More research being tailored to organic needs - Organic Matters

There is an increasing amount of organic research and extension work being done on the Prairies.

The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada supports this by joining with researchers and producers to discover techniques that suit our conditions and improve the sustainability of organic agriculture here. It also means making the results of investigations widely available.

Seeding rates

Organic producers frequently seed heavier than is traditionally recommended. They do this to overcome losses due to mechanical weed control, and to offer better and early competition with weeds. A number of producers from the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate have seeding rate trials this summer in a variety of crops. Roxanne Beavers and Andy Hammermeister from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College are investigating seeding rates in cereals in farms across Canada. Yvonne Van Den Bosch and Steve Shirtliffe at the University of Saskatchewan are investigating seeding rates for green manure cover crops.

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Eric Johnson of the Agriculture Canada research station at Scott, Sask., has studied mechanical weed control in field plots. The centre is extending this to farm scale, by examining the post-emergence harrowing done by producers in their fields, and its effect on crop and weed populations. Several organic producers in Saskatchewan are helping with this study.

Intercropping

An intercrop involves two or more crops, sown together for an effect that helps them both. For instance, red clover and sweet clover might be sown together. Often the red clover does better in the moist low areas, while sweet clover does better on the knolls. Overall, they do better together because they complement each other.

The Back to the Farm Research Foundation at Davidson, Sask., has a variety of interesting intercrop trials. Jill Clapperton and Gisela Duerr at the Agriculture Canada Lethbridge research centre, Dean Spaner at the University of Alberta, Stu Brandt at the Scott farm and Shirtliffe are all investigating some aspect of species mixtures, as either grain crops or green manure cover crops.

Variety development

Organic producers have expressed concerns that varieties that best suit the needs of farmers who use synthetic chemical inputs may not be the same as those that suit organic farmers. Heather Mason and Dean Spaner at the U of A, Duerr and Clapperton at Lethbridge, and Shirtliffe, Gord Rowland and Diane Knight at the U of S are assessing various cereal, flax and cover crops for suitability in organic production.

Pest control

Grasshoppers remain a serious concern. Dan Johnson, Meg McCluskie, Surya Acharya, Judit Smits and Duerr at Lethbridge are looking at a variety of organic alternatives to reduce damage from grasshoppers. These include studies of grasshopper pathogens, of plant extracts that may deter feeding, of feeding preferences, and of crops that may delay grasshopper development.

Weeds

Eric Johnson, Tom Wolf of Agriculture Canada Saskatoon and Rick Holm of the U of S are investigating the potential of vinegar as an herbicide for organic producers. Duerr and the Diamond Willow group in southern Alberta are investigating management of tall buttercup, a poisonous plant identified as a concern in some organic rangeland.

Soil quality

Knight at the U of S is investigating soil fertility on organic farms. She and producers with the Saskatchewan Organic Directorate are testing microbial inoculants as soil amendments. Alison Nelson and Jane Froese at the University of Manitoba are identifying organic practices that reduce soil erosion.

Through all these research projects, the centre helps to support and increase research on organic concerns, on organic farms and for organic producers. We also strive to make this information available to producers as well as researchers.

Information is spread through organic organizations, the media, through newsletters, at meetings, and on the centre’s website. Suggestions for further research or extension opportunities are welcome.

Frick is the prairie co-ordinator for the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada located at the University of Saskatchewan. Frick can be reached

at 306-966-4975, at brenda.frick@usask.ca, or www.organicagcentre.ca.The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Western Producer.