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Farmers Guide to Conducting On-Farm Research

Organic farmers and ranchers like you are always testing and experimenting with new ideas to improve their farming operations. You probably have some ideas every day that you would like to try. Incorporating a few scientific steps in your experiments will generate more reliable results that you can trust.

This guide was specifically created for you, the organic farmer or rancher who is curious about conducting some type of trial or experiment on your farm in a more structured way. Whether you are looking at reducing the use of off-farm inputs, minimizing disease pressure, trying out new crop varieties or animal feed, or testing new cover crop techniques or irrigation sensors, this practical guide was created to assist you along the way.

By |2024-06-18T18:06:37+00:00November 7th, 2023|Reports, Soil Health and Organic Farming Reports|
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The Role of Long-Term Research in Sustainable Agriculture

Written by Elizabeth Tobey

The word unprecedented has become tiredly overused, as we weather the storms of one climate-induced disaster after another, and set new records for temperature extremes. Farmers and farm workers in particular are keenly aware of the impacts of this climate chaos; in a profession dependent on and deeply affected by the weather, people working in agriculture are canaries in the coal mines of rapidly changing weather patterns and new climate extremes. Earlier this year farmers in Vermont raced to harvest crops before flood waters overtook fields and contaminated crops, while farmers throughout the west coast donned n95 masks or respirators to work the fields amid hazardous air quality due to a wildfire smoke. These stories are sadly not uncommon; everywhere you look farmers are working hard to stay afloat in challenging conditions. Climate change is impacting farms and ranches across the nation and organic farms are particularly vulnerable; but they are also full of potential for climate adaptation and even mitigation.

A recent Civil Eats article showcased how the history of extractive agriculture in Maui set the stage for the devastating wildfires in early August. While it explains the tragic history leading up to the disaster, it also points out that agriculture can be part of the solution. “Basically everything that can be done negatively, agriculture can also do it positively. Agriculture can contribute to soil remediation, improved water quality, and biodiversity.” 

Cultivating corn at the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab in Beltsville, MD, with cultivated beans in the foreground

Because organic farms do not rely on synthetic chemicals, they tend to be more dependent on natural systems than their conventional farming counterparts. This can mean they are more vulnerable and easily impacted by climate change, but organic systems also hold tremendous potential to build climate resilience. Farmers have always adapted, and the unpredictability of our current climate continues to push farmers to seek innovative solutions and evolve their farming practices to help withstand and even mitigate the extremes of climate change. 

Long term agroecological research is critical in order to provide farmers with cutting edge understanding of how climate change affects different production systems and how different production systems can build resilience to withstand climate change. While a lot can be learned in short-term studies, there are things that only long-term observation can reveal. To better understand the role of long term agriculture research OFRF recently spoke with Michel Cavigelli, PhD about his work at the long term agricultural research (LTAR) station in Beltsville Maryland, ancestral homelands of the Piscataway and Nacotchtank. “I was always interested in long-term research because everything changes every year,” Cavigelli said.

Weather patterns can change so much year to year, that a two year study, for instance, may fall over the course of two good-weather years, or even a good year and a bad year, and the results will not accurately represent the full picture of how a farming system behaves over the course of several years and weather cycles. Other elements of agriculture change so slowly that it’s nearly impossible to measure them in a short period of time.

“You need long term data to look at things that change a lot from year to year, and you also need long term data to look at things that change slowly,” Cavigelli explained. “Soil organic carbon changes slowly, that’s probably the most notorious one. You usually need at least ten years of a treatment difference to see those [changes] statistically.”

Dr. Michel Cavigelli

Running a long-term study offered Cavigelli a unique opportunity to study Soil Organic Carbon (SOC). “There’s all this talk now about climate-smart agriculture, and looking at ways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. So any increase in soil carbon is a decrease in atmospheric carbon.” 

At the Beltsville research site they have five different cropping systems in place: two conventional and three organic, with a variety of tillage practices and crop-rotations in place. The cropping systems they maintain are:

  • Conventional
    • no-till, 3-year corn-soybean-wheat rotation
    • standard tillage, 3-year, corn-soybean-wheat rotation
  • Organic 
    • standard tillage, 2-year corn-soybean rotation
    • standard tillage, 3-year corn-soybean-wheat rotation
    • standard tillage, 6-year corn-soybean-wheat-alfalfa rotation, with alfalfa as a three-year perennial crop

The conventional systems receive a double-cropping of soybeans after wheat harvest, while the three-year organic rotation gets a hairy vetch planting. “It’s still corn, soybean wheat, and then a legume,” said Cavigelli, of the 3-year organic rotation. “So it’s quite comparable to the two conventional systems.” This variety of cropping systems allows them to compare different production methods.

Along with studying SOC, Cavigelli also looks at crop yield, economic viability, soil quality and soil properties, weed population dynamics, and the overall health of the soil food web. He also explained the long term trial site functions as a base for other researchers to look at things that they don’t study at the Beltsville lab, such as soil invertebrate communities. “We provide the long term study for people to kind of helicopter in and do their specialty, which provides a lot more depth of knowledge of the different systems,” Cavigelli said. 

Organic soybeans at the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab in Beltsville, MD

The results of these studies help researchers like Cavigelli give more accurate and useful advice to farmers and ranchers. Along with publishing scientific reports on their findings, researchers at Beltsville engage in a variety of outreach activities to share their findings with the agricultural community. Prior to Covid, Cavigelli said he regularly presented at ag conferences and hosted field days at the research site that would draw groups of 80-100 farmers and others at a time. He also worked with partners at the local university extension office on a “traveling road show” tour to present findings to ag communities in the mid-Atlantic region, and is eager to reinstate those outreach activities now that the national emergency has ended.

There have been a lot of studies on no-till conventional agriculture, which allowed people to develop some robust conclusions early on. “That’s why no-till became the focus of what farmers ought to do to sequester carbon,” Cavigelli said. Based on this he explained that his initial hypothesis was that the organic systems would retain soil carbon at a rate somewhere between the conventional tillage and conventional no-till systems, taking into account the added organic matter from the organic systems but the disturbance from tilling.

Some of the initial results they’ve found in studies have surprised even Cavigelli. He initially expected the no-till systems to have higher SOC levels because of the decreased soil disturbance. However, when they looked at the findings after 11 years, the organic system actually had more soil carbon than the no-till system, although he made sure to point out that their latest study on SOC has not been fully vetted by peers yet; they will be submitting the paper soon. 

Farming Systems Project, Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab in Beltsville, MD

“A critical part of the story is that when the experiment was started we had relatively high SOC because the site had been planted to perennial alfalfa for at least 14 years,” Cavigelli said. “This also points to the value of perennials.” When Cavigeli’s team compared their results to archived soil samples from 1996, before the long-term systems trials began, the only cropping system that was not losing soil organic carbon over the long term was the 6-year organic rotation. As noted above, this rotation differs from the others by adding a three-year planting of perennial alfalfa before going back into an annual corn-soybean-wheat rotation. “It’s not a tree, it’s not the native perennials, but it’s still a perennial,” Cavigelli explained about the alfalfa. “And during the three years that it’s in there you’re not tilling, and you’re increasing root biomass and all that.” As a legume, the alfalfa roots have a symbiotic relationship with rhizobial bacteria that pull atmospheric nitrogen from the air and fix it in the plant, while the perennial root systems and the lack of tillage or soil disturbance for those three years support the soil in sequestering carbon. Alfalfa is also a valuable cash crop in itself, providing high quality livestock feed. 

“When we look at the difference between time-zero, 1996, and all five of our systems they all lose carbon except for the six-year organic system,” Cavigelli said. “It’s not just that it’s organic, but it’s that we have a perennial in there. So it looks like the story is that perennials are the best way to either maintain or increase soil carbon.” 

As we head into the unknown of our changing climate, long-term research will be increasingly important to help farmers and ranchers make informed decisions about their management practices and to help policy makers respond to the climate crisis with effective programs. However, funding for these long term projects is precarious. All the funding comes from Congress, and Cavigelli explained that it can be tough to make the case for long-term research. “They like to see more quick results, and it’s not quite as sexy as developing a new technology,” he laughed. Researchers like Cavigelli are limited by Congress’s funding decisions.  “It’s a harder sell,” Cavigelli continued. “And it’s a sustainability sell. The only way to measure our sustainability is doing things long-term. And the amount of money we get is directly related to how much research we can do.”

. . .

Dr. Michel Cavigelli is a Co-Director of the USDA Northeast Climate Hub, providing expertise on cropping system management and impacts on greenhouse gas emissions. He is also a Research Soil Scientist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab in Beltsville, Maryland. He serves as Lead Scientist of a research project that includes evaluating the long-term impacts of organic and conventional cropping systems management on sustainability. His areas of expertise include organic and conventional cropping systems, nutrient management, and environmental and microbiological controls on soil nitrous oxide production and emissions. He received a B.A. in Biology at Oberlin College in 1984, a M.S. in Agronomy at Kansas State University in 1990, and a Ph.D. in Crop and Soil Sciences and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Michigan State University in 1998. OFRF is grateful to Cavigelli for taking the time to speak with us about his work.

By |2024-06-18T18:07:07+00:00October 25th, 2023|Gordon's Policy Corner, News|
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Farming for the birds

Study shows how organic growers and wild birds can benefit one another

Written by Heather Estrada, OFRF Research & Education Senior Scientist

Organic producers rely on natural biological controls as a key component of their Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies against crop pests. Because wild insectivorous birds play a substantial role in biocontrol of many pests, organic producers often maintain natural areas or install perennial habitat plantings such as hedgerows and field borders to encourage diverse wild bird populations. However, in addition to some birds directly damaging crops, food safety and animal health concerns have been raised because wild birds can carry pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or parasites that affect humans and livestock.  

Researcher Jeb Owen holds a yellow Tanager bird in his hands. He is wearing a red raincoat, smiling at the camera, standing in a marshy area in front of a body of water.

Dr. Jeb Owen, holding a Tanager.

In 2015, a group of researchers from Dr. Jeb Owen’s lab at Washington State University received a USDA NIFA Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) research grant to investigate the costs and benefits of encouraging wild bird populations on organic farms. The goals of the Avian Biodiversity: Impacts, Risks and Descriptive Survey (A-BIRDS) project were threefold: 1) to identify the relationship between wild bird biodiversity and farm-level management practices, 2) to determine the role of insectivorous wild birds in controlling insect pests, and 3) to assess the risk presented by wild birds in spreading pathogens that endanger human and livestock health.  

Researchers conducted in-depth surveys of species diversity, prey consumption, and the occurrence of fecal pathogens in wild bird populations over a three-year period on 52 organic farms in CA, OR, and WA.  Highly diversified and organic vegetable-only and vegetable-livestock integrated farms with a range of field sizes, proportions of natural areas, and overall diversity of the agroecosystem landscape, were included in the survey. 

Results suggest that more natural habitat in the farm landscape increased the density of native bird species and reduced the density of non-native species, which have the potential to be invasive. Farms with livestock consistently supported greater bird density and diversity, which was most pronounced in farms with the least amount of natural area. The increased bird density and diversity on crop-livestock farms may be attributed to a combination of common factors: smaller farm size, greater landscape diversity, and more integration of woody crops compared to crop-only farms.

The next phase of this project involved the collection and DNA analysis of 1,200 bird fecal samples from participating farms. Results showed that wild birds consumed 30 orders of insects, including 103 insect species that are known to be crop pests, confirming that birds can perform important agroecosystem services through the biological control of insect pests. Finally, some 3,200 samples of bird feces were tested for Campylobacter spp., Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. Bird feces commonly (10% of samples) carried Campylobacter, and rarely carried Salmonella or Shiga toxin-forming pathogenic E. coli (STEC). Campylobacter increased with livestock density but decreased with the extent of natural areas on the farm, which highlights the potential for natural habitat to reduce crop contamination by birds.

Overall, these findings indicate that maintaining natural areas and a patchwork landscape with small fields bordered by natural areas can enhance wild bird populations and potential predation on insect pests without contributing to food safety risks. This research has been published widely in academic journals and shared to farmer audiences through numerous extension talks.

Original Report https://portal.nifa.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/1007264-avian-biodiversity-impacts-risks-and-descriptive-survey-a-birds.html

By |2024-06-18T18:08:48+00:00October 19th, 2023|Education, News|
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Unpredictable Times in Agriculture and Policy

Our political and civic institutions are similar to agricultural operations. Both require a degree of predictability and adherence to deadlines to function effectively. In the same way that farmers depend on predictable climate patterns for successful cultivation, our governments rely on stability to meet the deadlines that shape policies and funding critical to our society.

Aerial view of storm water on cotton fields that are already saturated with days of heavy rain.

Aerial view of storm water on cotton fields that are already saturated with days of heavy rain. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.

However, both realms face growing unpredictability. Climate change has disrupted farming with unpredictable weather patterns, altering frost dates, precipitation, and pest cycles, making it challenging to maintain smooth agricultural operations. Similarly, the political landscape in Washington, D.C., has become increasingly erratic, impacting our ability to foresee legislative actions and their potential effects.

This past month, Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown and allowed the 2018 Farm Bill to expire. Now, they have until November 15th to pass crucial Appropriations bills or another Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded. Additionally, there’s a tight deadline until late December to pass a new Farm Bill or extend the current one. However, the latter seems less likely due to persistent political disagreement.

The dynamics of climate instability and political gridlock are deeply interconnected. Yet, amidst this uncertainty, there is a powerful action we can all take to influence change: effectively communicating to legislators and policymakers how these issues impact our lives. Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) is offering another round of our ‘Communicating with Legislators Workshop’ to support this work.

Here’s a snapshot of what you should know and what the workshop will cover in more detail:

  1. Legislatures are Reactive: Legislative processes respond to public concerns and emerging issues. If they don’t know about a problem or issue, they can’t act on it; conversely, if they don’t know something significant is happening, they can’t defend or support it.
  2. Legislatures are Slow-Working: The pace of legislative work is deliberate to ensure thorough consideration of implications. Continuous engagement ensures our perspectives remain in their purview as they deliberate policies.
  3. Consistent Input is Crucial: Legislatures need regular, diverse, and informed input from citizens to make effective and well-informed decisions.

Our ‘Communicating with Legislators Workshop’ is tailored for farmers and researchers in the organic farming sector. We equip you with insights into how legislatures operate, emphasizing your vital role in communicating about the issues you care about. 

One critical area where consistent input is necessary is in the realm of organic agricultural research. Organic farming isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a key player in our fight against climate change. The unpredictability climate change introduces is a significant challenge for farmers. Organic agricultural practices can mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting soil health, and enhancing resilience to extreme weather events. Research in this field is essential for mitigating and adapting to climate change, and we need policymakers to understand the importance of continuing to invest in it. However, this research is primarily funded through public appropriations, which have been decreasing since 2000.

Join us in this workshop to learn best practices and how you can advocate for increased investments in organic agriculture and research. Your voice matters, and it’s a potent force in shaping the future of our agriculture sector. Together, we can navigate these unpredictable times and work towards a more stable and supportive environment for organic farming.

Workshop registration is free. More info on our events page.

By |2024-06-18T18:09:33+00:00October 13th, 2023|Gordon's Policy Corner|
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TOPP West Resources

Federal funding is available to help agricultural producers transition to an organic system of production.  As part of the larger $300 million USDA Organic Transition Initiative, the Natural Resource Conservation Service has begun to make $70 million available to help producers adopt organic management systems in pursuit of certification.  The following resources provide information on specific USDA technical assistance and funding support programs available to farmers. We will continue to update this with additional resources, so be sure to check back often. 

The Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP)

Farmers across the U.S. may now receive up to $750 per scope for organic certification costs

As a farmer or a technical service provider to farms, you understand the importance of organic certification. It not only adds value to your products but also opens doors to a growing market of health-conscious consumers. However, the process of obtaining and maintaining organic certification can be costly. The good news is that financial assistance is available through the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP) to help ease this burden. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the basic steps to access up to $750 in financial assistance for each organic certification scope, covering expenses paid between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023. Learn more. 

Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)

Farmers across the U.S. are eligible for significant technical and financial assistance from the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

Farmers and technical service providers know first hand that the most significant barriers to developing sustainable infrastructure and production practices are due to time and resource scarcity. NRCS’ EQIP program offers financial assistance and technical support to implement new conservation practices on your farm, with additional support for historically underserved applicants including socially disadvantaged, beginning, veteran, and limited-resource farmers and ranchers. In this blog post, we’ll provide an overview of what EQIP has to offer, and the steps to utilizing this program… Learn more.

Organic Transition Initiative (OTI)

$75M in cost-share grant funding is available to certified organic and transitioning-to-organic growers under EQIP to meet NRCS’s Conservation Practice Standard for Organic Management (CPS-823).

Organic farmers must manage their land without prohibited inputs for 3 years for their products to be certified. This transitioning period can be incredibly challenging as farmers and their land adjust to new production practices. OTI is intended to help producers implement conservation activities required for certification, receive expert technical support, and recover foregone income due to reduced yields during the transition period through EQIP.

By |2024-06-18T18:09:43+00:00September 26th, 2023|News, TOPP West|
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NRCS Programs on an Organic Farm

How Animal Integration and Crop Rotations Help Sustain Generations of Farmers at Elmwood Stock Farm

Written by Brian Geier

Elmwood Stock Farm is a diversified organic farm in Georgetown, Kentucky, producing mixed vegetables, fruits, beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, pork and value-added products. As a sixth-generation farm, Elmwood has learned to adapt to changing times, shifts in market opportunities, and modifications in state and Federal support programs over the generations. For farmer John Bell, a key to Elmwood’s success has been an ongoing fertility program based on crop-livestock integration and long crop rotations. For the Bell family, the presence of livestock and the practice of crop rotations are part of a family-farm heritage, one that has long been supported by programs like those offered by the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).

At Elmwood, land remains in perennial pasture with multi-species grazing for 4-5 years before being opened up for intensive vegetable or grain production for 3 years. This type of fertility program, with a focus on long rest periods and grazing, is not new to the farm. Even before organic certification, John Bell’s parents and grandparents farmed tobacco with a similar rotation, raising hay and cattle on lands for four or more years before switching to tobacco for a few seasons. Utilizing programs like those offered by NRCS is not new to the farm, either. Decades ago the Bell family used programs of the Soil Conservation Service, the precursor to the NRCS, to develop a spring on the farm into a system of gravity-fed tanks for livestock water, a system that is still in use today.

“Long-term, it’s the fertility program that usually determines whether somebody is successful with organic.”
 -John Bell

Early and late-season tomatoes are being produced in 300′ high tunnels at Elmwood Stock Farm.

More recently, Elmwood has utilized the NRCS High Tunnel Initiative three separate times for season extension of high-value, high-demand crops like tomatoes. For years, Elmwood had three, 300’ Haygrove high tunnels, but they wanted to increase production. They also recognized a need for rest periods for their existing tunnels, to mitigate problems with continuous production like salt buildup and nematodes. The first time they used the NRCS initiative to install a 100’ tunnel (the maximum length for that initiative) next to the existing tunnels. Their second year using the initiative, they added another 100’ to that new tunnel, plus they installed another 100’ themselves to bring it to 300’ to match the Haygroves.

Now, at least one tunnel is rested each year, with the plastic off so that rain and weather interact with the soil, which helps mitigate the buildup of salt and nematodes. The third year using the initiative they installed 100’ of what will become the fifth tunnel, so that two tunnels are rested each year.

John has also utilized incentives like NRCS-EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) to plant overwintering cover crops and to help establish diverse pastures when rotating fields out of their 3 years of vegetable and grain production. In the future, Elmwood may look toward using the CSP (Conservation Stewardship Program) or related programs for support with pasture and forage diversification. In order to maintain organic certification, all requirements of any program must be allowable under the National Organic Program. The NRCS, along with organizations like OFRF, are working to ensure that programs and support are suitable for organic systems.

Click below to listen to a short audio clip where John speaks about the importance of a fertility program to the success of an organic farm. This clip is from a farm visit conducted by OFRF in August, 2023. 

To learn more about NRCS programs and resources for organic farmers, visit the Organic Agriculture page. For more information on Elmwood Stock Farm, visit their website and stay tuned to OFRF for our upcoming release of Tillage Tools and Practices in Organic Farming Systems in cooperation with the NRCS, a resource full of farmer features, including Elmwood Stock Farm.

At right: Farmer John Bell discusses pasture diversification at a production field that was recently planted with multi-species pasture mixes. August, 2023.

By |2024-06-18T18:10:08+00:00September 11th, 2023|Farmer Stories, News|
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Gordon’s Policy Corner: Navigating September’s Shifts

Farm Bill Policy, Funding Implications, and Ways to Stay Engaged

September is a month of transitions. In Vermont it brings the first signals of autumn with cool mornings full of valley fog; in DC it brings a flurry of work before the end of the Federal Government’s fiscal year, which brings with it the expiration of the government’s funding and Farm Bill legislation, which are both in flux right now. 

For government funding, or appropriations, neither chamber has successfully passed all twelve of the necessary spending bills on the floor, which means much of the limited floor time for the rest of the year will be spent on both a continuing resolution and then hopefully passing full funding bills before the end of the year. But, that would mean the other expiring piece of legislation, the Farm Bill, would also need an extension. This is all-but guaranteed with the amount of work needed to bridge the yawning gap between the Senate and House spending bills. Some predict that the Farm Bill will be extended until the spring of 2024, some until after the elections in 2024.

As the Farm Bill and FY24 Appropriations situation continues to clear and muddy itself again, one thing remains certain, continued interaction with policy makers is imperative! We at OFRF want to ensure that you all have the ability to meaningfully engage. But, we also depend on our network and community to help keep us in the know of opportunities, too! Below are three ways you can plug in with OFRF and stay connected.  

  • Communicating with Legislators Workshop Series:

First and foremost, I am excited to share that OFRF is hosting another series of workshops aiming to give researchers and farmers some tools to effectively engage with policymakers. Our goal is to equip individuals within the organic farming community with the tools to effectively engage with and educate legislators about the impact of their organic research. This will be geared to both publicly funded researchers as well as farmers that utilize and participate in research.

There are four workshop sessions available:
– Thurs Sep 21st 7-8:30pm EST
– Wed Oct 11th 1-2:30pm EST
– Mon Oct 30th 5:30-7pm EST
– Tues Nov 21st 12-1:30pm ES
All sessions cover the same material, so you only have to attend one. I hope you will also share this opportunity with your colleagues and networks! Registration is FREE. You can find details here.

  • Field Days with an Organic Component:

Second, we at OFRF are interested in hearing more about research field day opportunities, especially those with organic components, taking place near or organized by you! At OFRF, we are dedicated to fostering the exchange of knowledge and best practices in organic farming. If you know of any field days on the horizon that emphasize organic methodologies, we are keen to explore opportunities for collaboration, participation, or mutual promotion. 

  • Stay Connected with OFRF

Lastly, we always want to stress the significance of staying connected with you and the organic farming community. That is why we’re asking you to highlight any listservs or newsletters your local organizations or extension services operate that we should be aware of! These platforms enable us to learn about upcoming field days, networking events, and initiatives that align with our goals and values.

If you know of any field days that happen annually, especially those with organic components, or of any good newsletters with those events in your region, let me know at gordon@ofrf.org! Thank you for the work you do in the organic community! The possibilities to collectively contribute to the growth of organic agriculture, and empower the next generation of farmers and researchers is an exciting and real opportunity. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or to discuss your work. 

Eat well,

Gordon

By |2024-06-18T18:10:20+00:00September 7th, 2023|Gordon's Policy Corner, News|
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New Crop-Livestock Integration Resources

Introducing our new suite of Resources for Farmers, from Farmers!

In OFRF’s 2022 National Organic Research Agenda (NORA), organic farmers and ranchers across North America shared a common concern about the lack of technical assistance and educational resources available for Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems (ICLS). Integrating crops and livestock results in numerous benefits, however the process can also lead to increased complexity, especially for farmers who must adhere to National Organic Program rules and regulations.

At OFRF we know the #1 source of information is other farmers so at the end of last year we put out a call for connection with farmers engaged in crop-livestock integration. We want to thank everyone that responded! With your help, OFRF is proud to release a suite of resources focused on Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems (ICLS) informed by interviews with four highly-experienced organic producers who shared their challenges, successes, and advice. We also want to say thank you to Organic Valley’s Farmers Advocating for Organics program for supporting this project.

The farmers featured in this series are:

The suite of resources includes:

All of this can be found on our website at https://ofrf.org/crop-livestock-integration/

By |2024-06-18T18:11:07+00:00September 5th, 2023|News|
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Organic + Regenerative: messaging resources coming soon

By Brise Tencer, OFRF Executive Director

Consumers are showing an increasing interest in understanding the environmental impact of their food choices. Meanwhile, farmers, who are on the front lines of climate change, are actively exploring farming practices that can contribute to both climate change mitigation and adaptation. This alignment presents a unique opportunity to promote transformative practices through research, education, and on-farm trials. However, it’s crucial to expand our efforts to educate a wider audience about the farming systems responsible for generating these benefits and how to effectively scale up these systems.

Although the term ‘regenerative’ has gained widespread traction among farmers and the food industry, definitions of the term vary widely. Organic farmers have long been engaged in regenerative practices, yet organic is often overlooked as a climate solution. Organic agriculture, grounded in principles that collaborate with nature, foster healthy soil, and contribute to clean water, biodiversity, and thriving farm communities, encompasses the essence of holistic and regenerative farming.

OFRF is working to help articulate the benefits of organic by sharing the latest scientific insights on pesticides, soil health, and biodiversity and by clarifying the  regenerative facets inherent in the organic standards. We have been hard at work reviewing a plethora of resources and science on these questions and we are preparing to launch a suite of messaging resources about the ways in which Organic is Regenerative; stay tuned for an upcoming introduction of these valuable resources!

By |2024-06-18T18:12:39+00:00August 14th, 2023|News|
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Celebrating Midsummer Growth: OFRF team expands

By Dominica Navarro, OFRF Deputy Director

As farms bustle with midsummer abundance, OFRF is also excited to celebrate growth. In the month of July, we welcomed three new members to our organization! We are elated to see the team grow and with added capacity, OFRF looks forward to continuing to serve organic and transitioning farmers across the nation. Meet our newest members:

Policy and Communications Intern – Adam Bagul

Why is organic important to you?  “Organic agriculture is incredibly important to me because I don’t want to eat poison and I do not want my fellow Americans eating poison either. I firmly believe that agricultural standards (as well as overall food standards) are in desperate need of reform, which makes me very proud to contribute to OFRF’s work.” 

One upcoming work-related thing you are excited about: “As a part of this work, I have had the pleasure and privilege of writing this month’s policy corner blogs and I am very excited to see it posted on the website.” 

Favorite thing to grow in the garden: “While I haven’t had the chance to grow fruits or vegetables myself, I always thoroughly enjoyed eating the tomatoes grown in my dad’s box garden, back when he lived in Tennessee.”

Read more about Adam here. 

Senior Scientist – Heather Estrada

Why is organic important to you? “At its heart, organic farming exemplifies a holistic or systems-approach to farming, which intrigues me as an agronomist and self-confessed soil biology nerd. I’m also really grateful for the continued efforts to preserve the integrity of the organic label and for the freedom of choice that brings to our food system.”

One upcoming work-related thing you are excited about: “OFRF’s soon-to-be-released Crop-Livestock Integration materials. The farmer interviews are super inspiring and informative for aspiring growers—everyone did an awesome job on these! Also, I am excited to be working with such a great team at OFRF and beyond.”

Favorite thing to grow in the garden: “Berries, no contest. Strawberries, raspberries, and honeyberries (haskaps) are favorites.”

Read more about Heather here.

Research and Education Engagement Coordinator – Jose Perez Orozco

Why is organic important to you? “One of the fundamental organic farming principles is to care for a living soil and the entire farming ecosystem. To do that, organic farmers nurture their soil, and protect their water, biodiversity and other natural resources. Today, more than ever, we need this type of holistic resource management to care for ourselves and our earth.”

One upcoming work-related thing you are excited about: “I’m really excited about connecting with farmers, learning from them, and also providing all the technical support I can. I will be leading OFRF’s Farmer Learning Trials. In this role, I’m looking forward to seeing how farmers’ ideas become on-farm trials that can help them improve their farming operation.”

Favorite thing to grow in the garden: “Mint, basil, and creating a native landscape in my non-food garden.”

Read more about Jose here.

By |2024-06-18T18:13:31+00:00August 10th, 2023|News|
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