liz will be providing research and extension support to growers in Eastern New York in farm business management, business planning and risk management and agricultural economics. Liz is looking forward to working with eastern NY growers on a wide variety of projects. 

Grow a Successful Agritourism Business! Assessing and Managing Your Financial Risk from Agritourism

September 28, 2018
10:00am - 2:30pm
Highland, NY

Bringing visitors to your farm can create new income streams but agritourism can also be a source of risk to your farm business. Five lunchtime seminars will teach how to assess and manage different risks to help develop a successful agritourism business. The seminars will be followed by a panel of successful agritourism operators. In-between each seminar, participants will build on their knowledge to develop their own risk management plan. This 5-county program will be offered simultaneously in Delaware (the host county), and by Zoom technology in Otsego/Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties. The Ulster County site, hosted by Liz Higgins of the Eastern NY Commercial Hort Team, will be at the Hudson Valley Lab

Grow a Successful Agritourism Business! Managing Your Production/Weather Risk From Agritourism

October 5, 2018
10:00am - 2:30pm
Highland, NY

Bringing visitors to your farm can create new income streams but agritourism can also be a source of risk to your farm business. Five lunchtime seminars will teach how to assess and manage different risks to help develop a successful agritourism business. The seminars will be followed by a panel of successful agritourism operators. In-between each seminar, participants will build on their knowledge to develop their own risk management plan. This 5-county program will be offered simultaneously in Delaware (the host county), and by Zoom technology in Otsego/Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster Counties. The Ulster County site, hosted by Liz Higgins of the Eastern NY Commercial Hort Team, will be at the Hudson Valley Lab

Cover Crops Field Meeting

October 11, 2018
4:00 - 5:50pm
Willsboro, NY

A field visit to see and compare a variety of fall cover crops, planted in two different soil types, two weeks apart. We'll discuss establishment, choices, management and timing of several cover crops.

Check out the Updated Labeled Insecticides for SWD

Labeled Insecticides for Control of Spotted Wing Drosophila in New York Berry Crops - Quick Guide Compiled by Greg Loeb, Laura McDermott, Peter Jentsch & Juliet Carroll, Cornell University. Updated regularly. Check it out at this link!

New Resources from CCE ENYCHP!

We are developing new ways to connect with the CCE ENYCHP team this year! We have a Youtube page located at this link. Check out videos on Table Grape Production, Pest Updates and the 20 Minute Ag Manager - in 4 Minutes series. 
The text alerts will be reserved for important crop alerts that could impact management decisions immediately. For instance, if there were an outbreak of Late Blight in the area, this would be transmitted to vegetable growers.

Farmers can choose the crop for which they wish to receive updates. Additionally they can request that Ag Business Alerts be sent to them. These alerts might include due dates for crop insurance deadlines, market opportunities etc.

Text alerts are easy to access. Just click on the link below and fill out a very short registration form. It takes just seconds to do - access to important information has never been so easy!!

Confused by the WPS (Worker Protection Standard)?

Please take note: WPS pertains to all farms-organic and conventional!  To be sure that you are complying with these regulations, please view the EPA link below:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/comparison-chart-wps.pdf