August 2019 - Organic Farming Research Foundation

Join OFRF at Organicology

August 20, 2019 – Heading to Organicology? Join OFRF to learn about the latest in organic research and provide input on priorities for future research funding.

Organic Research for the Non-Researcher, Friday, February 15th, 10-12 am, Broadway III/IV

During this interactive session led by OFRF, Organic Seed Alliance, and Oregon Tilth, participants will have the opportunity to identify and prioritize the most pressing research needs for organic farmers and ranchers. Don’t miss this opportunity to share your voice!

Organic Agriculture Research Forum, Saturday, February 16th, 9:00 am – 4:30 pm, Galleria North/Poster Session 5:00 – 7:00 pm, Galleria South

This day-long forum and poster session will feature innovative presentations from researchers across all disciplines related to organic farming and food systems. Oral and poster presentations will cover topics ranging from assessing the impact of organic agriculture on climate change to organic farmer economics, marketing, and consumer behavior.

View the agenda

Organicology is the largest gathering within the organic trade. The conference is designed by Organically Grown Company, Oregon Tilth, Sustainable Food Trade Association, and Organic Seed Alliance. The 2019 Organicology conference takes place February 14-16 at the Hilton Portland & Executive Tower in Portland, Oregon.

By office|2020-01-08T18:13:18+00:00August 20th, 2019|News|

Vitalis Celebrates 25thAnniversary Field Day

August 20. 2019 – I had the pleasure of attending the Vitalis Organic Seed Field Day in San Juan Bautista, California on Thursday, August 15^th. The company was founded in The Netherlands in 1994 and is a division of Enza Zaden, the global leader in organic seed production and breeding. All Vitalis varieties are certified organic and they work closely with regional organic seed dealers to serve the needs of open field, high tunnel, and greenhouse growers. It was interesting to learn about which traits are desirable for different regions and types of production. The future success of organic agriculture depends on breeders like Vitalis who work to develop new varieties for organic and low-external-input systems.

The event began with a reception on Wednesday evening at the Hacienda de Leal where Erica Renaud, Regional Organic, Herb & Arugula Business Manager, welcomed guests.

After dinner, a presentation on Organic Plant Breeding by Dr. Bill Tracy, Endowed Chair of Organic Plant Breeding at the University of Wisconsin, provided a historical perspective of breeding from Charles Darwin to the present day. He spoke about the importance of understanding that you cannot change one part of the system without changing other parts.

Photo of a sign in a field from Vitalis Organic Seed Field Day in San Juan Bautista, California

All Vitalis varieties are certified organic and they work closely with regional organic seed dealers to serve the needs of open field, high tunnel, and greenhouse growers.

Photo of Erica Renaud, Vitalis Regional Organic, Herb & Arugula Business Manager

Erica Renaud, Vitalis Regional Organic, Herb & Arugula Business Manager, welcomed guests

Photo ofDr. Bill Tracy, Endowed Chair of Organic Plant Breeding at the University of Wisconsin

Organic Plant Breeding presentation by Dr. Bill Tracy, Endowed Chair of Organic Plant Breeding at the University of Wisconsin, provided a historical perspective of breeding from Charles Darwin to the present day.

OFRF provided a grant to Dr. Tracy in 2008 for a participatory plant breeding project to improve sweet corn for organic farmers in cool climates. The grant paved the way for a new open-pollinated sweet corn variety called, “Who Gets Kiss?” that came to market in 2014, led to several additional research projects with significant impacts in the world of organic seed breeding and an important research network that continues today.

The next morning, seed dealers from across the country walked the research fields with Vitalis staff—many carrying a towel and knife to slice off a taste. Listening to the regional seed dealers question Vitalis breeders about the characteristics of the vegetables they are growing at the research station, provided some interesting insights into what’s important for different types of growing, in different regions. These dealers know what their customers want and look to Vitalis to provide it.

By office|2020-01-08T18:13:19+00:00August 20th, 2019|News|

Confused about Cover Crops? You’re Not Alone

August 14, 2019 – Cover cropping is an important practice for building soil health, protecting the soil surface from erosion and compaction, and suppressing weeds and pests. Truly sustainable agriculture relies on maintaining effective vegetative cover of the soil, and the National Organic Standards require certified organic producers to include cover crops in their crop rotations.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service has developed four basic principles of soil health management in which cover crops play key roles.

Keep the soil covered as much as possible.
– Year-round living vegetation or residue cover protects the soil from rain, wind, and sun, prevents erosion and crusting, adds organic matter, and feeds soil life.
– Timely cover crop planting after harvest can largely eliminate bare fallow, which might otherwise exceed six months per year in a corn-soybean rotation.

Keep living roots growing throughout the year.
– Rhizodeposition (root exudates and fine root sloughing) provides a continuous supply of food for beneficial soil microbes—the more living roots, the better.

– The deep, extensive root systems of mature cover crops enhance drainage and aeration, and bring organic matter and soil life deeper into the soil profile.

– Cover crop roots recover leached nutrients, thereby protecting water quality and enhancing fertility for the subsequent crop that is planted.

Manage more by disturbing soil less.
– Cover crops reduce chemical soil disturbances by lessening the need for soluble fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.

– Cover crops reduce biological disturbance by supporting soil life year round.

– Cover crops can reduce physical soil disturbances by suppressing weeds and lessening the need for tillage and cultivation.

Diversify soil biota with plant diversity.
– Adding cover crops to an existing rotation enhances diversity of plant species, and thereby the community of root-associated soil organisms.

– Cover crop mixes further improve diversity.

However, it can be difficult to determine the best cover crop to plant, the optimum time to plant, when and how to terminate; and of course, how to calculate the all-important return on investment. The good news is that there are plenty of free resources available to help farmers make these critical decisions.

OFRF’s series on Soil Health and Organic Farming includes a guidebook and webinar on cover cropping. Cover Crops for Soil Health: Selection and Management provides an analysis of the most current research on cover cropping to guide growers through the process of selecting and managing cover crops. All of the guidebooks and webinars are available for free.

Download the guidebook

View the webinar

Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) added to their many excellent resources in June of this year with a Technical Bulletin called “Cover Crop Economics: Opportunities to Improve Your Bottom Line in Row Crops”. The bulletin discusses both the immediate benefits of cover crops and their value as an investment in the long-term success of a farm.

Download the bulletin

By office|2020-01-08T18:13:19+00:00August 14th, 2019|News|

New Training Program Offers Organic Basics for Beginning Farmers

August 13, 2019 – OFRF is excited to introduce the first learning module, Organic Soil Health Management, in its free online training program for beginning farmers, existing organic farmers, and farmers in transition to organic production. The content throughout the training program focuses on organic specialty crop production in California.

“Healthy soils are the foundation of a successful organic farm, but determining which soil building practices will work best in a particular farming system can be challenging,” explains OFRF’s Education and Research Program Manager, Lauren Snyder. “The goal of this training program is to provide reliable information in one place and to highlight resources that help farmers assess which practices make the most sense for their system.”

This open educational resource is a joint effort between OFRF, the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP), and California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. The self-paced program combines descriptive essays, video lectures from university faculty, and virtual field trips to demonstrate organic principles and practices.

“We wanted to be sure that students of the course could benefit from the latest scientific knowledge relevant to organic farming, so we include resources from researchers around California. Also, the content of every module is closely reviewed by a team of scientists and extension experts from across the state,” says Sonja Brodt, who oversees the course’s content creation at UC SAREP.

In total, the online training program will contain six learning modules: 1) soil health, 2) weed management, 3) irrigation and water management, 4) insect and mite management, 5) disease management, and 6) business management and marketing. The soil health module is now live and the five remaining modules will be introduced as they are completed, with the entire program available in spring 2020.

“We view this training program as a living resource and encourage users to provide their feedback by completing the voluntary surveys in the learning modules,” adds Snyder. “This information will increase the utility of the program and ensure we are meeting the needs of organic specialty crop farmers in California.”

View/take the first learning module, Organic Soil Health Management.

Funding for this project was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant AM170100XXXXG011. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.

By office|2020-01-08T18:13:19+00:00August 13th, 2019|Press Release|

OFRF and FFAR Award Two New Grants that Tackle Soil Health Challenges

SANTA CRUZ AND WASHINGTON D.C. (August 1, 2019) – Soil health is a critical component of organic farm management. The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) are funding two soil health research projects that examine how diversification practices control weeds and increase yields. OFRF and FFAR funded these two projects as part of a larger initiative to support soil health research and promote environmental sustainability. A grant to Dr. Jed Eberly at Montana State University was announced earlier this year.

Implementing diversification practices, such as crop rotations and cover cropping, is one way organic farmers build soil health. Efficient use of organic fertilizers in combination with these practices can enhance soil fertility, but determining how much organic fertilizer to apply is a key challenge; too much fertilizer wastes money and pollutes the environment, while too little can impede crop growth. However, there is still much to learn about how diversification practices affect the availability of nutrients in the soil. Addressing this question would help farmers reduce added costs and environmental impacts associated with nutrient losses from organic fertilizers.

At UC Berkeley, a team led by Timothy Bowles, Assistant Professor of Agroecology, is working to help solve this problem. This research will help farmers make more informed decisions about nutrient management, in particular, which type of organic fertilizer to use and how to time fertility applications on diversified organic farms.

The second project focuses on the southern region of the U.S., an area where weed, insect, and fertility management challenges have made it hard to meet the steady demand for organic sweet potatoes. Currently, many organic sweet potato farmers depend on repeated cultivation to manage weeds, a process that is energy and labor intensive, and damaging to soil health. Their crops are also regularly damaged by invasive pests. For example, the wireworm can damage up to 40 percent of the sweet potato crop in North Carolina, negatively impacting farmers’ profitability. Led by Alex Woodley, an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, this project assesses the viability of annual winter cover crop systems as an effective tool for weed and insect control. The project also evaluates the effects of increasing rates of organic nitrogen fertilizer in each cover crop treatment. This systems-level approach has the potential to provide innovative management techniques to sweet potato farmers in North Carolina that protect soil health.

“We are pleased to partner with FFAR to fund this innovative research,” said Brise Tencer, OFRF’s Executive Director. “The goal is to help organic producers and others interested in building soil health make more informed decisions about managing fertility on their farms and ranches.”

“Soil health plays a critical role in supporting productive, sustainable agriculture from the ground-up,” said FFAR’s Executive Director Sally Rockey. “Investing in innovative soil health management techniques benefits the environment, enhances crop productivity and supports farmer profitability.

Summary of OFRF’s 2019 grant awards

Overall, OFRF grant funding has advanced scientific knowledge and improved the practices, ecological sustainability, and economic prosperity of organic farming. These successes support their goal of researchers and farmers working collaboratively to support the improvement and widespread adoption of organic agriculture. Project results are shared freely at ofrf.org. OFRF also provides free access to all of its educational materials and resources.

The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization established by bipartisan congressional support in the 2014 Farm Bill, builds unique partnerships to support innovative and actionable science addressing today’s food and agriculture challenges. FFAR leverages public and private resources to increase the scientific and technological research, innovation, and partnerships critical to enhancing sustainable production of nutritious food for a growing global population. The FFAR Board of Directors is chaired by Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum and includes ex officio representation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation.

(OFRF) is a non-profit foundation that works to foster the improvement and widespread adoption of organic farming systems. OFRF cultivates organic research, education, and federal policies that bring more farmers and acreage into organic production.

By office|2020-01-08T18:13:19+00:00August 1st, 2019|Press Release|