Photo by Wil Crombie parties to discuss and consider the future needs of the industry.” Riddle said he sees the USDA’s rejection as “an opportunity to reunite the organic community.”
To
The challenges we face around the diminished nutritional value of the food that dominates today’s market are the result of a system engineered not for the purpose of delivering nourishment, but for the purpose of making money by taking advantage of the fact that people need to eat every day. To change this, we need to transition from producing food products to delivering nourishment, Chickens graze on sprouted grains under a hazelnut canopy at Finca Mirasol in Northfield, Minnesota.
The Organic Farmers Association (OFA), which Riddle recently helped found, plans to poll its mem bers on what alternatives they would support. The group’s director, Kate Mendenhall, said she wants to be sure any alternative includes the voice and vision of organic farmers. “Seventy-one percent of all certified organic operations in the U.S. are farmers,” Mendenhall said. “Farmers far outnumber processors, and the majority (over 75%) of these farmers operate small or mid-size farms. They developed this thriving organic market, and they deserve to help lead its future.” Some creative solutions for funding organic research and promotion already exist, at least on a smaller scale. Organic Valley developed Farmers Advocating for Organic—a grant program funded entirely by voluntary contributions from its farmers—when the 2002 Farm Bill provided organic farmers an exemption from national research and promo tion orders. The grant program funds research, education, and advocacy projects that “protect and promote the organic industry and the livelihood of organic farmers.” Nonprofits and research institu tions may apply for grants from $5,000 to $50,000. Another solution already in development is the Organic Voices initiative, which is a coalition of about 30 companies, including Organic Valley,
July | August 2018 To Regenerative Poultry on page 6
After USDA halts organic check-off proposal, groups look for
alternatives Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education ServiceFarmer-MentorExperience 10 ResearchBiofertilizer 5 Steps to Comply with FSMA 13 Industrial Hemp Update 7
By Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin Organic 4 A story without background is like an uncooked drumstick. You can imagine everything about it, but you can’t taste it. So, let me put some flavor into what I am about to share with you. As a child growing up in Guatemala in a family of 13 kids, one of my daily chores was collecting eggs from the few chickens my mother kept around. Although I was born in the dry corridor of Eastern Guatemala, we moved to the northern rainforest when I was 4. Our internal migration was part of the set tling of the northern rainforest region. My father and one of his brothers had gone exploring and found unoccupied forest areas where we could settle. There was no one there to challenge our land claim—at least not for another 40 years when the land had to be registered and title acquired. The first thing everyone did when they resettled in this region was clear the old-growth forest, burn it and plant beans, corn, and squash. We were no exception. A few years later the land would not produce anything, and we would leave some of it fallow. In a couple of years, we would clear it again, burn the debris, and plant. We were not only perma nently hungry, but also overworked, barefoot, dirt poor, and Chickensfrustrated.andeggs were gold because they were our only available regular source of protein. I’ve yet to encounter anyone who understands chicken forward the “GRO Organic” proposal. “A check-off would raise critical funds to spend on research to make organic farmers successful, technical services to accelerate the adoption of organic prac tices, and consumer education and promotion of the organic brand.” The proposed check-off would have allowed the organic sector to “speak to the American consumer in a strong and unified voice,” BatchaClearlyadded.disappointed with the USDA’s halt of the proposed rule, which she called “stunning and unacceptable,” Batcha said OTA is beginning to reassess ways forward. “As we face the reality, once again, that gov ernment is not willing to keep pace, our hope is that critics will join with us to find creative and constructive solutions on how to advance organic,” she said. Jim Riddle, an organic “elder” and vocal oppo nent of the GRO Organic proposal, is eager to be part of planning an alternative. He is dusting off a few of the suggestions he made during the ini tial exploration of an organic check-off program. “I really like the idea of having a ‘checkout checkoff’ where shoppers are asked to round up their grocery totals to the nearest dollar, with the proceeds going to support organic research and promotion,” Riddle said. “Consumers and retailers need to help support organic programs—it can’t all be funded by organic farmers and processors.” The termination of the current check-off pro posal doesn’t prevent submissions of new propos als. In fact, the USDA has said the termination “allows USDA to engage fully with all interested behavior the way my mother and other women in our village did. As a child, I was eager to learn everything my mother knew, from how to find the nests in the thick grass and bushes to how to manage the thick layers of leaves dropped on the ground below where the chickens roamed, pro tected by the thick canopy provided by orange and banana trees, and other food crops. The canopy was critical to ensuring that we did not lose the birds to aerial predators. It also protected the TM
Check-Off on page 8 Volume 26 | Number
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By Audrey Alwell Farmers develop model for producing poultry in regenerative system
The USDA terminated the proposed rule for an organic check-off program in May due to a “lack of consensus within the industry in support for the proposed program.” The agency’s unexpected move shocked the program’s proponents, while opponents breathed sighs of relief. The question left on the table now is how to fund the research and promo tion of organic that both sides agree are needed. “If there was ever a need for an organic check-off, it is now,” said Laura Batcha, CEO of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), which put chickens from the intense, direct sun. Chickens are good teachers—we learned that they are jungle fowl purely by observing them in this habitat. I went on to finish elementary and middle school, and then received a schol arship to the National Central School of Agriculture next to Guatemala City. All of my studies in the next 20 years, from Guatemala to Augsburg University in Minneapolis to my scientific and business management training, pales in comparison to the mind-blowing knowl edge, wisdom and practical experience I gained during those early years in Guatemala using simple observation and listening skills. In 2017, I wrote In the Shadow of Green Man, where you can find the real flavor behind the work I currently do with two amazing organizations, Main Street Project and Regeneration International.
Poultry as Entry Point to Systems Change
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Toftness |
Volume 26, #4 July | August 2018 Executive Director John Mesko Editor Audrey Alwell Advertising Coordinator Tom Manley The Organic BroadcasterTM is a bimonthly newspaper published by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), a nonprofit that provides education, resources and practical advice to farmers. Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. Inclusion of an advertisement does not imply endorsement of a product. We reserve the right to refuse inappropriate advertising. © 2018 MOSES Content may be reprinted with permission. Contact Audrey@mosesorganic.org Display & Classified Advertising: Thomas@mosesorganic.org or 715-778-5775 Content Submissions or Inquiries: Audrey@mosesorganic.org Free Subscription: mosesorganic.org/sign -up or 715-778-5775 MOSES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit qualified to receive tax-deductible donations. Please support our programs and this FREE publication with a donation: MOSES, P.O. Box 339, Spring Valley, WI 54767 Online: mosesorganic.org/donate MOSES educates, inspires, and empowers farmers to thrive in a sustainable, organic system of agriculture.
MOSES Staff: John Mesko, Executive Director | john@mosesorganic.org Audrey Alwell, Communications Director | audrey@mosesorganic.org Sarah Broadfoot, Data & Registration Coor. | sarahb@mosesorganic.org Stephanie Coffman, Adminstrative Coor. | stephanie@mosesorganic.org Lisa Kivirist, In Her Boots Coordinator | lisa@mosesorganic.org
Program Director | lauren@mosesorganic.org
Account Service Coordinator | thomas@mosesorganic.org
Bailey Webster, Board David Abazs Round River Farm, Minn. Mike Bollinger River Root Farm, Iowa Sylvia Burgos Bull Brook Keep, Wis.
The current Farm Bill debate is another exam ple of the need for Organic 2051. It’s one thing to tell Congress, “We need more money for organic farming research.” It’s a whole other thing to say, “This is what we could do if we had X number of dollars to improve our environment, create an equitable food system, and feed the world.”
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of Directors:
Tom Manley,
Organic Specialist | matt@mosesorganic.org
Dave Campbell Lily Lake Organic Farm, Ill. Dela Ends, Secretary | Scotch Hill Farm, Wis. Charlie Johnson | Johnson Farms, SD David Perkins, Treasurer Vermont Valley Farm, Wis. Molly Rockamann | EarthDance, Mo. Sara Tedeschi | Dog Hollow Farm, Wis.
Darin Von Ruden, Vice President Von Ruden Family Farm, Wis. Carla Wright, President Savanna Hill Farm, Wis.
Events Coordinator | bailey@mosesorganic.org
By John Mesko, Executive Director of MOSES - (605)-260-0784
As plans for Organic 2051 develop, we’ll share details in the Organic Broadcaster and on our web site at mosesorganic.org/organic-2051-conference.
Matt Leavitt,
Organic 2051 will be an innovative and forward-thinking event designed to make the farming practices championed at the MOSES Conference the standard for global food produc tion in the years leading to the “tipping point” of 2050 and onward. It will stretch participants to collaborate in new ways. It’s an opportunity for our community to display to the world the team work which differentiates us within the broader world of agriculture. In the coming weeks, we will be looking for anchor sponsors for Organic 2051 who want to let the world know organic farming practices can feed the world, and do it responsibly. You can be part of this, too, by making a personal donation in support of the work MOSES is doing to encourage organic farming, including Organic 2051. Donate securely online at mosesorganic.org/donate. As of this writing, the 2018 Farm Bill is still being debated in congress. Like many, I’m concerned about the direction USDA may be taking on organic and sustainable agriculture issues. While the final version may be a ways off, I’m encouraged at the amount of conversation around organic issues. In January when I was in Washington D.C. advocating for additional fund ing for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative, I met with several legislative staffers who seemed to understand the need for public dollars going into organic research as a means of leveling the field for agriculture.
www.soilworksllc.com
Organic Specialist | jennifer@mosesorganic.org
NUTRITION to make your SOIL WORK
Lauren Langworthy,
TM Event will plot future course for organic ag This February, we’ll host the 30th Annual MOSES Organic ConferenceFarminginLa Crosse, Wis. Since our earliest days, MOSES has been a leading supporter, promoter, and caretaker of the organic and sustainable farming movement and the community which has grown around it. We’ve seen tremendous changes as more people have become aware of how agricultural practices impact the environment and human health. Now, agriculture as a whole is being challenged to plan to feed a global population projected to reach 10 billion by the year 2050. This challenge is often used as a justification for increasing con trol of natural systems using biotechnology. But, as this community knows, GMOs and toxic pesticides aren’t the answer. Farming practices that improve rather than degrade soil, nurture biodiversity, and yield bountiful, healthy food can prevail. Our “brand” of agriculture can in fact feed the world, especially if we approach the challenge with the same vigor and focus that non-organic agriculture does. With that in mind, I am excited to announce we will host Organic 2051, a one-day conference Feb. 21, 2019 (just prior to the 2019 MOSES Conference), focused on the future of organic and sustainable agriculture. The purpose of this event is to bring together leaders in the organic and sustainable farming community to chart the path forward for truly sustainable farming by the year 2050 and beyond, demonstrating our capacity to feed the Researchers,world. educators, funders, government, and commercial interests, and, most importantly, farmers will be invited to apply to participate. A selection committee will evaluate and choose up to 100 participants who will represent diverse subject-matter expertise.
Jennifer Nelson,
• Grains In partnership with the Midwest Grains Initiative and the Non-GMO Project, and in coordination with a large network of local opera tions, RM will aggregate existing standards that support agroforestry systems as a foundational blueprint for transitioning small-grain production for both human consumption and animal feed.
To
• Financing Financing farms belongs at the local level, with local actors and local infrastructure. RM will help identify and support those organiza tions directly working at this level. Working with Iroquois Valley Farms (Evanston, Illinois) and
RM will work to bring together regenerative stan dards that support regional scalable opportunities where separate livestock production and selected fruits and vegetable production can become more competitive as a result of their interdependence, and farmers can become their own region’s sup pliers of natural inputs, thus regenerating larger landscapes.
• Poultry Starting with Main Street Project’s design, RM will facilitate the infrastructure needed for replication of this model throughout the Midwest.
Strategic Regenerative Opportunities
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On June 28 - 29, about 50 people representing Midwest farm and farming-related businesses, nonprofits, investors, and economic development officials gathered in Northfield, Minnesota, to identify next steps toward formalizing the goals and launch of Regeneration Midwest (RM). RM is a 12-state regional coalition organized to serve as the foundation for transitioning five core sectors of the food and agriculture system from the cur rent industrial model to a regenerative model. RM came to life in late 2017, and has since been evolving as a platform for scaling up models that address the three pillars of regenerative agriculture: social, ecological, and economic regeneration. The coalition originated from the poultry-centered regenerative agriculture design pioneered by the Northfield-based nonprofit, Main Street Project. Similar to other organizations throughout the country, Main Street has built a successful, workable, and replicable model for re-designing the way poultry is raised. (See the related story on the cover of this issue.) The sys tem delivers a diversity of food products that can be produced and branded under a regenerative standard, with poultry at the center. While highly successful as a stand-alone project, Main Street faces the same challenges as other organizations building similar models in other sectors: In order to focus on their core competencies and unleash their full potential on a regional scale, these projects need large-scale regional infrastructure support throughout the entire supply chain, which includes farmers, aggregators, marketers, distributors, and processors.RMwill facilitate building and scaling up this regional infrastructure by focusing on five core strategically connected sectors of the food and agriculture industry. In this way, the coalition aims to address the common needs and chal lenges of individual organizations, so together they can scale faster and more efficiently.
• Strategically Selected Vegetables, Fruits Vegetables represent a challenging sector for regenerative standards development, and applica tion. Vegetable production requires intense use of outside inputs, especially if the farm doesn’t incorporate livestock for manure that can be transformed into fertilizer. Cover cropping, crop rotation, incorporation of perennial crops, alleycropping vegetables, and practices of this kind can help a farm regenerate its soil organic matter.
• Pork, Beef RM will join existing pastured-pork and grass-fed beef producers to coordinate and iden tify strategies aimed at improving production methods aligned with standards that support the regeneration of land, local economies, and natural habitats for livestock species, in order to bring more valuable products to the marketplace.
| 3mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775
Support Systems, Infrastructure RM will focus first on mapping promising agri culture production models in the sectors outlined above. The core criteria for selection will be based on 1) a family of standards endorsed by the coali tion; 2) the feasibility and impact of these models if they were to be scaled across the region; and 3) whether they were designed for the common good, meaning that they are ready to be made available to all farmers and institutions for adoption and deployment.Afterthese pieces are in place, RM will focus on missing systems infrastructure pieces that are critical to the combined deployment of promising models. So far, the following key areas of systemlevel programming have been identified as:
INSIDE by members of the organic community Inside Organics
Groups build coalition to create regenerative agriculture system in Midwest
on page 12
By Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, Regeneration Midwest
• Trade Infrastructure A platform for large-scale trading of products will be central to the success of the 12-state coali tion. RM’s role will consist of ensuring that the value-chain components are in place or that they are built by capable organizations, engaging these organizations and coordinating the process of building and scaling up a consolidated infrastruc ture so that participants in the 12-state region can access markets at all levels and use the trad ing platform to move more products from farms to tables. RM will not engage in direct market ing, sales, or handling of products. Blockchain technology, trading boards and standardization of productions and transactions for volume trading, are examples of strategic infrastructure options under development.
The intention is to build supply chains to ensure a robust coordination and continuity of regenera tive standards and the integration and stacking of related enterprise sectors to build larger-scale trading platforms.
ORGANICS Editorials
MOSES Organic Specialists answer your questions about organic production and certification.
There are a lot of factors to consider when plan ning to host people on your farm. These include comfort, safety, fun, and liability. Not everyone is as used to working in the elements as you are. Make contingency plans for inclement weather, restrooms, and water access. Consider what accom modations can be made for people with limited mobility or in the event of an extremely hot day. Also, remember that farms can be dangerous places. Do what you can to prevent issues—remove keys from equipment, pick up potential tripping hazards, and secure buildings or cabinets that house potentially hazardous items. One of the most commonly overlooked pieces of on-farm hosting is helping guests confidently find the farm. While many people these days rely on GPS-enabled devices to navigate to their destina tion, GPS isn’t always reliable in rural or remote areas. Do an online search to make sure that your address appears in the right location. In your invita tions or on the website promoting the event, include any corrections that might help people find you. You may also want to include landmarks that will help people feel confident they’ve found the right place or directions about where to park or find the activity. Field Peas Lentils Field Field ND 701-530-0734
OMRI Inoculants Faba Beans OMRI Seed Treatments Cowpeas Yellow
Practical, reliable and friendly organic certi cation
• What are the end-use marketing requirements of places I’d like to sell to?
4 | July | August 2018 “What advice do you have about adding small grains to my rotation?”
READ:
• Will I be underseeding these small grains with clover, alfalfa or other forage or plowdown crops?
Answer by Organic Specialist Matt Leavitt Under normal circumstances, fall-planted or spring-planted small grains are an integral part of organic grain rotations in the Upper Midwest. However, this season has proved challenging for growing small grains. The extended cold (and snowy!) conditions during March and April fol lowed by record high heat and dryness interfered with normal growth and development. We have heard reports of small grains—oats, wheat, barley and winter rye—heading out and shedding pol len very early and at a much shorter height than usual.Small grains like oats, wheat, rye, barley and triticale are cool-season annual plants and have optimum grain and forage yield when plants grow, flower, and fill during cool weather. The University of Minnesota recommends planting spring small grains no later than the first week of May in the southern third of the state (and the western portion of Wisconsin). These dates are not set in stone, but the later small grains are planted from the optimum date range, the lower the yield potential (on average, about 1% per day) due to increased incidence of warm temperatures during pollination and grain fill, potential lack of moisture, as well as increased likelihood and severity of disease pressure. So far, it remains to be seen how small grains will fare this year as we see what the weather (especially night temperatures) will give us in July.
www.pulseusa.com
• Am I looking for feed-grade/food-grade/forage or a cover crop?
• What crop will come next in rotation and what crop came before?
SUBMIT: Click “Ask a Specialist” button at mosesorganic.org/ask Browse answers to questions at mosesorganic.org/ask.
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• What weeds and disease pressure do I typically see in a given year? Plant at the proper rate and depth. It is critical to make sure your drill is cali brated to plant small grains at the proper rate and depth for optimum seed-to-soil contact, emer gence, and population. In general, the more preci sion you can bring to seeding small grains, the better success you’ll experience. Planting deeper or shallower than 1-2’’ can result in uneven emergence and poor stands. Typical seeding rec ommendations often refer to lbs/acre or bushels/ acre, but it’s worthwhile to gather additional information like germination rate and seeds/lb calculate total seeding rate and desired population. Always ensure proper seedbed preparation when seeding as well. Fertilize appropriately. Harvest, store properly. Most small grains don’t require an excessive amount of available nutrients for optimum performance. In fact, applying too much manure can result in increased vegetative growth, delayed maturity and a higher incidence of lodging. Typically, recommendations land around 50 lbs N/ acre unless you’re talking about wheat, which is more sensitive to lack of fertility. Small grains are usually swathed and har vested in a windrow to ensure uniform maturity and drydown, and to control any green weeds that come through the canopy. Newer combine heads allow for straight cutting small grains, but harvest moisture is more of an immediate concern (as is assessing overall weediness of the field). Grain storage, aeration, and cleaning after harvest is important to allow for optimum storage moisture, grain quality, and eliminating chaff, weeds, and insects. Always ensure bins, augers, and combines are clean and ready for harvested grain; bins with aeration are usually preferable to maintain quality for a longer storage period.
Peas Forages Custom Seed Blending Wildlife Blends Bismarck,
Short small grains can compensate in yield for smaller head size and lowered tillers by increasing the number and size of kernels per head. Here are some general guidelines and recom mendations for growing optimum small grains as part of a diverse crop rotation. Plant as early as possible. This seems especially ironic given our weather this spring, but in general, the earlier you can plant spring-planted small grains, the better. Early April (and even into March the further south you go) would be the ideal time in a normal year to plant small grains. Small grains can handle some light frosts; there’s folk wisdom that says oats yield better if they get a snow or two on them. For fall-planted small grains, there is such a thing as planting too early. Typical date ranges for winter wheat are September 1 to October 15 (varies by your latitude), whereas winter rye can be planted right through snowfall in November. Small grains planted thicker can be rotary hoed or tine weeded very early on in their devel opment to control early weeds (before the plant reaches the two leaf stage). Choose the right variety. It’s important to select the proper variety for your location, soil-type, end-use and rotation. Choosing certified blue tag or registered seed vs. bin run or saved seed will give you more insur ance as to varietal characteristics, disease resis tance, maturity, and seed purity. As organic rules and regulations prohibit many inputs and tech niques that conventional growers use to enhance and protect yield (like fungicides, sidedress applications of fertilizer, herbicides for burndown, etc.), organic producers rely on well-bred genetics for things like disease resistance, yield potential, grain quality characteristics, standability, matu rity, competitive ability with weeds, etc. Questions you should consider include:
services
“What should I consider before hosting an event on my farm?”
To Ask a Specialist on page 8
DOWNLOAD: Organic Fact Sheets organic-fact-sheets.mosesorganic.org/publicationsat/
By Organic Specialist & Program Director Lauren Langworthy
Organic
Peas Cover Crops Green
MOSAORGANIC.ORG |
CALL: Organic Answer Line 715-778-5775
Microbe-containing crop biostimulants or biofer tilizers are popular among growers and a growing source of revenue for product manufacturers and suppliers. Yet, many questions are unanswered. How should they be used? Are they effective? Do they offer a consistently positive return on invest ment? While more research is needed to address these questions in detail, the following five “Fast Facts” can help growers make informed decisions about using these products.
Fact One: They are numerous and diverse in important ways. We have tracked the number of these products and companies offering them since March 2015. Currently, we know of 247 OMRIlisted microbe-containing crop biostimulants offered by 105 companies in the U.S.1. The number of products and companies in this category have risen 1.6- and 1.5-fold, respectively, in three years. Also, individual products contain either an array of microbes (e.g., multiple types of bacteria, fungi, or both) or a much smaller subset (e.g., single species of bacteria). Some products also contain compo nents designed to feed the microbes, crop, or both. Fact Two: Overall, labeling and third-party documentation of efficacy are weak. Compared to fertilizers, biopesticides, and other inputs, regula tion of microbe-containing crop biostimulants is minimal and inconsistent, with much state-to-state variation. Labels can lack complete or accurate descriptions of package contents or detailed instructions for use. Currently, there is no system atic, third-party, state, regional, or national test ing system or mechanism for developing efficacy information (unlike for biopesticides). Companies appear to differ significantly in the amount and rigor of third-party testing they conduct. As one consequence of this “Wild West” scenario, the best evidence of efficacy on farms is often not publicly available since farmer-focused, research-based reports featuring these products are rare. Fact Three: They are increasingly popular among organic and other growers in the U.S. and globally. Projections are for the U.S. biofertilizer market (including products in which “microbes do the work”) to reach approximately $250 million in revenue in 2022; globally this number is $2.3 bil lion.2 A survey of Organic Systems Plans covering 2009-2014 in Ohio revealed that biofertilizers and biopesticides accounted for 9% by number of all inputs on these farms.3 Fact Four: Biological and procedural factors may limit the efficacy of microbe-containing crop biostimulants. For example, potential host-specific ity dictates that microbes in the products may form productive associations with only certain crops or associations with some crops may be more produc tive than with others. Competition with other microbes, predation, stress, and other factors may limit inoculant activity. Also, the influence of soil type, application regimen (timing, rate, method, placement), and other inputs on efficacy is unclear for many products. Understanding those influences more thoroughly requires time, effort, care, funds, and cooperation given the number of products, the diversity of their microbial contents, and the range of the conditions under which they are used. With support from USDA, SARE, various companies, and others, we and our collaborators work to develop resources that lessen some of the mystery around selecting, using, and evaluating microbecontaining crop biostimulants.
| 5mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775
Researchers share five ‘fast facts’ to help growers understand biofertilizers
4. How-to-Conduct-Research-on-Your-Farm-or-Ranchwww.sare.org/Learning-Center/Bulletins/ These simulated plots represent results from two typical scenarios, A and B (left and right). Both scenarios result in the same average yield increase, but Scenario B may be more favorable to the grower. The position of the upright line shows that yield increases occurred in far more cases in Scenario B than in A, as depicted by the location of the upright line connecting the trial axis to the dashed average line. The yellow rectangle around the average line represents the variation in yield increases; it is thinner in Scenario B, also a plus for product users and their advisors.
A team led by The Ohio State University is assisting with that process by conducting on-station and on-farm evaluations and creating resources and educational opportunities help ing guide product selection, use, and evaluation. Products are tested under a range of conditions – so far, 21 sites over seven states have been employed in experiments involving seven crops, 13 products, and 10 companies. For details, see u.osu.edu/vegprolab/research-areas/vegebiostimsferts.
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Inoculated plants may grow a little faster, flower a little sooner, and appear to be healthier (e.g., in color) in a range of conditions but not yield consid erably more. Of course, these differences will be apparent only when an untreated check area is available for comparison. Regardless, documented inoculant effects will allow users to know exactly what they can/should expect from a product and to be certain it is what they want to pay for. In replicated trials, statistically significant yield increases are rare and usually don’t exceed 6-7%. It’s common to see a range of responses to inocula tion with a single product—over different trials in different seasons and involving different crops. Companies and investigators may consolidate responses from many trials into graphs resembling ones in the figure. The shape of the graph for a product is at least as important to growers as the average yield response, which is the most com monly reported statistic. The shape of the graph and, by association, the most frequently occurring yield response, may be a more reliable indicator of what growers should expect from the product. So, when inquiring about a product, consider asking for either the distribution of yield responses across trials and/or the most frequently occurring yield response, in addition to the average. There is a tangible, justifiable, and widespread enthusiasm for the idea that purposeful inocula tion of seeds, crops, and/or soils with beneficial microbes (e.g., bacteria, fungi) may enhance farm success and environmental stewardship. Inoculation would complement steps fostering the development and activity of naturally occurring, beneficial microbial communities. Being enthusi astic about opportunities created by inoculation is easy: so far, it rarely results in lower yield, it may result in higher yield, and it is often thought of as “cheap enough.” However, the goal is to ensure that inoculation offers more growers a greater return on investment more often. Achieving that goal definitely requires more information and it may require better products. Based on these five fast facts, researchers offer these recommendations: First, stay tuned to reports from the microbe-containing crop bio stimulant industry and trusted sources; second, experiment with biostimulants using reliable guidelines—such as SARE’s How to Conduct Research on Your Farm or Ranch4 —and engage with others involved in this research. The Ohio State University Vegetable Production Systems Laboratory manages a listserv for vegetable producers to share information and field experi ences with microbial-based biostimulants. To join, see vegebiostimsferts.u.osu.edu/vegprolab/research-areas/ Matthew Kleinhenz is a professor in Horticulture and Crop Science at The Ohio State University, Wooster, Ohio. Julie Laudick, Stephanie Short, Zheng Wang, and Nicole Wright contributed to the content of this article.
References 1. u.osu.edu/vegprolab/microbe-containing-bioproducts 2. biofertilizers-industrywww.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/
3. Laudick, J. et al. 2016. M.S. Thesis, The Ohio State Univ.; Microbial biostimulants in organic farming systems: pat terns of current use and an investigation of their efficacy in different soil environments.
By Matthew D. Kleinhenz An increasing number of products containing microbes as the primary active ingredient are being marketed to growers looking to enhance: a) crop growth, b) nutrient acquisition, uptake, or utilization, c) tolerance to stress (e.g., temperature, moisture), and/or d) yield. However, the effectiveness of many products is undocumented, leaving growers and advisors to assess efficacy and potential product return on investment.
Fact Five: Ways in which these products work (modes of action) can lead to application effects being more subtle than with other inputs.
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin is Chief Strategy Officer at Main Street Project , founding member of Regeneration International, and Director of Regeneration Midwest. MOBILE SHADE Visit us online at www.shadehaven.net
1. Farmers don’t produce anything. Only nature can transform inedible energy present in the air, the soil and the sun, and turn that energy into eggs, chickens, nuts, vegetables and so on.
Economic Cluster For a regenerative poultry farmer to succeed, the farm must have infrastructure support. This support comes in the form of what we call Economic Clusters. An economic cluster is formed by aggregating many economic units or farm operations in order to support regional systemlevel infrastructure. This infrastructure includes technical assistance such as veterinary services, agronomics, training, financing, branding, pro cessing, marketing, and distribution.
Economic Unit With the productivity-per-PU established and after further study of the cost and operating margin calculations, we estimate the number of PUs needed to build a family farm. Every farmer will have a different number of PUs based on the farm manager’s projections. However, after rais ing many hundreds of flocks, we have developed a solid blueprint that farmers can use to plan their farm operations.
Drausin Wulsin, Cynthiana, OH Graze with us to see both quick results and long-term benefits such as:
2. As farmers, who are simply energy process managers, we can choose to manage responsi bly, allowing nature to produce plenty of food while keeping a good percentage of the energy in the ground (mainly carbon), so that the process can go on indefinitely. If we choose to manage this energy irresponsibly, we throw the energy cycles out of balance, and end up polluting our air, rivers, soil and especially the world’s fresh waters and oceans.
4. For my team, it was critical to enter the food and agriculture systems work by choos ing a universal livestock, the chicken. This strategy is central to engaging people in the foundational tenet of systems change. From this “perch” we can target the over 500 mil lion small farmers with under 10 hectares of land that produce 70 percent of the world’s food, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
In a regenerative agriculture design, the bene fits come from many different production areas on the farm and throughout a region. Our approach is to treat each farmer as a unique economic unit and develop poultry-centered business plans that meet their needs without compromising the con sistency, the integrity of the system, or the stan dard and the replicability across large landscapes. As a stand-alone operation, a farmer is highly vulnerable to a significant number of risks. That’s why aggregating producers throughout regions is central to the success of the regenerative poultry system strategy.
“It allows you to surgically address issues of shade and issues of infertility. You can place the structure where you want in order to get the greatest impact.”
Other benefits farmers in our system are see ing are savings on groceries—a family can save upwards of $7,000 a year on food purchases by deploying this system on their farm. Farmers who deploy our poultry system not as the center of their operations, but as a supplement to other pro duction systems, can save on fertilizer inputs and increase their income by selling chickens direct at a higher value to their existing customers.
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Production Unit (PU) The starting point of our system is the pro duction unit (PU). The PU represents the point at which a farmer engages and the foundation of the layers of organizational structuring, poultry-centered regenerative standard, and the scalability strategy. The cornerstones of the PU are the perennial crops which form a canopy, the paddocks for free-ranging, and the night shelter. The canopy is built by planting species of trees, shrubs, fruits and nuts native to the region where the system is being deployed. The goal is to achieve an 80% canopy cover. For Minnesota, this canopy is being built with hazelnuts and elderber ries as the lower strata. Both of these bushes are native to almost two-thirds of the continental U.S. and are also common around the world. The higher strata consists of a highly valuable forest species. Once a PU is established, it creates an energypumping system that takes the feed as the original source of energy and turns it into eggs, meat, nuts, elderberries, sugar maple, timber, soil, carbon, perennial protection for the soil, higher biological activity, increased income for the farmer, ecosystem restoration services and a blueprint for resilience. The canopy cools the ground and increases relative humidity, which allows for sprouting small grain mixes directly in the soil. Without the canopy, the sprouting process stalls. Sprouts also exponentially increase the nutritional value as well as the biomass available for the chickens. This practice increases the health of the animals, allows them to range longer and farther because their need for drinking water decreases signifi cantly, and delivers a nutrient-dense final product. Although our standard for ranging paddocks and perennial canopy changes based on the local ecology, some requirements remain consistent. These include the square footage of shelter space per chicken (1.8 s. ft. for egg layers and 2 sq. ft. per broiler); perch space consisting of 7 linear inches; paddock access doors measuring 3.28 lin ear ft. per 1,000 birds; and 120 hens per commu nal nest. The number of chickens per production unit, and the square footage of paddock ranging space are defined by the local ecological conditions which are determined by the regeneration capac ity (rainfall, temperatures, altitude). For Minnesota, the PU’s ranging area is no less than 20 square feet for meat birds and 30 square feet for egg layers. The number of birds per flock is 1,500 broilers and no more than 4,000 egg layers. A PU can be smaller in size, but not larger than these limits. The limits were established after extensive observations of everything from behavior of the animals and how that deteriorates after a certain point, to the ranging habits which are completely different for meat birds than for egg layers. Our standard prohibits the use of industrial Cornish broilers or other breeds that have lost their ability to range and display natural chicken behaviors. The standard also includes the sourc ing of grain both for ground-up feed and sprout ing. The grain protocol is still under development, but it will require a transition to alley-cropped agroforestry systems, rotations, cover cropping and other practices that restore soil and draw down carbon at scale. This is not a political state ment—it is the foundation of profitable regenera tive farms. Our aim is a fully regenerative supply chain, starting with what kinds of grains we feed the poultry to how they are grown.
The Economic Cluster is defined by a geo graphic set of boundaries, based mostly on eco nomic considerations. Processing and value-added is the foundation of how to estimate the size of a cluster, especially for meat broilers. We estimate that a cluster under 1.25 million meat chickens and 25 million eggs cannot sustain a support infrastructure or compete in the marketplace.
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• Healthier animals Improved dry matter intake Optimal manure management Increased stocking rate “Shade is an investment not a cost, because it allows your cattle to perform better and it allows you to have a much more optimal grazing program.”
The Economic Clusters form the founda tion from which we plan to deploy a Midwest poultry-centered regenerative agriculture transition. To this end, we are in the process of organizing Regeneration Midwest, a coalition of 12 Midwestern states designed to serve as the foundation for this effort. Farmers who want to join the system, or nonprofits willing to engage in state-level organiz ing within the Midwest states, may reach the organizers of Regeneration Midwest by emailing regenerationmidwest@gmail.com.
3. For a farming system to be regenerative it has to include animals. No ecology exists without the disturbance and the amazing physical, chemical and biological functions of animals.
Regenerative Poultry — from page 1 the kind that gives life, regenerates the landscape and makes our minds, bodies, and spirits whole again.Toframe this way of thinking, let me clarify at least four core things:
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To Industrial Hemp
By Bailey Webster
When he talks with farmers who want to grow hemp, Anderson has two essential questions: “Do you have a postharvest plan? Do you have a buyer?” Farmers must have a plan for drying and processing the seeds before they even consider putting in a hemp crop. Hemp seed has a shelf life University of Minnesota researcher George Weiblen examines hemp growing in his test plot. Photo submitted
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Industrial hemp interest high, but infrastructure, legalities still roadblocks At the MOSES Conference 2018 workshop “Prospects for American Hemp,” led by Kevin Gibson and George Weiblen, the first order of busi ness was to pass around a package of hemp hearts made in Hastings, Minn. “I can’t tell you what an unexpected privilege and pleasure it is to be passing around the first legally grown cannabis from Minnesota in many years,” Weiblen said to spontaneous applause and a few hoots. “These are are [hemp] seeds with the hulls taken off, and they are quite nutty in flavor, with a complete protein, and balance of omega 3/ omega 6 fatty acids that the heart-healthy are particularly interested in.” He encouraged partici pants to taste them. Weiblen has been studying Cannabis sativa the species that includes both the psychoactive marijuana plant and industrial hemp, which is used for food, fiber, and an array of industrial applications—for many years. For a long time, he was one of only two researchers in the country with a permit to grow cannabis for study. In “Times are a-changin’ for U.S. industrial hemp farming” in the May|June 2016 issue of the Organic Broadcaster (mosesorganic.org/industrialhemp), we offered an overview of the illustrious history of industrial hemp in the U.S., as well as hopes for its future. Research and pilot programs were just getting started in various states at that time, and there were a lot of unknowns about the future of industrial hemp in the U.S. Now, two years later, progress has been made in research, and a lot of farmers are interested in hemp production. But the ultimate question—can hemp be a profitable crop for American farmers? —hasn’t been satisfactorily answered. Many states have initiated pilot programs to allow controlled production for research purposes. Wisconsin just came on board this year with its research pilot program. In Indiana, farmers are chomping at the bit to start growing hemp, but must be affiliated with a university research proj ect in order to plant the crop. The only hemp being grown in Indiana is being trialed at Purdue University by Professor Kevin Gibson and his research team. In Minnesota, farmers have been growing trial plots for the last three years, starting with six growers and 38 acres in 2016. In 2017, there were more than 30 growers with 1,200 acres in cultiva tion. The numbers are not officially in for 2018, but applications were up, and the numbers have likely increased again this year. Minnesota is one of the easier states for farmers to trial industrial hemp—MDA supplies seed for the growers, which isn’t the case in other states. Market for Hemp Hearts Hemp hearts are touted as a “superfood” in the natural foods market. They’re one of the few plant sources that provide a complete protein; beans must be combined with rice or another grain to provide the balance of amino acids necessary for a “complete protein.” Hemp hearts have a 3:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids, which is important for heart health. (America’s corn-centric diet gen erally provides a much higher omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio than is good for us). There is also a lot of interest in hemp oil, which has the same fatty-acid ratio. Ken Anderson of Legacy Hemp in Prescott, Wis., is hedging his bets on hemp hearts as the most likely market for industrial hemp farmers, at least Join our family of growers who share our passion for cultivating goodness. We’d like you to grow with us.
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initially. Originally working in the construction industry, Anderson met Dr. David West, a wellknown cannabis researcher who also lives in Prescott and had test plots of cannabis in Hawaii. The two got involved in manufacturing HempStone, a hempcrete product that West had invented, made from hemp “hurd,” the woody inner fiber of a hemp stalk, and lime mined from limestone. In order to make this durable, nontoxic, environmentally friendly building material, he was importing the hurd from The Netherlands. “Wouldn’t it be great if American farmers could grow this?” he thought to himself. On speculation, Anderson began buying up cannabis cultivars before anyone else was inter ested. He was one of the first people to legally import hemp seed to the U.S. since it was crimi nalized in the 1970s. He recently started Legacy Hemp, a certified hemp seed company. The com pany is in the process of choosing a location in Wisconsin for their first hemp seed processing facility. The goal is to produce viable hemp seed for hemp heart and hemp oil production for American farmers who would otherwise be importing seed fromWhenCanada.advising farmers interested in growing hemp for seed production, Anderson cautions, “You can’t make the mistake of growing lots of acres without a buyer at the end of it.” He’s committed to developing the hemp heart and hemp oil market in the food industry. Hemp hearts are generally thought of as a raw ingredient best sprinkled on salads or thrown into smoothies. But, Anderson has a vision of hemp hearts being used as a staple ingredient in a lot of different packaged food items. Anderson is passionate about increasing the hemp market before increasing production. “A rising tide raises all ships,” is his proverbial analogy. If it goes the other way around, he cau tions it will be “…a race to the bottom of the price market.” And farmers know that race far too well.
on page 8
Bailey Webster is a MOSES team member and an organic vegetable grower.
There are also potentially immense legal concerns ranging from insurance and injuries to food ser vice and zoning regulations. Before you start planning your on-farm event, make sure you have insurance to protect yourself in case someone is injured on your farm. Talk with your insurance provider and specify if this will be a one-time event or an ongoing occurrence. If you’ll be serving food, you might need to get a food permit. Contact your local agency responsible for food safety regulations to ask questions about best practices and necessary permits. Whether food is being served by you or potluck-style, you can still be liable for illness. Make efforts to reduce flies and use good handling practices such as managing temperature (cold or hot) to reduce the potential for illness. And, of course, provide hand-washing stations or hand sanitizer to encour age good hygiene. I highly recommend downloading the “Host Safer, More Legally Secure On-Farm Events” resource from Farm Commons to find more infor mation about the legalities of on-farm hosting. The Farm Commons website is managed by attorney Rachel Armstrong and provides many introduc tory resources to help farmers navigate the legali ties of Youfarming.canalso contact a Small Business Administration (SBA) office in your state to learn more about state laws, sales tax, and accessibility standards that may apply to your farm’s event.
Don’t Bet the Farm The overall tone of the people who are “in the know” about hemp is cautious optimism. There are a lot of kinks that still need to be worked out in the legal system and in terms of production. Hemp seed needs to be more accessible, and processing facilities must be built. But hemp has a strong history as an agricultural crop in this country, and many committed farmers, researchers, and indus try people intend to make it work. But, as Weiblen said wryly in response to questions of profitability for farmers, “I would caution against betting the farm on hemp at this time.”
Organizers of the annual MOSES Organic Farming Conference plan to hold a workshop about organic check-off alternatives at the 2019 conference (Feb. 21-23 in La Crosse, Wis.). And, just prior to MOSES 2019, industry thinkers will be participating in a one-day conference, Organic 2051, designed to lay out the path forward for organic and sustainable agriculture for the criti cal years beyond the population’s 10-billion mark. Additional ideas for collectively funding organic research and promotion could come out of that think tank. Audrey Alwell is the communications director for MOSES.
8 | July | August 2018 Organic Check-Off — from page 1 Stonyfield, and Nature’s Path. Organic Voices developed the Only Organic website (www.only organic.org) and the Just Label It campaign to educate consumers about the benefits of organic food and to advocate for mandatory GMO labeling. A program already in place at the national level to fund research and education is the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project. While this project isn’t focused specifically on organic research, SARE does occasionally put out calls for research focused on organic production. OFA’s Mendenhall pointed out that the way forward may or may not include a nationwide council or program to oversee funding for research, promotion, and technical assistance. “But, since organic farmers are highly innovative, we are certain creative solutions can be identified by including them at the table,” she added.
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Industrial Hemp — from page 7 of only 12-18 months, so having a buyer lined up is equally essential. Anderson is excited to be that buyer for some farmers, once Legacy Hemp has a processing facility up and running. Legal Gray Area Part of the issue for farmers wanting to grow hemp is the constantly shifting and unclear legal landscape. Because all Cannabis sativa—even the strains with almost no THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana—was categorized as a Schedule I (most dangerous) drug from the 1970s until very recently, the legal parameters for grow ing and selling cannabis plants and products are extremely unclear. For example, canabidiol (CBD) oil is thought to have beneficial properties, and can be produced from plants that don’t make THC. CBD oil is being actively sold by health food co-ops and stores, but it doesn’t actually have a clear legal status, either for producing or for selling.
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), which runs the state’s pilot program, has applied to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to be regis tered as a seed importer, but has not been approved yet. So, growers in Wisconsin are on their own for acquiring seed. DATCP’s website says, “Moving seed into Wisconsin is done at your ownInrisk.”Indiana, commercial activity in hemp produc tion is not allowed, so farmers couldn’t make money on it. The permitting system is so cumbersome that it’s virtually impossible for farmers to grow hemp, even if they want to do it for free. There is new legislation being rolled out, but the system won’t change until next year at the soonest. Hemp Myth-Busting Hemp has gained a somewhat mythical status through the years, touted as the “ideal crop.” It’s supposed to be easy to grow, with minimal fertility needs, low weed pressure due to rapid canopy establishment, and virtually pest-free. It’s said to have an enormous range of uses, from food to fiber, paper, fuel, and industrial applications. While there are nuggets of truth within these claims, hemp is a crop like any other, with specific nutrient, day length, and moisture requirements. It needs about 100 lb. of nitrogen per acre, similar to canola and most vegetable crops. Weeds can be a big issue in hemp, especially if the fertility is low (which affects the height and canopy). So far insect and disease pressure has not presented much of a problem in hemp trials, but bird predation of seeds has been a big issue. Hemp does have a wide range of uses, that much is true. However, all of the uses of hemp require quite a bit of processing, and large-scale processing facilities simply don’t exist in this coun try anymore. Before we can begin growing hemp on a large scale for food, fiber, and industrial uses, processing facilities must be built.
Ask a Specialist — from page 4 As people arrive, it’s helpful to have someone who can act as a greeter and do things like wel come guests, point out restrooms, and share when and where the next farm tour will begin. If guests feel welcome and know what their opportunities are to engage, they’re more likely to have a good experience and develop a better understanding of your operation. Of course, there are more complicated parts to hosting an on-farm event than just making sure guests arrive and have fun with planned activities.
Having submitted the paperwork in good faith, Valencia decided to start raising geese on the farm, even though his permits were still being processed. The previous farm owners had had an industrial hog operation, so he assumed his paperwork would go through without a problem. He started out with 20,000 goslings, which is a relatively modest number compared with many poultry operations in the area. Poultry farms often will have 500,000 to over a million birds at a time. In June of that first year, misfortune struck. After several weeks of extremely hot, dry weather, there was an unusually strong hailstorm that killed 800 of Valencia’s birds. With so many birds dead, he chose to incinerate them, a common practice on poultry farms. The local authorities caught wind of it, and panicked that the birds had died because of disease. The USDA and the state did biopsies on the dead birds to check for disease. The results confirmed that there was no disease present.
Geese once enjoyed ample pastures at Carlos Valencia’s farm in rural Kansas. Pastures are empty today since county officials confiscated the flock and won’t give the farmer a permit to raise new birds. Photo submitted Carlos Valencia and his dog, Paco, live on a farm in rural Kansas. He has faced numerous issues with officials and vandals that have prevented him from achieving his farming goals. Photo submitted
Kansas farmer Carlos Valencia is passionate about poultry. He has credentials in the field of poultry farming and processing as long as your arm. But, because of racially motivated mistreat ment and impediments by Norton County, where his farm is located, he’s not able to have any live stock on his farm right now. While most farmers struggle to make a living, not all have to contend with racial discrimination. For some, though, racism is a real and enduring problem, as Valencia’s story shows. Valencia is black and Hispanic. He grew up in the Bronx in New York City. His parents were entrepreneurs who always worked for themselves. After high school, he got an associate degree in marketing management from New York Technical College. He went on to get a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Long Island. He moved to Denver, Colorado to pursue a combined MBA/JD program at the University of Denver. The program wasn’t for him, so he quit a year in and started a business selling industrial and agricultural equipment overseas. Through a client, he got involved in selling chicken backs and necks to the Jamaican government. The rest, as they say, is history. Valencia became deeply involved in the poultry industry. He closed his export business and went to Colorado State University (CSU) to study production and operations management and poultry science. He brought a unique perspective to the program with his background in marketing and finance, and was soon traveling all over the world working with poultry producers and scientists. He traveled to over 50 countries as part of his work. While still a By Bailey Webster Farmer’s problems in rural Kansas smack of racial discrimination student, he was invited to be a guest lecturer by CSU’s animal science department. After in-depth research at the USDA, he wrote the syllabus for a course on the commercial poultry industry, which he also taught. He has worked as a poultry indus try consultant in the U.S. and Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Valencia has owned two USDA-certified poultry processing plants. He has advanced training in HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an essential requirement for managing a poultry processing plant. He took a onesemester course on feed manufacturing at Kansas State University in prepa ration for operating the existing feed mill at his current farm. In 2007, Valencia began managing a farm in Norton, Kansas that was owned by Golden Duck LLC. He had a unique arrangement with the company—instead of earning regular wages, he was working for equity in the farm, with the goal of owning it himself eventually. He planned to raise poultry there, and had submitted paperwork to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to get the necessary farm operating permits to raise geese on a commercial scale. The paperwork was taking a long time to go through (it typically takes 3-5 months, depending on the complexity of the operation), and in the meantime he had to make a decision about his first season on the farm. Geese only hatch for a short period during the year (February - June), and if Valencia didn’t order his birds during that window of time, he wouldn’t be able to earn income from the farm for the first year.
However, due to the lack of a permit, Norton County confiscated all of Valencia’s birds anyway and sold them at auction for a fraction of their value. He was ordered to stay off of the property (under threat of arrest) while they removed the birds. The county also gave away thousands of dol lars’ worth of his poultry equipment to the people who came to the auction to buy the geese. Valencia didn’t receive any of the money, and in fact was charged $10,000 for feed that was brought in dur ing the confiscation process, even though there was about 64 tons of feed grain in bins on the farm at the time. The fact that he had filed paperwork for the proper permits was not taken into account, and Valencia was not given the opportunity to explain his situation. Beginning in 2010, Valencia’s farm was van dalized three times. $15,000 worth of equipment was stolen, and the vandals damaged property throughout the farm, shooting bullets through several windows, his van, and a doorknob. While two perpetrators were caught and made to return some of his property, they received only a $1,500 fine each and a warning. The county kept the fine, and even though Valencia filed a motion to receive the money as partial compensation, he never received any money for the thefts or the damage done to his property. In the last few years, Valencia has been working toward organic certification of his farm. His dream is to have a combined poultry and vegetable opera tion, all of which would be certified organic. He has again experienced significant setbacks, however. Two years ago he was notified by the county that he had to control a noxious weed problem on his farm, or they would have the weeds sprayed and Valencia would be charged. He communicated to the county verbally and in writing that he was
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The mentor-pair met at the MOSES Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse earlier this year. “The MOSES Conference is not only where you wrap things up with previous mentees, but also where you meet new ones and learn about their operation,” Campbell said. “You also learn whether it’s a good fit or not.” They discussed expectations, and agreed that Campbell could help Hagenbuch investigate which practices would work best for his land, and help him write a business plan to transi tion some of the farm to organic production. Campbell and Hagenbuch have met about three times in person to walk through options for particu lar parcels of the Hagenbuch family farm and other details of organic production, and the two corre spond regularly by email, texts, and phone calls. Campbell said that being a mentor strikes a fine balance between being helpful, but not too helpful to the point that the mentee cannot draw their own
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Dirt-under-the-fingernails wisdom shared through MOSES mentor program
NITROGEN CONTENT
Mentor Dave Campbell (right) scouts weeds in his winter wheat field with his mentee, Ben Hagenbuch. The pair are working together on Hagenbuch’s farm business plan through the MOSES Farmer-to-Farmer Mentoring Program. Photo submitted
“He’s taking time this year to plan for next year. He’s an excellent planner, and those skills are hard to find. Most farmers are planners, but not to the extent that Ben is,” Campbell said. “Ben will be starting small because he does have a full time job, but he still needs the equipment to get started in Hagenbuchorganics.”plans to be certified organic by 2021, with 2019 marking the first year of the transition process. He doesn’t want to go all in only to have the venture turn into a bust, but wants to manage his risk carefully. “It may be as small as 20 acres and it may be as large as 60,” Hagenbuch said. “My thought behind this is to start small and keep my risk low so I can expand gradually and convert more ground over the years. I want to expand beyond basic organic, build soil organic matter, and be a better steward of the land,” he added. For Campbell, being a better steward of the land is not only something he can get behind, but To Mentorship Program next page
By Brittany Olson With many years of experience in organic dairy and grain farming plus a bachelor’s degree in education, Dave Campbell finds it natural to be teaching the next generation of organic farmers through the MOSES Farmer-to Farmer Mentoring Program. “It comes easy for me and is something I am very passionate about,” said Campbell, who owns and operates Lily Lake Organic Farm about 50 miles west of Chicago. He has 156 tillable acres of certified organic crops, including buckwheat, corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, oats, and red clover as a cover crop. He grew up on an organic farm, well before “organic” was a label; his father went organic in 1967 when Campbell was 12 years old. Campbell and his wife moved to their current farm in 1988, transitioning the entire farm to certified organic production. Campbell became a mentor in the MOSES mentorship program in 2010, and has mentored a farmer every year since then. “One year I had two,” he added. He is currently mentoring Ben Hagenbuch, who recently moved from the Twin Cities back to his “old stomping grounds” with his wife and four young children. Hagenbuch grew up on his family’s 1,000-acre conventional cash crop operation not far from Campbell’s farm. He has had a successful career in banking, but “always had an inclination to farm,” he explained. His dad plans to retire “even tually,” and neither of his brothers is interested in taking over the farm. So Hagenbuch is planning ahead. His plans include transitioning part of the family operation to organic—something entirely new for the Hagenbuchs. True to his banking roots, Hagenbuch wanted to minimize risk and increase the likelihood of his success by learning about organic production from an experienced organic farmer before he makes the transition. He attended the OGRAIN Winter Conference in January at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he met Organic and Sustainable Cropping Systems Specialist Erin Silva. She recommended the MOSES mentorship program to him. The MOSES Farmer-to-Farmer Mentoring Program provides one-to-one guidance from an organic farmer who is experienced with the particular enterprise that another farmer wants to explore.“Planning ahead is crucial to a successful organic transition, and Ben was very motivated to learn and succeed,” said Jennifer Nelson, the program’s coordinator. “And, Dave is such an incredible mentor. They’re a good pairing.”
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MEET US MOSES BOOTHFARMINGORGANICCONFERENCE#806 February 22-24 La Crosse Center, La Crosse, WI conclusions with the knowledge at their disposal. In addition, if he doesn’t have the answer to a question that the mentee is looking for, he wants to be able to point them in the right direction. “For me, the mentorship experience is all about giving them a combination of information to sur vive and do the job, and encourage them along the way while providing enough common sense to get through the highs and lows,” Campbell said. “You want to lay things out for them, but not get too involved so that you aren’t making the decisions for Forthem.”Hagenbuch, it is that willingness to help combined with decades of hard-fought experience that have made Campbell a fantastic mentor. “Dave has helped with education and plan ning,” Hagenbuch said. “I was taking in as much as I could from him in regards to which parcels of land would work best for transitioning to organic production. We are only partway through the mentorship, but Dave has been very helpful with not only walking through my business plan and offering critique when needed, but also making sure the plan is viable.” Campbell enjoys working with Hagenbuch particularly because of his planning skills.
areas. Free. Green Acres Workshops Friday, August 3 to Sunday, August 5 Learn how to launch your own farm, make cheese, spin fiber, preserve the harvest and much more! Ticketed events on various farms. Taste of Place Friday, August 3 A local food & drink celebration. Ticketed event. Farm to Table Dinner Saturday, August 4 Farm-to-table dinner at Dorothy's Range featuring heritage meats. Ticketed event. Dine Fine at Restaurants Friday, August 3 to Sunday August 5 Sample “locavore” specials throughout the weekend. Go Blue. Grow More, When you purchase Blue River seed, you receive a promise of high quality, organic standards and products that set the bar for field performance. For the cleanest, purest and most tested organic seed, Go Blue. CORN PURAMAIZE TM SILAGE ALFALFA SOYBEANS FORAGES 800.370.7979 blueriverorgseed.com Boost your farming skills! Farme r-to-Farme r Mentoring Program apply by Oct. 31: mosesorganic.org/mentor-program Build Soil Health, Economically Free Soil Building Consultations www.sustane.com 800-352-9245 Cannon Falls, MN Organic Fertilizers & Soil Amendments
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Mentorship Program — from previous page MADISON August 3 5, 2018 www.soilsisterswi.org 3 Days • 5 Unique Components • 20+ Farms Create Your Own Farm and Culinary Adventure Tour
MOSES and OGRAIN will host a field day Aug. 29 at Campbell’s farm to showcase this method. See mosesorganic.org/aug-29 for more details and to register for the free event. Campbell said he treasures the privilege of being able to guide the next generation of organic farmers into a socially, environmentally, and professionally sustainable method of farming that attracts more interest from farmers, new and experienced, all the time. Brittany Olson is a freelance writer and dairy farmer from Chetek, Wis. of Farms Sunday, August 5 Visit numerous women-owned farms the Monroe and Brodhead
| 11mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775 simply what organic farming is all about. As an example, he is growing a cover crop of sorghum sudangrass for fallow this crop year on two of his fields, in order to control Canada thistle on his farm. He saw firsthand the benefits of using sorghum sudangrass as a method of eradicating Canada thistle when he served as a farm advisor for a SARE-funded research project through the University of Illinois. Sorghum sudangrass is aggressive enough to block photosynthesis of the shorter Canada thistle plants. In addition, the massive root system of sorghum sudangrass takes up moisture that will be in limited supply to the lateral thistle roots, especially later into the summer when soil mois ture is typically in shorter supply. Campbell calls it a “smother-and-starve” approach. “When the sorghum sudangrass reaches a cer tain height I’ll clip it about a foot off the ground with my haybine, leaving the sorghum sudan grass residue on top of the plant stubble, thereby keeping the sunlight out, eventually chisel plow ing it under later in the fall,” Campbell explained.
• Supply Chain, Tracking Progress
12 | July | August 2018 Inside Organics — from page 3
Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin is Chief Strategy Officer at Main Street Project , founding member of Regeneration International, and Director of Regeneration Midwest.
Building Executive Teams
• Markets In partnership with existing organizations, RM will support the creation of marketing cam paigns to differentiate regenerative products in the marketplace through targeted regional and state campaigns.
402-342-3500 OrganicGrain@scoular.com www.scoular.comIdentityNon-GMOOrganicPreserved vermontcompost.com • 802-223-6049 “Vermont Compost’s potting soils make my job so much easier—I am almost guaranteed a healthy, vigorous plant.” – Richard Wiswall, farmer & author The Organic Farmer’s Business Handbook: A complete guide to managing finances, crops, and staff — and making a profit OUTGROW WITH NUTRIENTS OUTLAST WITH CROP INSURANCE OUTPERFORM WITH GRAIN MARKETING TRANSITION WITH CONSULTING SERVICES TOTRANSITIONINGORGANIC? We can help. TRANSITION CONSULTING SERVICES The three-year transition period and your commitment to sustainable practices involves many milestones. Avoid frustration and missteps that could delay the process by working together with our transition consulting team. We provide professional support and oversight as you move toward your goal of organic certification. Learn more at AndersonsOrganics.com | 419-891-2785 | organics@andersonsinc.com © 2018 The Andersons, Inc. All rights reserved. The Andersons logo is a registered trademark of The Andersons, Inc.
Shared Capital Cooperative (St. Paul, Minnesota), RM will bring these financing tools to every organization in the 12-state region and facilitate their engagement. RM will also work to attract investors from around the country.
• Education In partnership with existing organizations, RM will support targeted regional and state campaigns aimed at educating industry leaders, investors, consumers, and government officials at all levels.
The supply chain and flow of products from farms to markets is the foundation to successfully transitioning agriculture. Tracking the progress across the supply chain and ensur ing that it improves continuously, that it is verified to meet regenerative standards and that there is integrity in the processes, is central to the operational goals of the RM coalition. RM will track progress on key indicators such as number of products available, number of farms engaged, acreage impacted and farmers’ overall financial performance. These indicators will ensure that we can monitor, measure, and continuously improve a successful transition to regenerative agricultural practices.
Thanks to the strong support from Main Street Project, Regeneration International and Organic Consumers Association, RM has an organizing team and three core executives work ing daily to plan and execute the start-up phase of thisBasedinitiative.onregional conversations that took place during the 2018 MOSES Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and local conversations in Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Indiana and other states, we have produced a base directory of players across the 12-state region. Even though three people currently over see the larger effort, members from each state are expected to join only if they are ready to work in cooperation, willing and partially resourced to carry on the process of building state-level coali tions and to work in alignment with the larger regional vision. Farmers who want to join the system or non profits willing to engage in state-level organizing within the Midwest states can reach out to the organizers of Regeneration Midwest by emailing regenerationmidwest@gmail.com
3. Track what you grow, where you sell it. Exclusions and exemptions to the PSR are largely based on the types of commodities grown, total annual sales of produce, and where and to whom the food is sold. Farms should have a record-keeping system to collect those figures. Sales records, harvest logs, and packing logs can be useful documents. Create a list of your buyers and sort them as “qualified” or “non-qualified” end users. Farmers market and CSA sales can be lumped into one category.
| 13mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775
5. Update records for required elements. The PSR requires a few specific records. If your farm is already doing some record-keeping and documentation of food safety efforts, your log sheets may need to be updated. New items to include are the name and location of the farm; the date and time of the activity documented; initials of the person making the record; and space for a reviewer signature and date. There may be some overlap between organic and food safety records. Farms are encouraged not to duplicate records for food safety if they are already tracking those details in their organic record-keeping.
4. Update your labels, signage. A qualified exempt farm is subject to certain labeling requirements. Any product that leaves the farm in a box (going to a restaurant, grocery store, or CSA member) needs to have a label on it that includes the farm name and complete business address. When you sell products at a farm stand, farmers market, or other direct point of sale, you must post a sign with the farm name and business address where the produce was grown. Check your box and container labels, farmers market signage, and invoices to see if they need to be updated. Make this change when you re-order supplies.
8. Follow organic rule for using soil amendments of animal origin. The FDA is conducting a risk assessment of the number of days needed between the applica tions of raw manure as a soil amendment and harvesting, to minimize the risk of contamina tion. This is estimated to take between 5 and 10 years to complete. At this time, the FDA does not object to farmers complying with the USDA’s National Organic Program standards, which call for a 90 or 120-day interval between the application of raw manure and harvest. In areas where raw manure is applied, covered crops that do not touch the ground can be harvested 90 days after manure application. Crops that do touch the ground can not be harvested until at least 120 days after manure application. Composted manure needs to follow an approved process and have logs or sup plier documentation of process.
To determine your farm’s FSMA status, you will need to know whether the commodities grown on your farm are covered or not; the aver age annual produce sales of your farm; the aver age annual food sales of your farm; and which of your customers are “qualified end users.” Farms were required to start keeping these records in March 2016. If you have not been keeping records, go back now and gather as much financial documentation from March 2016 onward as possible. You could use tax filings or accounting reports to show your annual produce sales and annual gross sales for each year. Simple worksheets are available to help farmers with this documentation.
6. Test your agricultural water for generic E. coli. The FDA is exploring ways to simplify the agricultural water standards established by the PSR. They have extended the compliance dates for agricultural water requirements out to 2022 and beyond. Until then, make sure you are testing all water sources used for irrigation, fertigation, pack ing, cleaning, and hand-washing for generic E.coli at least once a year (more frequently for surface water). If your farm is covered by the PSR, there are specific water tests that are acceptable. Many states are compiling lists of labs that offer the accepted tests. Check with your extension service or state department of agriculture.
Teresa Wiemerslage is a certified Produce Safety Alliance lead trainer and Food Safety Field Specialist for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
2. Attend a PSA Grower training. The best way to learn about the PSR is to attend a Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) Grower Training. This curriculum covers the FSMA Produce Safety Rule requirements as well as Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) for on-farm food safety. PSA is a collaboration among Cornell University, FDA, and USDA to prepare fresh pro duce growers to meet the regulatory requirements included in the FSMA Produce Safety Rule. Official trainings are offered by individuals trained by the PSA and are generally eight hours long. Attendees are sent official certificates upon completion. See producesafetyalliance.cornell.edu and click on “Training” to see a list of upcoming grower trainings planned around the country. In addition, check with your state department of agriculture to find local trainings. The PSA Grower Training also meets a requirement of the PSR that “at least one super visor or responsible party from a farm subject to the FSMA Produce Safety Rule must have successfully completed food safety training at least equivalent to that received under standard ized curriculum recognized as adequate by the Food and Drug Administration.”
7. Create documents to train workers, visitors. The PSR potentially presents fully covered organic farmers with a whole new set of duties related to training workers and ensuring that health and hygiene practices are followed. Workers must be trained at least annually, and one representative of the farm must attend a PSA training. Field sanitation requirements are the same as existing OSHA requirements, but FSMA has a long list of practices that workers must follow. Written records must be kept to docu ment several of these requirements. You must also make farm visitors aware of your health and hygiene practices. This can be done verbally or through signage.
Make mosesorganic.net$19.95profitabilitytofinancialsounddecisionsimproveyour!|270pages
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Regulation is the country’s first mandatory federal standard for the safe produc tion of fruits and vegetables. . It is being imple mented in stages, with some rules in effect since 2016, and more taking effect in January 2019. While small- and medium-sized farms will be exempt from the regulation, all farms that grow and handle vegetables and fruits should understand and follow best practices to keep produce safe to consume. These eight steps will help improve your farm’s understanding of best practices and get your farm ready to comply with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule (PSR).
1. Document your farm’s FSMA PSR Status. The FDA has created a flowchart to help grow ers determine their FSMA status—exempt, qual ified-exempt, or covered by the regulations. See the chart online at mosesorganic.org/food-safety.
By Teresa Wiemerslage
Produce growers: Take steps now to comply with FSMA Produce Safety Rule
14 | July | August 2018
In addition, a week after he had been cleared by the county as in compliance with his noxious weed problem, he received a call from a county official announcing that he had seen two of the weeds on Valencia’s property, and that if they weren’t removed within 24 hours, “there will be trouble.”
Right before this article went to print, Valencia reported new developments. He recently received a courtesy note from Norton County announcing that his property tax is in arrears, even though he has been paying it down consistently. At this point, 30% of what he is paying is actually going toward the taxes, and a whopping 70% is going toward fees and penalties. He is nearly caught up on his 2016 and 2017 taxes, but can’t appeal the taxes unless he pays them first. Valencia had paid past taxes of $6000 with the understanding that he could file an appeal after that. However, once the taxes were paid, his appeal was denied.
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Valencia believes his mistreatment by local authorities stems from racial prejudice. The road blocks, extremely high fees, and petty behavior by county officials make him think there are people actively setting up the legal framework to take his property from him. He knows white farmers in the area who experience completely different treatment from the community. Looking through the moun tain of evidence that he has collected in the 11 years he has been on his farm, it’s difficult to argue with his Whenposition.askedwhy he keeps going in spite of his struggles, Valencia, now in his 60s, replied, “I have always been ambitious—that’s always been my problem. My mother and father never worked for anyone, and I picked up that entrepreneurial virus.”
The location of the field in question was over a quarter of a mile from any road, so Valencia asked how the county official had seen them. He claimed to have spotted them with binoculars. The county official called the sheriff, and the three men drove out to the far corner of the property to assess the weed situation. Valencia pulled and bagged a total of five weed plants. At one point, the sheriff asked, “Why am I here?”
Jeltz points out that Valencia has put every thing into his farm, and wouldn’t get a good price if he tried to sell it. The neighbors have expressed eager interest in purchasing the farm at a “fire sale price, which Valencia has consistently rejected. If you have feedback for MOSES on this article, or anything to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion, please email equity@mosesorganic. org. To find out how you can become involved in ending racism and injustice in agriculture, check out these resources: www.soulfirefarm.org, plant ingjustice.org, showingupforracialjustice.org. Webster is a MOSES team member and an organic vegetable grower.
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Valencia has 100,000 square feet of barn space, where he wants to be raising poultry. He’s also retrofitting a 13,000-square-foot poultry barn to turn it into a greenhouse by himself. He’d like to find someone who’s interested in learning from him and taking over the farm in the next 4-5 years. He dreams of finding someone who wants to put in an organic goat operation—someone “mature, ambitious, and hard-working.” He has some large-scale poultry equipment, including a machine that will sort 12,000 eggs per hour. He’s also interested in reactivating the existing feed mill to produce 25# bags of organic poultry feed for small-scale farmers.
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Discrimination — from page 9 working toward organic certification, and would be managing the weeds without chemicals. He dem onstrated an earnest effort to comply, including submitting photos of weeds that he had mechani cally removed and bagged. He also submitted names and phone numbers of witnesses who had worked with him on the problem. Nevertheless, the county hired someone to go onto his property and spray his weeds with chemicals while he was away from the farm. To cover the cost of the spraying, his taxes were increased by 80%. Last year the situation repeated itself, although this time Valencia had notified the county that he would be in the hospital for several days having back surgery, and wouldn’t be able to manage the weeds until he recovered. While he was in the hos pital, the county sent an airplane pesticide applica tor out to spray his entire farm (which is only 45 acres). Again, he was billed for the spraying. This year Valencia has been able to get a han dle on his weed problem using mechanical means, and the county has not sprayed his land. Officials have been out to inspect his farm, consistently showing up when he was away from the farm. He has specifically requested by phone, in writing, and in person that they notify him before they come onto his property. Because the farm was sprayed by the county last summer, he will have to wait another two years before he can get his land organically certified. Undeterred, Valencia is busy putting up greenhouses where he will grow hydroponic vegetables, which he hopes to have organically certified as early as September of this year. He’s also growing microgreens, using organic seed and potting soil. He has pending sales pitches out to two large grocery chains. Valencia’s true passion is poultry, but the county won’t give him a permit for livestock until he pays off the money he owes for the sprayings and the feed charge from the confiscation. In the meantime, Golden Duck LLC, the company he originally worked for, dissolved leaving Valencia the farm along with debts of approximately $250,000. Since he moved to the farm in 2007 until now, he has worked various off-farm jobs to make ends meet and pay down that debt to about $10,000 at this point.
Valencia is good friends with Steve Jeltz, former Major League Baseball player for the Philadelphia Phillies and Kansas City Royals. Jeltz lived and farmed in Norton, Kansas for a few years, where he got to know Valencia. He owned 5 houses and a 110-acre ranch in Norton. While he was there, he coached the local high school baseball team, tak ing them from lousy to champions in just a couple seasons (think: “Remember the Titans,” baseball version). He was basically run out of town a few years ago by racial prejudice and discriminatory treatment, and ended up losing all of his proper ties. When asked about his friend’s treatment in Norton, he didn’t sugarcoat his answer. “Yeah, they’re ruthless,” he said. “They’re stuck in the 50s and 60s, I think.” Jeltz left Norton because it became increasingly clear that he would wind up in jail or worse if he didn’t. “Carlos tries to do everything by the book,” he continued. “He’s very intelligent, far more intelligent than most people in Norton. But, he’s fighting a losing battle.”
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OGRAIN: Adding Buckwheat & Sorghum Sudangrass to a Grain Rotation Aug 29 | 1 - 5 p.m. | Lily Lake Organic Farm | Maple Park, Ill. The focus of this field day will showcase dual-purpose buckwheat as a cash crop and as a cover crop, includ ing weed control strategies and harvesting methods. Buckwheat increases soil health and reduces the need for tillage, and makes a profit! In addition, learn about another cover crop superstar, sorghum sudangrass. High Tunnel Selection, Construction, and Production Sept 25 | 1 - 4 p.m. | Thao’s Garden | Spring Valley, Wis. If you’re interested in putting up a high tunnel and don’t know where to start, this field day is for you. Learn about high tunnel design, the building process, and crop selection. This field day will be presented primarily in Hmong, with simultaneous interpretation into English.
Refer to the product label for list of crops, pests, and application information. Always read and follow label directions and precautions. TerraNeem® is a registered trademark of Terramera, Inc. EPA Reg. No. 88760-5. The information in this sheet is not binding. Changes could be made without prior notice. For additional information: Shannon Nauss Liebreich Director of Agriculture Mobile Shannon.nauss@terramera.com1.250.465.8005
On-Farm Variety Trials: Kale Aug 7 | 2 - 4:30 p.m. | Riverbend Farm | Delano, Minn. This trial location features curly kale for mid-season palatability. Riverbend Farm is an organic vegetable farm that provides produce to a CSA, restaurants, food co-ops, and schools. Farmer Greg Reynolds also saves seed from, and works to improve, varieties of several crops. Co-hosted by Organic Seeed Alliance and UWMadison. Johnson Farms Tour Aug 9 | 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. | Johnson Farms | Madison, S.D. What does it take to grow 2,800 acres of cash crops organically? Find out at MOSES board member Char lie Johnson’s field day. The Johnson family’s organic system features a six-year organic crop rotation (hay, hay, soy, corn, soy, oats/alfalfa). Their care for the land doesn’t stop at crops, however. They also run 200 head of Black Angus Gelbvieh, taking care to manage them in a way that prevents soil erosion and water contamination.
OGRAIN: Integrating Cereal Grains into an Organic Dairy Rotation
Registration and details, as well as recaps of earlier field days, are available at mosesorganic.org/organic-fielddays. Field days are free unless otherwise noted.
Twelve established organic farmers from across Wisconsin shaped the curriculum, stan dards, and competencies of the apprenticeship program. The competencies and curricula which guide farmer-educators and apprentices through the skills to be mastered, provide a helpful frame work for the program. As Tenzin pointed out farmers “can best train the next generation of organic vegetable growers by giving them the opportunities to do the work-to feel the work day-in and day-out--to have some amount of ownership over their successes and failures, so that they know what that’s like, in theirTobones.”learnmore and find out how you can be involved as a farmer-educator or an apprentice, email strader.claire@countyofdane.org or attend the Apprenticeship Kick Off Event Wednesday, Aug. 29 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Fazenda Boa Terra in Spring Green, Wis. For details, see bit.ly/ VegApprenticeKickoff. Apprenticeship program development was coordinated by Owen Smith, WI Department of Workforce Development, Claire Strader, Dane County UW Extension and FairShare CSA Coalition, Julie Dawson, UW Madison Department of Horticulture, Val Dantoin, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, and UW Madison Agroecology graduate students
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July 31 | 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. | Wilson Organic Farms | Cuba City, Wis. The Wilsons emphasize the connection between soil health, plant health, and healthy people and animals. Learn about the integration of roller-crimped rye into their soybean crop, soil health gains on the farm, and the integration of cereal grains into a dairy rotation as both quality feed for the herd and off-farm sales. In Her Boots: Success Strategies Aug 3 | 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. | $50 | Raleigh’s Hillside Farm | Brodhead, Wis. Come for an inspiring day of advice, ideas and sea soned perspectives from the Wisconsin Soil Sisters, an innovative network of local women championing or ganic and sustainable agriculture. This event is offered in conjunction with the annual Soil Sisters weekend of farm tours.
By Laura Jessee Livingston agriculture@terramera.com Terramera.com
New apprenticeship program trains farm managers Skilled farmworkers are an asset to any farm. Yet, experienced staff who return yearafter-year are not as common as farmers might like. In Wisconsin, a new Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship will educate farmworkers for careers in organic agriculture. This new apprenticeship program creates a path way for farmers to train and retain employees perennially. The Wisconsin Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship is the first state-accred ited apprenticeship program for organic vegetable farming in the United States. It was crafted by farmers and is designed to provide an acces sible and holistic training program that assists farmers in developing skilled workers on their farms. The Organic Vegetable Farm Manager Apprenticeship provides a long-term training opportunity that combines hands-on field work (90% of the program) with coursework delivered through the Wisconsin Technical College System (10% of the program.) The two-season training allows apprentices to grow into managerial roles that are not only satisfying for the apprentices but also highly beneficial to the farmers who trainStaceythem.and Tenzin Botsford of Red Door Family Farm are the first farmer-educators to register an apprentice. Red Door Farm is a diver sified, organic family farm nestled in Athens, Wisconsin selling fresh produce into direct mar kets. “We always say the CSA is the backbone of what we do,” Tenzin said. Stacey and Tenzin have enrolled Aaron Griner as an apprentice this summer. Aaron will continue his hands-on train This apprenticeship will also fill an educa tional gap that is often a barrier to beginning farmers. The traditional system of learning farming skills while growing up in a farming family is declining, leaving a gap in knowledge transfer. Although there are agriculture courses and books, Stacey noted that “the most effective teaching method for me has always been handson learning. And, although I know there are many things you can learn from taking a class or studying books, it’s nothing like seeing things happen in the field and watching a farmer work out solutions.”
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Uplands Watershed Group Farm Tour and Farmer-Fisherman Lunch July 27 | Starts at 9:20 a.m. | Stapleton Grain and Hay Farm & Cates Grass-Fed Beef Farm | Spring Green, Wis. Learn about practices that are useful for your farm and help water infiltrate your soil. Then enjoy burg ers and seafood caught by fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico, whose challenges with nutrient build-up and biological die-off in the Dead Zone can be helped by conservation practices in the Midwest.
15mosesorganic.org
16 | July | August 2018 Field Crops Industrial hemp Impact of Midwest farms on gulf fisheries Organic corn/soy production Brewing grains Organic wheat production Small Technologygrains for row crops Fertility for commercial-scale farmers Agroecology on a commercial scale Livestock IntegratingOrganicEggSmallHolisticManagedPasturedPasturedYear-roundSilvopasturegrazingbroilersporkgrazinggoathealthdairyproductionbeefcrops/cover crops and livestock State of organic dairy Vegetables and Fruits Year-round indoor salad gardening Healthy soils, healthy plants, healthy people Fruit tree Germinationgraftingspecifics for vegetables Small-scale vegetable farming Winter vegetable production Elderberry CropBiodynamicproductionfarmingplanningforveggie farmers High tunnel vegetable production Ginger/turmeric in the Midwest Indigenous food systems Flower production for veggie farmers Strawberry production Upcoming seed varieties Regional variety selection and seed trials Sustainable vineyard techniques Soil and Systems Understanding organic amendments and fertilizers Feeding the soil microbiome Compost science and utilization Tools to assess your soil On-farm composting Pros and cons of tillage Working with living soils Mycoremediation of contaminated soil and water Creating abundant life on the farm Interpreting soil tests Healthy soils, healthy plants, healthy people Biologicals for better early crop growth Biodegradable plastic mulch Business, Marketing, and Management Getting things done on the farm Marketing beyond the farmers market Selling farm products online Social media marketing Branding your farm Attracting the right customers Asset protection, tax reduction, and estate planning Buying land for organic farming Making the health connection for consumers Develop a healthy farm business with your partner Employee management Consumer market trends for organic farmers Holistic management farm finances Farming without the bank Keeping your farm dream from becoming a nightmare Organic Certification and Regulations Transition for commercial-scale farms Organic certification for veggies Writing an organic systems plan Crop rotation during transition Mock certification inspections Food BlockchainRegenerativesafety/GAP/FSMAorganiclabelstechnologyandorganic integrity Organic international trade update Employment law for farmers Leadership, Justice, and Community Issues Farming while black Women in leadership Host a successful field day Queering the food system Urban farming general Leadership in rural areas Food CommunityIndigenoussovereigntyfoodsystemsbuildingthrough farming Economics of community-based food systems Economic justice for family-scale farmers Homesteaders, Gardeners, and Health Growing mushrooms Herbs for health and nourishment Wild CookingCommunityforaginggardeningwiththewhole animal Putting up the harvest with fermentation Incorporating native plants on the farm Indoor urban farming with a vertical living wall FarmAgrotourismBeekeepingre-purposing Policy and Emerging Issues DealingAgroecologywith pesticide drift Restoring food biodiversity Farming with climate change Assessing farm-scale greenhouse gas emissions Policy for value-added production Planning for farm transfer Pests, Weeds, and Beneficials Mycopesticides for organic pest control Online decision tool for weed management Weed control in vegetables High-residue cultivation Managing beneficials on the farm Pollinators MOSES Conference Workshop Planning Survey Help us focus in on the workshop topics you’d like covered at the 2019 MOSES Organic Farming Conference. Voting runs through Aug. 31, 2018. You may select up to 6 workshops per category. Take the survey online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019workshops or vote here and mail your completed survey to: MOSES, PO Box 339, Spring Valley, Wis., 54767. SAVE THE DATE: FEB. 21-23, 2019 30th Anniversary!
Farmer of Year Nominations Recognize an amazing organic farmer by nomi nating that person/family to be the 2019 MOSES Organic Farmer of the Year. This prestigious award honors a Midwest certified organic farmer or farm family for practicing outstanding land stewardship, innovation and outreach. It will be presented at the 2019 MOSES Organic Farming Conference Feb. 21-23 in La Crosse, Wis. The nomination form is online at mosesorganic.org/ organic-farmer-of-the-year. Deadline for nomina tions is Sept. 15, 2018. In Her Boots Podcast The MOSES “In Her Boots” podcast currently features conversations between host Lisa Kivirist and organic pioneer Joyce Ford. New episodes come out every Friday. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher or listen online at mosesorganic.org/ in-her-boots-podcast. Urban Women Caring for the Land MOSES will offer two unique Women Caring for the Land workshops: Wednesday, Sept. 12 in Madison, and Wednesday, Sept. 19 in Milwaukee, Wis. The workshops target women who live in urban areas and own rural land, giving them information on conservation practices and pro grams they can access to improve their land. See mosesorganic.org/in-her-boots/events/#wcl. Organic & Non-GMO Forum Now in its fourth year, the Organic & NonGMO Forum is the source for conventional food and ag businesses to learn about opportunities in the organic and non-GMO sector, and for those in the field to discuss supply chain challenges and opportunities. This event, which has grown threefold, promises unique insights from leading experts, and unparalleled networking opportunities.
Free Admission to MOSES Conference You could win a free pass to the 2019 MOSES Organic Farming Conference if you enter and win the program cover photo contest. Even if you don’t win the coveted spot on the program cover, you’ll still get recognition for your amazing farm when we show your farm photo before the keynotes. You also give MOSES authentic farm photos to use to promote organic farming.Asyou’re working on your farm this summer, take photos of field work, happy livestock, your barn— whatever says “organic farming” to you. To submit photos, go to photoorg/conferencemosesorganic.andclickoncontestlink.Deadline is Sept. 15, 2018. New Organic Fact Sheets from MOSES We have revised and updated two popular fact sheets: Managing Soil Fertility in an Organic System, and Organic Pest and Disease Management. The first explains how healthy soil creates the foundation for a successful organic farm and how to manage fertility to build soil organic matter. The second provides an overview of the hierarchy for dealing with pests and dis eases in an organic system. These sheets are free to download online at mosesorganic.org/organicfact-sheets or call 715-778-5775.
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Organic Integrity Pilot Program
NEWS BRIEFS
The pHoundation of Your Operation Sound management starts with soil pH maintenance Soil pH dictates nutrient availability and pH levels below 6.0 can reduce yield by as
Tickets are $799, but farmers in the MOSES community may use the following discounts: pro ducers with more than 5,000 acres under organic or transitional production use the code MOSES to reduce registration to $650; those with fewer than 5,000 acres use code FARMER to reduce registra tion to $499.
as 30 percent. Rather than correcting pH every few years, agronomists now recommend a regular pH maintenance program. 98G corrects soil pH faster than aglime and maintains consistent, yield maximizing pH levels year after year. Maintain your operation’s pHull potential with 98G.Ask your local crop advisor about 98G,or visit calciumproducts.com/98G. 00883_CalciumProducts_98GGrower_Ads_pHound_Corn_10x4.indd 1 6/8/18 10:06 AM MINNESOTACertificationOrganicCROPIMPROVEMENTASSOCIATION1900HENDONAVE,SAINTPAULMN55108855-213-4461www.mciaorganic.org•HANDLERS•PROCESSORS•PRODUCERS•WILDCROP•LIVESTOCK Serving the Upper Midwest Ensuring Organic Integrity Since 2002 committedresponsivelocal to service
A task force of the Organic Trade Association has created a pilot fraud-prevention program that’s being tested this summer by 11 companies, including Clarkson Grain, Grain Millers, Organic Valley, and Pipeline Foods. The companies will run a specific product or ingredient through the fraud prevention and detection strategies developed over the past year by the task force, gathering input from others in their unique supply chain. The goal is to facilitate the industry-wide implementation of systems and measures to pre serve the integrity of organic. much
Former Deputy Administrator of USDA’s National Organic Program Miles McEvoy has been appointed to serve on the Standards Committee of IFOAM-Organics International. He is the sole U.S. representative on the committee, which is scheduled to revise the IFOAM Standard over the next three years.
The Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day will take place Wednesday, Sept. 26, at PrairiErth Farm in Atlanta, Ill. The event includes demonstrations of in-row cultivation tools for vegetable crops, and displays of tractors and equipment, including flame weeders and finger weeders. See thelandconnection.org/farmers/ mechanical-weed-control-field-day-2018.
Spotted Wing Drosophila Spotted wing drosophila, the highly invasive fruit pest, has been spotted in University of Minnesota’s 2018 monitoring traps. The univer sity has two new podcast episodes on organic management methods from Mary Meyer, assis tant professor of horticulture, and, Jim Riddle, long-time organic fruit grower. The podcast is at www.fruitedge.umn.edu/kalepodcast.
Hawaii’s Pesticide Ban
18 | July | August 2018 NEWS BRIEFS
Workshops on Pollinator Habitat Planning
Lean Farm Training Ben Hartman, author of two books on “lean farming,” is teaching his method of vegetable production through three events: a workshop Sept. 7-8 at his farm, an online course this fall, and a weeklong “Market Farming 101” training with Ray Tyler in Selmer, Tenn., Oct. 22-26, 2018. For prices and details, see claybottomfarm.com.
Wisconsin Dairy Task Force
The University of Minnesota Extension and Minnesota Department of Agriculture just announced dates for the state’s FSMA Produce Safety Rule training courses—14 total between November 2018 and March 2019. Cost is $25 for the one-day workshops. See mn.us/food/safety/producesafetyprogram.aspxwww.mda.state.or 651-539-3648.
The USDA has appointed Jennifer Tucker as Deputy Administrator of the department’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP). Dr. Tucker has served as Associate Deputy Administrator of the National Organic Program since 2011.
FARMBuyBROKERAGE&Sell
Gov. Scott Walker recently announced the creation of “Wisconsin Dairy Task Force 2.0” to create solutions to the crisis in Wisconsin’s dairy industry, which accounts for nearly 80,000 jobs and produces roughly 14 percent of the nation’s milk —second only to California. The task force is chaired by Mark Stephenson, director of Dairy Policy Analysis at UW-Madison.
Hawaii has become the first U.S. state to completely ban use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. The state’s new law also requires agrochemi cal companies to share when and where they will apply all restricted-use pesticides. Because Hawaii’s climate allows for year-round growing, agrochemical companies have used the state as a testing ground, spraying up to 16 times per day.
Workshop on Preventing Farm Injuries
5 -3- 2 OMRI CONFORMS WITH GAP Pelleted & Crumbled Poultry Fertilizer Nationwide supplier of bulk products PROCESSED MANURE APPROVED WITHOUT ANY RESTRICTIONS. info@chickenlitter.com www.chickenlitter.com 217 725 4598
The Organic Trade Association’s latest indus try survey shows U.S. organic sales reached a new record of $49.4 billion in 2017, up 6.4% from the previous year. The organic food market hit $45.2 billion in sales, also a 6.4% increase, which puts it well above the growth rate of the overall food market (1.1%). Fruits and vegetables continued to be the largest organic food category, with $16.5 billion in sales in 2017. Organic dairy and eggs represented the second-largest category.
Organic Sales Data
National Organic Program Director
IFOAM Standards Committee
The Xerces Society and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will present two all-day workshops in Wisconsin to give growers a crash course on bee field identification, pollinator biology, habitat restoration, bee-friendly farm management, and federal programs for support. The courses run 9:30 a.m to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 14 in Edgerton, Wis., and Aug. 30 in Evansville, Wis. Registration is $50. See xerces.org/event.
The National Children’s Center for Rural and Agricultural Health and Safety will host an indepth workshop Aug. 14-15 in Marshfield, Wis., on strategies to safeguard children from farm injuries. It is aimed at farm organizations, insur ance professionals, bankers, Extension, FFA, and public health officials. Cost is $249. See details at www.marshfieldresearch.org/caip-workshop.
Professional Farm Management Including Organic Farming FARM MANAGEMENT Organic and Conventional 320 South Crossing Road - PO Box 69 Sherman, Illinois, 62684-0169
Weed Control Demonstration Day
Kent Kraft, AFM Managing Broker Rob Woodrow, AFM Managing Broker Office: 217-496-3500 FarmlandSolutionsLLC.com
PSA Grower Trainings in Minnesota
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CLASSIFIEDS Place an ad at Organic Classifieds or call 715-778-5775. mosesorganic.org (under Farming tab) For sale: Organic Hay, wrapped and dry. Big Bales. Organic Corn, Organic Oats. Can deliver. 608-574-2160. Red Dragon 6 Row Flame Weeder with 300 gallon tank, safety switches, $13,000 obo. Contact Matthew: 309-507-2626. FARM: 136-acre previously organically certified farm. Mixture of tillable and wooded land. Private setting. 2,700 square foot 4 bedroom, 4 bath home built in 1999. Pole shed, hay barn, 30x80 animal shed. Glenwood City, WI. More information at jimhelmer.com MLS# 4965318 or Jim Helmer 715 821-4321. For Sale: 20-40 Acres of chemical free pasture plus tillable, used for rotational grazing operation & agri tourism B & B. Built in 2000, this American 4 sq 5 bed 5 bath home has incredible views. Near Menomonie, have access to Twin Cities & EC markets. $425-525,000 depending on acreage. Call Knelly Dettinger TruLiving KW 507-272-0526 to view this unique ag opportunity. Farm for sale near Columbus, Indiana. 71 acres, 44 tillable, 22.3 acres in Classified Forest program, 54 in CRP with
| 19mosesorganic.org | 715-778-5775
income. Conservation program ends in 2021, so Organic Certification could follow. Spray barriers/ shelter belts planted around fields. 3 bedroom house. lucyoneal@comcast.net (541) 510-9655. Looking to rent organic farmland in northwest Iowa or southeast South Dakota. Looking for at least 100 acres or more. Already farming organically. Daniel 712-229-0161. Organic farm for sale/rent. 325 acres in NE Starke Co. Indiana. 2 pivots, 12” well, systematically drained, 255 tillable, balance woods, creek & pasture. $2,250,000 purchase, $350/ac rent. 574-241-3350.FARMS/LANDFORAGES GRAINS MISCELLANEOUS New ads posted weekly online. • Equipment • Farms/Land mosesorganic.org/organic-classifieds • Livestock • Jobs • Forages • Grain Place your ad to be seen by 15,000 readers! $20 for up to 30 words; $5/additional 10 words Nature’s International Certi cation Services “In Nature there is abundance, with Nature’s there is success.” 224 East State Highway 56 Viroqua, WI 54665 Phone: 608-637-7080 Email:www.naturesinternational.comnics@naturesinternational.com USDA NOP accredited Organic Certification Crops, Livestock, Wild Crops and Processing / Handling For Sale: Oregon Certified Organic Nursery Busi ness. Owners retiring, selling Eugene area wholesale/ retail nursery business. Active accounts, 5 greenhouses plus associated equipment, materials and historical data. No land, must relocate. Great customer base and great business opportunity. Owners will share business planning and operation experience. $165,000 min bid. OGNursery4Sale@gmail.com ORGANIC FISH FERTILIZER 15-1-1, 100% dry water soluble, 5-7 times more nutritious than liquid fish. Will not clog drip irrigation. One lb., 5 lb. or 55 lb. packag ing, can be shipped UPS. Frommelt Ag Service, Greeley, IA, 563-920-3674. For Sale: Tempered, insulated, double-pane glass. Large panes for sunrooms, solar homes, ag buildings, greenhouses or ??? One hundred fifty thousand sold since 1979; 32” x 74” x 1” double-pane only $49.00. We will be closing or selling Arctic Glass in 12 months. If you need glass, now would be a good time! Arctic Glass, www.kissourglass.com, 715-639-3762 or joseph4249@gmail.com. OPPORTUNITY: Scientist and educator team going cross country to advocate for climate action. Along I-90 in South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin mid-August. Seeking organic/sustainable farms along route to visit, interview and showcase sustainable practices. See www.roadforclimateaction.com. Contact: 1-714-675-9792. FARM SITTER: Want to take a vacation? Hire an enthusiastic and experienced gardener to take care of your produce farm! Willing to travel. References available. 608-330-3749. Original and Organic products available. ✯✯1gal. lasts 1month for 42 cows✯✯ NUTRA-GLO TM Nutritional Feed Supplement for all Ruminants ProbioticOrganicMineralsVitaminsChelatesMetabolites • Herd Health • Reproduction • Milk Production • Protein • Butterfat • Somatic Cell Count …forContains...improved Creekside Sales (Samuel & Ruthetta Schrock) S 2426 Bundy Hollow Rd LaValle, WI 53941 Discover Your Herd’s Maximum Potential! Wholesale/Retail $1.30/calf/mo Also available: Nutra-Glo™ for Horses, Dogs, Poultry and Humans. 2017 Crop Certified Organic Buckwheat for sale. Approx. 80 - 100 bu. Has already been cleaned and germ tested. Can bag if needed. Dave at 630-365-2019. Northern IL. Mushroom Farm Worker. CTHM is the rare farm spe cializing in log-grown mushrooms like shiitake! Join this small team full-time for year-round work harvest ing mushrooms, moving logs, logging, inoculating, and other farm jobs. $11 to $13 per hour, mushrooms, and housing available on our beautiful Clayton, Wisconsin farm. See com/farm-worker-wantedcherrytreehousemushrooms.orcall612-205-8599. EQUIPMENT JOBS
Pasture Walk: Brattset Family Farm August 16 | 5-8 p.m. | Jefferson, Wis. Wisconsin Farmers Union and Glacierland RC&D hold a pasture walk at a 290-acre grass-based grazing farm, certified Animal Welfare Approved. RSVP to Kirsten Jurcek: 262-593-2077.
Growing Food Sovereignty with Red Earth Gardens September 13 | 4:30-7 p.m. | Tama, Iowa Tour the gardens, talk about organic transition, visit a food for est, learn about the role of the gardens in the larger Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Initiative and share an evening meal together. Iowa Organic: 563-447-0462 aMaizeing Field Day September 13 | 8:30 a.m. | East Troy, Wis. Learn about regional plant breeding and testing to serve organic farmers in the region. U of Illinois: 217-333-9471.
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Adding Buckwheat & Sorghum Sudangrass to a Grain Rotation August 29 | 1 - 5 p.m. | Maple Park, Ill. field day See page 15. Workshop September 11-13 Tampico, Ill. composting techniques Midwest Biosystems Midwest BioSystems: 800-689-0714 Hemp Production Field Day September 4 8:45 a.m.-1 p.m. $20 East Troy, Wis. Michael Fields Agricultural Institute’s high CBD oil organic hemp plot, Turtle Creek Gardens’ hemp plots, and MFAI’s industrial hemp research plots. Transportation is provided.
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RSVP to Blue Ox Farm: 715-352-0717
OGRAIN Workshop & Farm Tour: Wilson Organic Farms July 31 | 9 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. | Free | Cuba City, Wis. MOSES field day - See page 15. CRAFT Field Day: Regenerative Grazing and Clover July 31 | 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. | $20 | Caledonia, Ill. Learn about Angelic Organics’ livestock regenerative grazing practices over the past decade, and cover cropping and soil fertility methods. Angelic Organics: 815-389-8455
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HELPING CONVENTIONAL AG NAVIGATE ORGANIC & NON-GMO OCTOBER 29-30, 2018 IN ST. LOUIS Twilight Farm Tour: Leelanau Specialty Cut Flowers July 25 | 6 p.m. | Free | East Jordan, Mich. Join Michelle Shackleford for a farm tour through the flower fields for a real hands-on visual on flower farming. Please RSVP: 231-622-5252. In Her Boots Workshop: Humble Hands Harvest July 26 | 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. | $25 | Decorah, Iowa MOSES field day - See page 15. Uplands Watershed Group Farm Tour and Lunch July 27 | 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. | Free | Spring Green, Wis. MOSES partner field day - See page 15.
Johnson Farms Tour August 9 | 8:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. | Free | Madison, S.D. MOSES field day - See page 15. Managed Grazing and Soil Health August 9 | 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. | $40 | Fall River, Wis. Learn to manage grazing to improve soil health. Southwest Badger RD&C: 608-258-2301 Flame Weeding Workshop August 13 | 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. | $ | Concord, Neb. Learn how to do proper flaming to control over 10 major Mid western weeds in 7 agronomic crops. Call Dee Foote: 402-584-3837 On-Farm Foodservice Field Day August 13 | 10 a.m. | $ | Squash Blossom Farm, Oronoco, Minn. August 23 | 10 a.m. | $ | Campo Di Bella, Mt. Horeb, Wis. Are you a farmer curious about potentially diversifying into on-farm food service such as farm-to-table dinners or a pizza farm? Renewing the Countryside: 612-910-7601 Pollinator Habitat Planning For Farmers & Landowners August 14 | 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | $50 | Edgerton, Wis. August 30 | 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. | $50 | Evansville, Wis. Xerces Society and NRCS present a course in basic bee field identification, pollinator biology and habitat, habitat restora tion, bee-friendly farm management practices, and federal programs for support. Registration required. 608-241-9744 WCROC Organic Dairy Day August 14 | 10 a.m. | Free | Morris, Minn. To register, call Brad: 320-589-1711, ext. 2118. Child Agricultural Injury Prevention Workshop August 14-15 | $ | Marshfield, Wis. Learn how you can help safeguard children and youth who live, work, and play on farms and ranches. Marshfield Clinic: 715-387-5241 Wisconsin Farmers Union Summer Conference August 16 | All day | Chippewa Falls, Wis. Kamp Kenwood, 19161 79th Ave., Chippewa Falls. WFU: 715723-5561 Pasture Walk: Nathan Kling Farm August 16| 1-3 p.m. | Taylor, Wis. Wisconsin Farmers Union and River Country RC&D pasture walk focuses on adding acreage for organic production. RSVP to Kevin Mahalko at 715-314-0338.
Pasture Walk: Richmond Farm August 24 | 12:30 p.m. | Colfax, Wis. Wisconsin Farmers Union and River Country RC&D pasture walk focuses on farm transition and dairy. RSVP to Kevin Mahalko at 715-314-0338.
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Pasture Walk: Rosenow Farm August 2 | 5 - 7 p.m. | New London, Wis Learn from graziers across Wisconsin! Focus on Silvopasture project funded through SARE Farmers Rancher grant. RSVP to Kirsten: 262-593-2077 Four Elements Workshop: A Medicinal Herb Intensive August 3 - 5| $500 | North Freedom, Wis. A comprehensive, hands-on educational weekend covering all aspects of medicinal herb production from seed to product, on our certified organic herb farm. Four Elements: 608-522-4492 In Her Boots Workshop: Raleigh’s Hillside Farm August 3 | 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. | $25 | Brodhead, Wis. MOSES field day - See page 15. Soil Sisters: A Celebration of Wisconsin Farms & Rural Life August 3 - 5 | $ | Chippewa Falls, Wis. MOSES event - See page 15. How to Conduct On-Farm Variety Trials Workshop August 7 | 2 - 4 p.m. | Free | Delano, Minn. MOSES field day - See page 15.
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Pasture Walk: Blue Ox Farm August 22 | 6:30-8:30 p.m. | Wheeler, Wis. Wisconsin Farmers Union visits the Langworthys’ mid-scale rotational grazing operation with sheep and Highland cattle.
Achieving Financial Success with Grazing Cover Crops July 30 | 7-8:30 p.m. | Free | Online webinar Practice Farmers of Iowa will introduce the best management principles and practices for maximizing the economic value of cover crops. Practical Farmers of Iowa: 515-232-5661
Hemp Production & Hmong Farming Culture August 23 | 5 - 8 p.m. | Free | Hugo, Minn. Learn about traditional Hmong farming culture and daily life, including hemp production for fiber. MFA: 651-433-3676
COMMUNITY CALENDAR Find details and event links online: mosesorganic.org/community VISIT ONGFORUM.COM TO LEARN MORE! The Organic & Non-GMO Forum brings together handlers, buyers, and processors to address current and future challenges in meeting growing demand for organic and non-GMO products and other emerging opportunities for specialization in conventional agriculture. Do not miss the ONG Forum, October 29-30th, in St. Louis!
Tour of Angelic Organics farm and hear a panel discussion of veteran farmers. Angelic Organics: 815-389-8455
Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day September 26 | 9:30 a.m.- 4 p.m. | $20 | PrairieErth Farm, Atlanta, Ill. Learn the principles and tools for precise mechanical weed control from farmers, researchers, and suppliers.
Rationally Raised: Making Small Grains Work July 30 | 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | $40 | Mankato, Minn. Sessions on integrating animals with a small grains opera tion, marketing small grains, production of small grains, and more. Practical Farmers of Iowa: 515-232-5661
MFA High Tunnel Field Day at The Good Acre August 1 | 10:30 a.m. - noon | $20 | St. Paul, Minn. Learn about a “fertigation system” that allows you to analyze plant nutrients and adjust fertilizer accordingly through drip irrigation, and how to apply for your own high tunnel through NRCS. Minnesota Food Association: 651-433-3676 Steel in the Field for Organic Row Crops August 2 | 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. | Free | Wolcott, Ind. A field day at Living Prairie Family Farms in Wolcott, Indiana. Jason Federer, owner of Living Prairie Family Farms, operates a split operation, managing both conventional and certified organic grain production. Purdue Extension: 765-284-8414
Veteran Farm Dreams Workshop and Networking Dinner August 25 | 1 - 7 p.m. | Free | Caledonia, Ill.
Farm Aid’s Music and Food Festival September 22 | All day | $ | Hartford, Conn. Farm Aid 2018 will feature performances by board members Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Dave Mat thews, as well as many other artists. Farm Aid: 202-248-5487 Ecological Agroforestry and Pollinators September 25 | 10 a.m.-1 p.m. | $20 | Jefferson, Wis. Learn about integrating wildlife habitat, with a focus on pollinator habitat, into a farm operation. Angelic Organics: 815-389-8455 High Tunnel Selection, Construction, and Production September 25 | 1 – 4 p.m. | Spring Valley, Wis. MOSES field day - See page 15.
