Spring 2007 Grants

The OFRF Board of Directors awarded seven new grants in March totaling $90,041. In addition, the board updated OFRF’s Request for Proposals to include both research and outreach/education projects. Here are OFRF's spring '07 investments in new organic knowledge:

Rebecca Chaplin-Kramer            $8,770
University of California, Berkeley
Determining habitat requirements for natural enemies of crop pests.

Amy Charkowski            $14,600
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Organic certified seed potato production in the Midwest.
Funded in partnership with EPA Region 5.

Dave Christensen            $14,970
Seed We Need – Big Timber, MT
Development of corn borer-resistant corn for organic farming systems: year 2.

Michaela Colley            $11,834
Organic Seed Alliance – Port Townsend, WA
Establishing breeding populations for organic broccoli, sweet corn, and red kale varieties.

Edward DePeters            $15,000
University of California, Davis
Healthy components in organic milk: oligosaccharides, vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids make organic milk unique in healthy diets.

Eric B. Nelson            $10,019
Cornell University
Suppression of Pythim damping off with compost and vermicompost.

Sean Swezey            $14,848
University of California, Santa Cruz
Integrating biological control with trap crop management in California organic strawberries

Fall 2007 Grants

The OFRF Board of Directors awarded ten new grants in November totaling $116,020. This was the first funding cycle in which grants were made under the new education/ outreach program area. These are OFRF’s latest investments in new organic knowledge:

Education/outreach projects
Alice Rolls                      $13,400
Georgia Organics. Atlanta, Georgia
Organic farming curriculum project 

George Kuepper           $8,800 Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Poteau, Oklahoma
An organic farmers' guide to value-added production.                 

Matthew Harbur            $11,664
Alfred State College. Alfred, New York
Weeds your way: strategies for organically managing weeds in
central New York state.         

Jennifer Miller            $12,240 Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides. Boise, Idaho
Prioritizing research, education and regulatory pest management needs of organic potato farmers through participatory strategic planning.      

Gary Peterson            $12,758
ALBA Organics. Salinas, California
Updating and translating ALBA's Small Farmer Education Program.

Research projects
Jeffrey Moyer            $15,000
Rodale Institute Experimental Farm. Kutztown, Pennsylvania
On-farm management of cutworms in organic no-till corn.               

Robert Hadad            $5,547
Cornell Regional Vegetable Program. Lockport, New York
Investigating the use of buckwheat strips for the management of Colorado potato beetle in potato production and as an attractant of native pollinators for vine crops.           

Kevin Murphy            $11,500
Washington State University. Pullman, Washington
Integrating cultivar, soil and environment to develop regional value-added wheat crops with enhanced nutrient value.

Suzanne O’Connell          $11,174 North Carolina State University. Raleigh, North Carolina
Grafting tomatoes on disease resistant rootstocks for small-scale organic production systems.     

James Kotcon            $13,937
West Virginia University. Morgantown, West Virginia.
Biological control of root lesion nematodes with Pasteuria spp.