Nutrient management, weed management and organic crop marketing opportunities are three primary topics of interest the University of Minnesota has heard about from organic producers according to Claire LaCanne, UMN Extension educator in crops. These topics will be the highlight of the UMN’s 21st annual Organic Row Crops Day in Owatonna, held March 20 at the North American Farm & Power Show.
The event will be held from 12:30-5 p.m. in the second-level meeting room in the Four Seasons Centre. The seminars are open to all farmers, regardless of management style. Attendees can take in one or all of the presentations. The topics will be orientated toward current organic row crop farmers and farmers who are transitioning, considering transition or interested in organic production.
“(They can) hear from people who are researching the practices and the farmers who are applying the practices in the field,” LaCanne said.
Speakers will include Paulo Pagliari, associate professor at the UMN, speaking about nutrient management. Organic farmer Jim Possin, of New Richland, will talk about organic weed management practices. Organic farmer Jon Jovaag will discuss roller crimping. Matt Leavitt of the Forever Green Initiative will share about new and emerging crop opportunities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program.
The day will also feature a three-farmer panel with Possin, as well as Austin area organic and sustainable farmers Tom Cotter and Jon Jovaag. The panel will include time for questions, and there will be time throughout the day for farmers to network.
“The farmer panel and discussion is usually one of the favorite parts of this event,” LaCanne said. “People really appreciate hearing from currently certified organic farmers and their experiences and the challenges and successes that they’re having.”
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Protecting soil, water through nutrient management
Pagliari shares insight on how to make organic crop fertility choices
For Paulo Pagliari, nutrient management is an important topic because of its long-term effects.
“The next generations, they’re going to have to deal with the issues and the problems that we create now,” Pagliari said. “If we hand the world to them that has very little problems, very little issues, then, instead of fixing our problems, they can decide what they want to do in their time. They can be improving their livelihood instead of fixing water we broke.”
Pagliari will be a speaker at the University of Minnesota’s 21st annual Organic Row Crops Day in Owatonna at the North American Farm & Power Show.
Pagliari’s professional expertise centers around nutrient cycling soil microorganisms and how soil microbial communities influence nutrient cycling and nutrient availability for crops.
Determining what and how many nutrients are required for growing crops will be the focus of Pagliari’s presentation. He will discuss determining crop rotation, as well as soil sampling and interpreting soil sample results to know how many added nutrients are needed, and finally, choosing a fertility source to amend the soil.
One of the most important takeaways from the presentation, Pagliari said, is avoiding overapplication of phosphorus.
“Organic cropping systems, because of the nutrient sources they have, tend to over apply phosphorus,” he said. “There’s no way around it. It’s just the nature of the system. So, I want them to understand that there are options that they can have (and) management practices that they can use to help minimize the buildup.”
Buildup of phosphorus in the soil, Pagliari said, is a water quality issue because soil erosion and spring snow melt with dirt particles in it blown by winter wind carry phosphorus into the water.
“A lot of the issues we see in the summer with algae blooms is not really due to what’s happening in the summer,” Pagliari said. “It’s mostly what happened during the winter and early spring.”
Not only is soil erosion bad for water, it also is a loss of topsoil.
“That’s a resource that takes a very long time … to regenerate,” Pagliari said. “We want to keep the soil where it belongs. We don’t want it going into ditches and lakes and rivers.”
Pagliari said the ratio of nitrogen to phosphorus in manure and compost, which is often added to soil to amend for needed nitrogen, is a mismatch with crop needs. There is often 30% to 40% more phosphorus than necessary. Cover crops have potential, however, to help with these nutrient needs.
“The right cover crop can help provide a lot of nitrogen to the following crop,” Pagliari said. “If they have the nitrogen coming up for the following crop, that can really help them minimize the extra phosphorus that they’re going to be putting on their field.”
Overall, Pagliari said he hopes his session will help farmers better understand the consequences of how nutrients are managed.
“My idea is to help the cropping systems in Minnesota to be more sustainable, our land to be cleaner and give the next generation time that they can enjoy the land,” Pagliari said.
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Cultivars of opportunity
Leavitt shares about new, emerging crops, Transition to Organic Partnership Program
Matt Leavitt believes that new and emerging crops create opportunities for organic and conventional farmers alike to better their operation’s sustainability and bottom line.
“If crops that we’re working with … offer another pathway for someone to be diversified, I think that would be a win,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt will be a speaker at the University of Minnesota’s 21st annual Organic Row Crops Day Owatonna at the North American Farm & Power Show. Leavitt works for the Forever Green Initiative, which is a UMN program which connects breeding and development efforts on 15-16 new and novel crops in the Midwest.
“The whole goal of the program is to solve and address water quality and soil health concerns on the Upper Midwest landscape through crops that act like cover crops,” Leavitt said. “The added dimension is that a farmer can actually take these crops to harvest versus just planting them in between corn and soybeans or other cash crops.”
The Forever Green Initiative also helps with providing marketing opportunities as well as risk management resources and incentives for growing these crops through the Economic and Environmental Clusters of Opportunity Implementation Program.
“(It) both pays farmers an incentive payment for trialing these crops and also provides some risk management,” Leavitt said. “(That is for) if there are market issues or harvest issues or agronomic issues where they’re not able to take the crop to harvest.”
There are four market-ready crops the Forever Green Initiative is working with: Kernza perennial grain, hybrid winter rye, winter barley and winter camelina. Seed is available on the market.
“Across the board, farmers are really paying attention to new opportunities and are pretty responsive to really investigating new crops that are out there,” Leavitt said.
This investigation is driven in part by overall lower current and future commodity prices on corn and soybeans, Leavitt said. He also said interest is not confined to one farm management style.
“It definitely has a crossover appeal,” he said. “Both for organic folks that are by nature, more diversified and have more windows to plant different crops, and also conventional folks that are looking to diversify their income streams, spread out their workload and really maybe take a look at something that might fit their operation a little better.”
Leavitt will also be talking about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program. This federal program, which will be sunsetting Sept. 30, helps new and transitioning organic farmers connect with experienced organic farmers and pays the experienced farmers for their expertise.
“One of the hallmarks of their certified organic farming community … is that they’re a network of sharing individuals,” Leavitt said. “Experienced mentor farmers are very willing to share knowledge.”
As a speaker at the UMN’s 21st annual Organic Row Crops Day seminars, Leavitt said he hopes the day communicates the value of organic farming methods both for the soil, and for farm families.
“It’s a market-driven opt-in way for operations that are maybe smaller than average, more diversified than average, more management intensive than average, to continue to remain profitable,” Leavitt said. “I’ve seen firsthand how organic agriculture has allowed operations, family farms, to remain profitable at a scale where they can actually manage their ground in a way that is ecologically beneficial and also beneficial for the people working on the land.”
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