Jennifer Blair OrganicBiz staff When drought hits, you can blame Mother Nature — but management practices also come into play. “I don’t want to say that it doesn’t matter what happens with rain and that all drought is man made because of bad management,” said Vermont grazier Abe Collins. “That’s a very extreme position. Sometimes […]
By Jennifer Paige OrganicBiz staff More than 400 rule changes are on the horizon for Canadian organic growers. The national standards have changed, part of a regular ongoing review process to ensure relevance, and existing certified organic producers have this season to adapt before the rules come into effect this fall, and are the basis […]
By Jennifer Blair OrganicBiz staff For organic grain producers, your best investment is the crop you never harvest. “I can never stress green manure plow-down enough. It is your most valuable crop,” said Steven Snider, who runs an organic grain operation near Edberg. “Part of your farm should be soil building with a green manure […]
By Mary MacArthur OrganicBiz staff OLDS, Alta. — Feeding pasture-raised pigs can be one of the highest money generators on the farm, says a California farmer and author. “The margins can be tremendous,” said Rebecca Thistlethwaite, who sells her finished pork directly to customers and through farmers markets. “I have never sold a pig for […]
By Jennifer Blair OrganicBiz staff Organic crop rotations are “a real ball of wax to deal with,” says veteran organic grower Steven Snider. “There’s so many options out there. I think people would like for me to just tell them what to put in, and that would be nice and simple,” said Snider, who runs […]
By Mary MacArthur OrganicBiz staff Mike Kozlowski doesn’t excel at Excel, but he said it is one of the easiest ways to keep track of what to seed, when to seed and which crops should be grown where on his large market garden. Planting the seeds from a garden package until they run out is […]
OrganicBiz staff The U.S.-based Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) and the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) have launched a new internship program designed to link wannabe organic seed producers with experienced seed farmers. According to the OSA website site, the program’s six-month internships are available that combine hands-on education, farm-based independent study, and classroom and […]
Newcastle University – In the largest study of its kind, an international team of experts led by Newcastle University, UK, has shown that both organic milk and meat contain around 50 per cent more beneficial omega-3 fatty acids than conventionally produced products. Analyzing data from around the world, the team reviewed 196 papers on milk and […]
OrganicBiz staff If all your investments are in similar stocks that react to the same triggers, you’re vulnerable to volatility and losses in the stock markets. So it goes in Nature. It’s well-known that diversity in species is important to a resilient ecosystem, but European researchers now say it’s not only a function of what is occupying […]
By Laura Rance OrganicBiz staff Manitoba farmers are facing some tough choices when it comes to squeezing a profit out of the crops they grow in 2016. But the Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development annual crop production guidelines indicate there are still profits to be made in both conventional and organic production systems. These […]
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