In recognition of Canada’s Organic Week, the Western Producer is running an additional Organic Matters column this month. The regular column will appear in the first edition of November. Oct. 15-22 has been designated Organic Week and will feature activities to celebrate organic food and farming. This is a good time to take a look […] Read more
Brenda Frick
Stories by Brenda Frick
Greater crop diversity builds resilience
Can we weather climate change? On the Prairies we have come to expect a certain amount of drought, a recurring cycle of grasshoppers, markets that vanish, prices that plummet and now in some places croplands replaced with stands of cattails. Will we make it to next year country? Researchers define resilience as a system’s ability […] Read more
Is the small, mixed farm a model for safer food production?
The farm in a toddler’s storybook has a few chickens, cattle and sheep, rolling green fields and a garden. For many city folks, this is the vision of the ideal farm, the place they think their food comes from, if they think of it at all beyond the grocery store shelf. But in agriculture, we […] Read more
Organic producers learn about holistic management
If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” This quote, attributed to Yogi Berra, seems to be the central message in holistic planning. To get where you want to be, first set a goal and then test your actions against that goal. Leonard Piggott, a holistic management trainer from […] Read more
Organic farmers share Canada thistle tales of woe
Most farmers’ ears perk up when Canada thistle is mentioned. Even those who have had a lot of success at thistle control find it harder to keep the weed down when they reduce tillage or face a wet year. Organic farmers learned about managing Canada thistle last month during a conference hosted by the Organic […] Read more
Organic system offers potential for resistant weed control
Does organic farming have the answer to herbicide resistance? Organic farmers do not struggle with the problem of herbicide resistance and they do not contribute to it. However, they may know how to handle it. Herbicide resistance is one result of herbicide overuse. As an example, let’s say that one wild oat plant in a […] Read more
Organic management counters some negative effects of soil tillage
There is an abundance of research documenting the negative effects of tillage on soil. But according to Diane Knight from the University of Saskatchewan, tillage associated with organic food production is more palatable. “There’s something about being organic that makes tillage less bad,” Knight told people at the Organic Alberta conference in Spruce Grove Alta. […] Read more
Gov’t not hearing organic sector’s demand for choice on GM
Companies that develop genetically modified crop varieties plan to produce more such varieties in the future. Organic farmers wish to avoid GM plants and seeds in their systems. They are at opposite ends of the issue. Why can’t they just agree to coexist? The debate heated up recently when the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorized […] Read more
Livestock grazing improves economics of green manure
Replacement of commercial nitrogen fertilizers with legume green manures could improve cropping sustainability and reduce the environmental footprint of a range of agricultural production systems. Nitrogen fertilizer production is the single largest user of fossil fuel in conventional agricultural systems. Legume green manures already play a pivotal role in organic cropping and might find a […] Read more
Organic soil busier place than conventionally farmed soil
Healthy soil is a living ecosystem, vibrant with the activity of vast numbers and staggering diversity of organisms. According to soil scientist Elaine Ingham, a single teaspoon of productive soil contains 100 million to one billion bacteria, not to mention fungi, protozoa and nematodes. Every farm depends on the health of the soil, but soil […] Read more
