Continued Development and Maintenance of the Vegetable Grower News Web Site

Abstract

In 2001, with seed money from the NYS IPM Program, a web site, www.veggrowernews.org, was set up to provide vegetable growers with current “from-the-field” vegetable pest and production information. The site covers Eastern New York and the neighboring states from New England (Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut). In 2002, New Jersey vegetable information was added. Other improvements included an improved archive system with a Java script menu dependent on the archived file’s name and the folder hierarchy. A search feature was also added to the site. With a map in the web page, growers are able to click on their counties/regions to receive localized information. Neighboring Extension organizations from Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey provided weekly updates to make the site current and valuable to vegetable growers. The site was also linked into Cornell University resources, as well as other valuable vegetable sites throughout the country. The site was made more user friendly and it is now easier to access past reports. The goal is to make this site a major information source for vegetable pest and production topics in the Northeast.