Producers and Researchers Share Understanding at Organic Field Days

By Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag.

Innovation is on display again this summer at the many organic field days across the prairies. Green manure and tillage techniques, intercropping, soil amendments, hemp processing and of course great fellowship and food were part of the circle of learning at recent field days aimed at organic producers.

At the OCIA (Organic Crop Improvement Association) chapter 5 field day, Gerard Draude, who farms near Lake Lenore, SK showed us his method of handling alfalfa. In the second year, he harvests a seed crop. In the third year, at the stage when most people make a cut for hay, Gerard cuts alfalfa with a mulching type mower that spreads the residue evenly over the field. He allows the alfalfa to regrow through the mulch. He plows it down, when it begins to flower. Gerard feels that this greatly improves the soil fertility, adding more nitrogen than a simple mid-season plow down of alfalfa.

Larry Marshall, who farms near Spalding showed us his experiments with different tillage techniques. This year, he direct seeded lentils. The crop looked strong despite weeds. Larry planned to reduce weed seed set by overcutting, a procedure that trims the weeds above the crop canopy. Larry also showed us his intercropping project. Weeds have been problematic in his flax crops. This year, he seeded a low rate of fall rye with the flax. He is hoping that the added competition and the allelopathy of the rye will suppress weeds.

Darwin Leach from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Research Station at Melfort explained research that he and Sukhdev Malhi are doing to test organic inputs at Larry’s farm. Although it is too early to make recommendations based on the trial, producers were able to compare the results of adding compost, wood ash, alfalfa pellets, rock phosphate, Penicillium bilaii or of intercropping with peas.

At Watson, we toured Holmes Enterprise, which is hulling hemp to produce hemp hearts, a highly nutritious food. The plant also produces hemp oil (a highly unsaturated food oil), hemp cake (a nutritious animal feed) and biodiesel. The plant can also turn 2000 lb of dockage into 100 litres of oil that can be further processed into biodiesel and animal feed.

At the Going Organic field day, Steve Snider explained a number of aspects of his operation near Edberg AB. He extolled the virtues of using spikes rather than sweeps on a cultivator. Steve finds that sweeps merely cut weeds, which then regrow. The spikes loosen the soil. He follows spikes with a rodweeder which pulls out 6 to 8 inch lengths of root. This is especially important for reducing quack grass and Canada thistle populations.

Steve’s rotation includes a variety of crops in a flexible cropping plan. “When we plant crops we know that a certain percentage won’t make it”, he told us. “These become plow down. If it is too dirty, it goes under. Some would call it a train wreck. We know this is just part of what we do”. Steve’s system considers prices, the condition of other crops, and bin space, as well as weediness in determining which of the crops become green manure. He finds that when he has a particularly lush crop, it depletes fertility, so the crop that follows it is usually a green manure.

Steve told us that he has had to be sensitive to the requirements of the markets. He sells his fall rye into a premium Asian market that tests each load against a 0% tolerance for contamination. He has improved his seed cleaning by adding a gravity table to remove ergot after his initial screening. He has also reworked his intercropping. Steve liked the rotational qualities of his oat/pea intercrop, but has switched to a barley/pea mixture. Pea splits were not tolerated by his oat processor. Pea chips in feed barley, on the other hand, simply increase the protein.

More information on organic techniques will be available at Organic Connections, a major conference held November 16-18 in Saskatoon.

Brenda Frick, Ph.D., P.Ag., facilitates Organic Research and Extension at the University of Saskatchewan and is an affiliate of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada. She welcomes your comments at 306-966-4975 or via email at organic@usask.ca.

 

Posted September 2008