By Alexis Stockford Glacier FarmMedia staff Organic farmers may want to refine that manure before spreading it. Dale Overton, CEO of Overton Environmental Enterprises, urges organic farmers to add a composting step to their fertility programs, something he says will provide better long-term organic matter gain, fight off weeds and save money on fertilizer. Overton’s […]
American Society of Agronomy – Some relationships can be complicated. Take the one between sweet potato crops and soil nitrogen, for example. Too little nitrogen and sweet potato plants don’t grow well and have low yields. Too much nitrogen, however, boosts the growth of leaves and branches at the expense of storage roots. That also […]
Technical University of Munich – Traditional insecticides are killers: they not only kill pests, they also endanger bees and other beneficial insects, as well as affecting biodiversity in soils, lakes, rivers and seas. A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed an alternative: A biodegradable agent that keeps pests at bay […]
American Society of Agronomy – Researchers have good news for growers. Farmers raising a nitrogen-hungry crop like sweet corn may save up to half of their nitrogen fertilizer cost. The key: using a faba bean cover crop. Faba bean is an ancient crop increasingly used as a cover crop. Cover crops are grown in the […]
By Laura Rance OrganicBiz editor Prairie organic growers can for the first time this spring grow a registered variety of oats that has been developed under organic management. Limited quantities of AAC Oravena certified seed are now available through Fedoruk Seeds at Kamsack, Sask., after a lengthy breeding and development process by Agriculture and Agri-Food […]
Flame-weeding controls weeds for organic farmers American Society of Agronomy – Interest in organic farming is growing. However, controlling weeds without synthetic herbicides, as organic certification requires, is challenging. Scientists are studying alternative tools for weed management. One such tool is propane-fueled flame weeding. Flame weeding sounds as if it means burning plants. But propane-fueled […]
Starved organic soils erode soil organic matter By Robin Booker Organic grain farms rely on micro-organisms to cycle soil nutrients into plant-available forms, but nutrient imbalances in organic soils can hamper this process. “In organic systems, you don’t have inorganic fertilizers bringing in primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, but each year, you have grain being harvested […]
The first keynote speaker of the 2018 Prairie Organics conference in Brandon tuned the conversation to soil health By Alexis Stockford OrganicBiz staff It’s time to stop thinking about soil piecemeal and take a more systems-based approach to soil health. That was the message from Jay Fuhrer of Bismark’s Natural Resources Conservation Service at the […]
By Alexis Stockford OrganicBiz staff Martin Entz of the University of Manitoba sees little difference between a farmer breeding bulls, an industry alive and well in Manitoba, and breeding crop varieties. One of the leads in the University of Manitoba’s participatory plant-breeding program, Entz has been putting variety development in the hands of farmers since […]
Isaiah Swidersky offers a careful answer when asked if organic potato production is a risk worth taking. “To some degree it is, but there’s a reason I haven’t expanded it to 200 or 300 acres,” Swidersky says. “It’s a challenge to grow organic potatoes. But I’m optimistic. It’s a good challenge.” Swidersky’s operation, Rose Mountain […]
