What’s up for Organic Ag for Weeks of
August 7-13 in
Brought to you by
1. Southwest
Community Harvest Festival Sunday Sept 17 at Tillers Intl
2. Local Food
Events In
3.
Bioneers Conferences Oct 20-22
4.
Community Supported Agriculture workshop and conference
November 10-12
5.
Vegetable
6.
Make
Your Voice Heard in Federal Farm Policy
7. Organic Valley: A
Sustainable
8. Workers on organic
farms are treated as poorly as their conventional counterparts
9. USDA
report disputes claim that farmers are vanishing breed
10. Vegetable
11.
Southwest Community Harvest Fest
Celebrating local food and local
farming!
Sunday Sept 17th
11:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
Gates open at 11 a.m.
ADMISSION: ONLY $10 PER CARLOAD (Bicycles are FREE!)
LOCATION: Tillers International
10515 East OP Avenue
Scotts, Michigan
www.swmiharvest.org
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2. Local Food Events In
Food Grown in
Local Food Week includes Films,
Grand Rapids, Mich. -- In honor of the State of
Michigan's
designation of Sept. 14 as Buy Fresh Buy Local Select Michigan Day,
area groups have come together to celebrate the unique bounty of
West Michigan with Local Food Week, a series of events highlighting
the importance of a strong and diverse local food system.
The sixth annual Organic Harvest Festival, this year
presented
by Mixed Greens ("Growing Kids Who Grow Gardens") kicks off
Local
Food Week on Sunday, Sept. 10. The event, to be held at
opportunities to purchase from
Throughout Local Food Week, which is sponsored by the
Greater
Grand Rapids Food Systems Council (GGRFSC) and Farms Without Harm,
that emphasize the various aspects of a healthy local food system.
They include a canning and food preservation party; a community
gardens tour; a kids' day festival at the South East Area Farmers
Market; a tour of farms run by women, and The Local FoodFarmFilm
Fest.
The latter event, an all-day film festival Saturday,
Sept, 16,
about farming and food that includes a tasting of dishes made by
local chefs and farmer vendors, features appearances by directors of
two films being shown: Kirsten Kelly, an Oceana County native
who
made the acclaimed "Asparagus (A Stalk-umentary)"; and Cynthia
Vagnetti, director of "Voices from the Field," a film about women in
agriculture.
"Asparagus" has won several awards on the
film festival
circuit, including the Good Food Award sponsored by W.K. Kellogg
Foundation at the Media that Matters festival and the Best
Documentary at the Rural Route Film Fest in
has created quite a stir with her photographic and film exploration
of female farmers in
The full schedule for Local Food Week is:
- Sunday, Sept. 10 -- Organic Harvest Festival presented by Mixed
Greens at the
For details, call Mixed Greens at 301-3592. Admission is free.
- Monday, Sept. 11A Preservation Party to learn how to can,
freeze, or preserve by other methods garden and farm
produce, sponsored by the GGRFSC. For details, call Cynthia Price,
231-578-0873 or e-mail [log in to unmask]
- Tuesday, Sept. 12, starting at 4 p.m. Community Gardens Tour
of several gardens in the growing
by the GGRFSC Community Gardens Committee and Mixed Greens. Meet at
Mack's Garden next to the South East Community Association offices,
1408 Madison Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, to pick up a map for your own
tour (school gardens available after 6 only), or to join a free,
guided tour through the city. For more information, call Tom
Cary
616-451-3051 or e-mail [log in to unmask]
- Thursday, Sept. 14, 1-6 p.m. -- A Kids' Day Festival celebrating
Buy Fresh Buy Local Select Michigan Day at the Southeast Area
Farmers Market, at the corner of Franklin Street and Fuller Avenue.
Free. For details, call Tom Cary 616-451-3051 or e-mail
[log in to unmask]
- Friday, Sept. 15 Women's Farm Tour, sponsored by the
Michigan
several area farms run by women. Filmmaker Cynthia Vagnetti
will
join the tour. For details, call Tom Cary at 451-3051 or email
[log in to unmask] Made possible by funding from the Nokomis
Foundation.
- Saturday, Sept. 16, 1-10 p.m. -- The Local Food Farm Film Fest, a
day- long food-tasting and screening of films about food and farming
presented by Farms Without Harm and GGRFSC at the Wealthy Theater,
1130 Wealthy St. SE, Grand Rapids. Events include
appearances by
local filmmakers and chefs, panel discussions, and farmers selling
their products in the lobby. Admission is $10; $7 after 5 p.m.
For
details, call 616-558-6490 or email [log in to unmask]
- Sunday, Sept. 17, 2-4 p.m. Annual Heirloom Tomato Festival at
Trillium Haven Farm. Taste 45 different heirloom tomatoes, and enjoy
recipe tips from chef Amy Sherman. Cost is $20 per
person. Please
make reservations by emailing [log in to unmask], or
leaving a phone message at 457-5822.
Local Food Week is a joint effort
of the Greater Grand Rapids
Food Systems Council, a collection of groups and individuals working
together to create a sustainable and just food system in West
Michigan, and Farms Without Harm, a network of groups, small farmers
and concerned citizens that promotes safe, sustainable farming
through public education.
For more information about the GGRFSC, visit
www.foodshed.net
and for Farms Without Harm, visit www.farmswithoutharm.org.
3. Bioneers Conferences
October 20, 21 ,22 - Great Lakes BIONEERS Conferences -
Traverse City & Detroit, MI
Traverse City - Meeting at the Crossroads of ecology and social justice... and
eating really well.
Northwestern
[log in to unmask] (800)
220-1415
[log in to unmask]
(313) 894-1303 x 119
**************************************************
4. Community Supported Agriculture workshop and
conference November 10-12
A Conference for Community Supported Agriculture -
CSA offers a path to farm preservation, stability and profitability. It
connects people with their food supply, builds a sense of community around land
and cuisine, enhances community health and increases biodiversity and food
security. CSA’s popularity has been growing steadily throughout the
Website: http://www.csafarms.org/csaresources.asp
5.
Vegetable
By John Mishanec, IPM Vegetable Program
General Conditions
Crops are late but beginning to come on strong. Most growers
are beginning to harvest tomatoes in quantity. Growers are reporting
their sweet corn harvest has gone well and most farms are into their second and
third plantings of early season vine crops. The pumpkin crop looks
late. At this point in the season, you shouldn't be able to see the
ground between plants. I talked to someone who just finished cultivating
their pumpkins. Don't expect a premium if you do have pumpkins as there
always seems to be lots being brought in from
Sweet Corn
Up until a couple weeks ago we were experiencing the normal mid
season drop in all trap catches. Around the 4th of July weekend we
started catching corn ear worm (CEW) in a couple of traps in the region.
Over the next week to 10 days, CEW trap catch numbers slowly increased in most
of the other traps in central eastern NY. Peak numbers were right around
the threshold of two CEW per night. In lower part of the region from
Because of the presence of CEW, I have been asked by a number of growers if I
thought they should be on a spray schedule for their corn in green
silk. Basically, I think if you covered your silk corn when we had
the small spike of CEW a couple weeks ago, than you are probably in good shape.
If you didn't, than I think you probably will not be hurt too bad as the
numbers of CEW were pretty low. From experience, this spike was not the
true arrival of CEW. When CEW arrives, there are lots and lots of CEW in
the traps. I stop counting and say there are 50+ in the trap.
That's when you need to be protecting your silk corn and even then, it's
difficult with a 3 day schedule.
I was in a sweet corn field on Monday where there were four successive
planting, from a foot high to knee high to waist high to chest high.
Nothing was in tassel yet and it was a good chance to evaluate the pest levels
in the various plantings. The tallest corn had 48% infestation and each
successive planting had less. The smallest corn had less than 3%
infestation. This is what I would expect to find as the more mature corn
has been around longer and the insects are more attracted to mature corn.
A surprise was that most of the damage was from fall army worm (FAW). FAW
is not a real big problem to sweet corn growers. It is happy to eat
anything on the plant. FAW does not zero in on the ear and it likes the
warm so it is out in the open and easy to kill. It is easy to spot in a
field so I do not even trap for it. Any sprays for CEW or ECB will
control FAW.
In NJ, trap catches for CEW are increasing in the southern part of the state
and reports from
For now, it is important to spray corn with emerging tassels if the field is
over a 15% threshold of worm infestation. To make a decision on spraying
the rest of your corn, it is important to follow the trap catches in your
location. CEW are the most dangerous. CEW lay their eggs on
the silk and when the eggs hatch the larvae will go directly into the tip of
the ear. CEW eggs hatch with 76 degree days (DD). With a 70 degree
temperature average, you will accumulate around 20 DD per day. Our higher
temperatures in the 90's will really push this and you can expect eggs to hatch
in 3 days or less. ECB eggs hatch with 100 DD so it takes a little longer
for ECB to hatch. ECB lay their eggs in the ear zone either on the ear or
on the undersides of leaves around the ear. When the ECB larvae hatch,
they are small and it takes a while for them to be big enough to get into the
ear. You have some space with ECB but not with CEW. The CEW
levels drive your spray schedule. With the levels of CEW we are catching,
a 5 day schedule on silk corn is called for. Once we start catching more
CEW, than everyone will need to tighten up their schedules.
Many growers report that Warrior has not been doing the job it once did.
Try different products if this has been the case on your farm. For
organic growers, Entrust will work fairly well against CEW when the numbers are
low. If insect populations skyrocket, than even hard chemicals have a
hard time doing the job.
Peppers
In some fields we have found bacterial spot on pepper. The
lower leaves have numerous quarter inch and smaller size spots. The lower
leaves Then turn yellow and begin to fall off. Fixed copper plus maneb is
the recommendation for conventional growers and copper alone for organic
growers.
The second flight of European corn borer (ECB) is just beginning. ECB
will lay their eggs on peppers and when the larvae hatch, they will make a hole
just at the edge of the cap. Water gets into the hole and then the fruit
rots. Spintor of for organic growers, Entrust will work very well
in controlling the ECB larvae on a 5-7 day schedule. You can use Orthene
only on non-bell peppers.
Tomatoes
We are also finding lots of early blight on lower leaves. Look
for bronze colored spots with concentric rings in them. Sometimes the
spots are at the edge of the leaf and sometimes they appear as small, quarter
inch size spots on the leaf. Early blight is not an aggressive
disease. It comes on when the plant is stressed and in a weakened
condition. This can be environmental or just from a heavy fruit
load. Now with fruit sizing up, it is putting stress on the plant and
along with moist conditions, we are seeing this problem in most fields.
The traditional fungicide for early blight is Bravo but Quadris also dose a
great job in controlling the disease. For organic growers, copper is the
best product to use.
We found a field with small levels of bacterial spot on tomato. For now,
mostly we are finding foliar problems that do not directly impact the
fruit. Bacterial diseases will always cause fruit problems and should be
treated with copper.
Vine Crops
There is a lot of powdery mildew in summer squash. This is
always going to be the crop that gets powdery mildew first. If you have
it located next to cucumbers or your pumpkins, you will be spreading PM into
those crops more quickly than if you had the summer squash isolated. We
have not seen PM in pumpkins yet. Walk into your pumpkins and look for
pail yellow spots on the top of the leaf. Turn over the leaf and you will
see the white powder like spores. Do not start your fungicide schedule
until you find PM in your pumpkins.
From
Potatoes
We have late blight close to our region on
Leaf hopper is being found in very high numbers in most fields. Go out
and flop a plant into the row and shake it, than flop the plant to the other
side of the row. Inspect the ground for leaf hoppers that have fallen off the
plant onto the ground. This is an easy way to see what is happening in
the field. We've already started to see some burning on susceptible
varieties. The edges of the leaves will turn dark brown. Eventually
the whole plant will turn brown and die. It's important to pay attention
to leaf hopper because they can seriously decrease yield without being very
evident. For conventional growers, Phaser and Thionex are the insecticides
least toxic to ladybird beetles This is important for aphid
suppression. For organic growers, the options are limited. Pyganic
is the only product that is organic certified that will do the job.
Cornell Recommends
The online version of the 2006 Integrated Crop and Pest Management
Guidelines for Vegetables is now available at
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/recommends/
-- 6. Make Your Voice Heard in Federal
Farm Policy
|
|
August 4, 2006 |
|
We want to let you know about an extremely important
opportunity to speak up for organic farming. Right now, the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives are in the early stages of work on the 2007 Farm
Bill. This bill will be a package of legislation that will determine
basically all U.S. Farm policy for the next 5 years. Now is the time to let
Congress know you expect them to do more to support organic agriculture.
For additional talking points or more detail on any of the
above points, you can read OFRF’s
Initial Concepts for the 2007 Farm Bill. You can also visit the policy
page on our website. If you have any questions or want to share your
views with us at any time, email Brise Tencer at [log in to unmask]. |
Farmers.Coop
Created by plone
Last modified 01:01 PM 02/14/06
7. Organic Valley: A Sustainable
Organic
farming is breathing new life into agriculture and rural communities. This is a
new opportunity for
The
mission of CROPP Cooperative and its brand
We
created this site to share information about our cooperative. Farmer-members
may log in at left to receive co-op business updates. Visiting farmers are
invited to explore our public links to learn about our unique organic
opportunity.
Formed
in 1988,
To
learn more about the
Put your roots down in
Call Our Farmer Hotline: 1-888-809-9297
Organic Vegetable and Crop Outreach Specialist
C.S. Mott Sustainable Food Systems
303 Natural Resources Bldg.
517-353-3542
517-282-3557 (cell)
517-353-3834 (fax)
