Pass by Jim Koan's 120-acre apple orchard this spring
and you could well spy dozens of baby Berkshire hogs marauding under the trees
-- miniature porkers scarfing up fruit and grubbing in the soil.
A case of hogs gone wild?
No. It's an experiment in organic farming gaining
national attention, and the pork-and-apple program at Koan's ALMar Orchards in
Flushing is getting accolades from Michigan State University researchers who
say it may someday help fruit growers reduce pesticide use.
Koan, like many orchard keepers, has long been plagued
by the Plum Curculio Beetle, a quarter-inch pest that burrows into the young
fruit to lay its eggs. The infestation makes the apples drop prematurely.
The larvae migrate from rotting fruit into the soil.
The adult beetle then emerges to attack the remaining fruit, and the cycle
continues.
Once an orchard is infected with the beetles, it can take
years of diligent applications of pesticides to eradicate the tenacious
beetles.
Koan, an organic farmer looking for ways to reduce
pesticide use, hit on the idea of using animals to eat the infected fruit along
with the larva, interrupting the cycle.
First he tried chickens, but he found them
lackadaisical.
Then he imported 250 guineas, exotic African chickens
known for their love of beetles. But hawks and owls made off with all but nine
of the fowl.
He also considered sheep -- a technique farmers use in
New Zealand, but they seemed too large and were easy targets for the coyotes
that roam nearby.
"Then the lightbulb went on," he said.
"Hogs."
Koan researched Berkshire hogs, known for their sunny
dispositions and sharp intelligence. And at 230 pounds full grown, the hogs are
a sure match for a hungry coyote.
Koan started with three sows and a boar. By last
April, he had nearly 30 piglets.
When the infected apples began to drop five weeks
later, he let the piglets into the orchard.
They were in, well, hog heaven, gorging themselves on
infected fruit for three days.
"It was a thing of beauty," said MSU pest
management specialist and researcher David Epstein, who is studying Koan's
experiment and working to get federal grant money to continue the experiment.
"They moved as a team, like little Hoover vacuum
cleaners, picking up everything in their paths," he said.
Epstein and Koan were surprised at the success of the
flash grazing process.
The piglets ate almost every infected apple in sight.
They also helped with weed control, and their sharp hooves aerated the soil
under the tree.
Good Fruit Grower, a national trade publication, is to
feature Koan's hogs in the upcoming issue.
And Epstein is fielding questions from growers around
the country who are hearing about the success.
"Let's just say that if we do the follow-through
and we can show that flash grazing is as successful as it seems, definitely
people will be interested, particularly those running small farms with direct
markets," Epstein said.
Koan plans eventually to market his hogs as organic
meat, once they are done cleaning up his rotten apples. He's expecting a new
litter of piglets in the spring.
But he's had trouble letting go of his friendly
farmhands.
One sow named Olivia has been adopted by Koan's
daughter. Olivia walks on a leash and is litter box trained so that she can
live in the house.
"So I'm guessing she's not going anywhere,"
Koan said.
11. Now is a good time to monitor for mummy berry in
blueberries
It’s mummy berry season again. The mummy berry fungus enjoyed the snow
cover this winter, which provided sufficient moisture for mummies to germinate.
However, the rate of germination is lower than last year, with a maximum of 6
percent mummies germinated at this time. The extended cold weather seems to
have delayed their development. In addition, some sites are very wet and many
mummies may actually be submerged. It is not known how well they can survive
waterlogging, but wet soils in general are conducive to disease. At this time,
some mummies are showing small finger-like extensions (apothecial initials) and
some have small trumpet-like mushrooms (apothecia) ranging from having
pin-prick size openings to about 1-2 mm in diameter. At 2 mm (1/12 inch) in diameter,
they can start to release ascospores. However, the most spores are released
when apothecia are 5-10 mm in diameter (1/4 to 2/5 inch). If there is no leaf
tissue on the bushes, it does not matter since infection cannot take place
without green tissue being visible. The mummies typically germinate over
several weeks to a month, depending on temperature and soil moisture, so there
may be more waves of germinating mummies ahead.
What to look for
Blueberry growers should be monitoring for mummies with trumpet-shaped
mushrooms (see pictures). The number of germinated mummies (specifically the
number of visible apothecia) is a better predictor of disease than simply the
number of mummies under a bush, since germination is prerequisite for ascospore
release and disease development. Mummy berry occurs primarily at wetter sites
and in poorly drained areas; therefore scouting should target those sites. Dry,
sandy sites may not have any mummies at all. The mummy berry fungus shoots
ascospores out of the apothecial cup as soon as the cup diameter is about 2 mm
(1/12 inch) wide. Ascospore release continues until the cup collapses.
Longevity of the mushrooms is affected by temperature close to the ground,
e.g., at 70?F, the mushrooms may live for less than a week, whereas at 50?F,
they can last two to three weeks, and at 40?F up to four weeks. At higher
temperatures, the mushrooms expand more quickly (they can almost become
dime-sized) and release more spores per day than at lower temperatures. A
severe freeze may damage the cups, but research shows that they can partially
recover their ability to shoot ascospores after exposure to temperatures of
22?F and above. The ascospores are windborne and can travel fairly long
distances (supposedly up to a mile). So even if you don’t have any mummy
berry in your field, there is a chance that ascospores can drift in from other
fields or nearby woods with wild or escaped blueberries.
Stages of infection
There are two stages of infection. First the developing shoots are infected by
the ascopores released from the mummy berry apothecia. Shoot strike symptoms
appear approximately two weeks after infection. Shoots are susceptible from bud
break until they are about 2 inches in length. Sometimes flower clusters may
also become blighted; these are called flower strikes. Both shoot and flower
strikes are characterized by drooping/wilting symptoms and a layer of gray
spores (conidia) on the surface. These conidia are spread by insects (primarily
bees), wind and rain. Bees are attracted to the shoot and flower strikes due to
their UV light pattern (a nifty trick of the pathogen) and pick up the conidia
on their legs and bodies. Bees then inadvertently deliver the conidia to the
flowers where infection takes place.
The conidia infect the flower stigma followed by colonization of the developing
fruit, which eventually mummifies and drops to the ground. Flowers are
susceptible for about four days after they open. The more shoot strikes there
are and the better the weather for pollination, the greater the risk of flower
and fruit infection. Cultivars such as Berkeley, Bluetta, Blueray, Earliblue,
Jersey, Nelson, Patriot and Weymouth are susceptible whereas Bluecrop, Duke and
Elliott are moderately resistant to the disease. Some cultivars are more
susceptible to shoot strikes and less susceptible to fruit infection, whereas
others are just the opposite.
Control
While there are multiple fungicides registered for mummy berry control, Indar
consistently has outperformed other fungicides for both the primary and
secondary phases of the disease in Michigan. Indar is a sterol inhibitor
fungicide and therefore prone to resistance development in target fungi. It is
recommended to limit the number of sprays of Indar to a maximum of two or three
per season (five are allowed per the label). Orbit (propiconazole) and PropiMax
(propiconazole), which are in the same chemical class as Indar, now both have a
supplemental label for blueberries. Indar, Orbit and PropiMax all have a 30-day
PHI. In small plot trials in Michigan, we found that Orbit was similar to Indar
in the control of shoot strikes, but did not perform as well as Indar for
control of fruit infection. PropiMax has not been tested in Michigan, but is
expected to behave similarly to Orbit.
For fungicide resistance management, it is important to alternate SI’s
with fungicides in different modes of action, such as Bravo (fair to moderate
efficacy), Captevate (moderate to good efficacy) Topsin M + Captan or Ziram
(moderate efficacy), and Serenade (moderate to good efficacy). Systemic
fungicides such as Indar and Topsin will likely provide better coverage of the
flower parts (the stigma specifically). Cabrio and Abound have shown poor to
fair efficacy in past trials in Michigan. While Pristine did not perform
particularly well for control of mummy berry shoot strikes in small-plot trials
in Michigan, it provided good control of fruit infection. We suspect that the
activity of Pristine is better at higher temperatures; it therefore may be a
good option during bloom as it also controls anthracnose, Botrytis and
Phomopsis twig blight and canker.
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12. New Science Supports Old Advice
"Eat a Variety of Foods" and Highlights the Need to Increase Nutrient
Density
September 2005
Link to this article is: http://www.organic-center.org/science.nutri.php?action=view&report_id=12
Everyone
has heard the advice "Eat a diverse diet," a recommendation that has
been a part of government dietary guidelines for decades. But few studies have
explored the relationship between dietary diversity and the adequacy of
nutrient uptake. The few studies that have been done have reached different
conclusions, in part because there is no standard definition, or way to
measure, "dietary diversity."
With a grant from the USDA, scientists carried out a first-of-its-kind analysis
of the adequacy of nutrient intakes as a function of diversity. Their study
involved daily food consumption data on almost 10,000 healthy adults 19 years
or older. Each had participated in the USDA's "Continuing Survey of Food
Intakes for Individuals" (1994-1996). The study reached three important
conclusions.
First, a surprising percent of men
and women are not consuming an adequate intake of 15 key nutrients studied. For
men, the probability of adequacy for five key nutrients was under 50 percent,
with vitamin E at only 14.1 percent and magnesium and folate at 36 and 34
percent respectively. For women, only 6.8 percent were projected to consume an
adequate amount of vitamin E, 20.9 percent for folate, and just as the case
with men, there were a total of five nutrients under 50 percent.
Second, variety between and within
the dairy and fruit food groups increased the odds of adequate energy-adjusted
intake across the 15 nutrients more so than in the grains and meat food groups.
Third, because of the strong
correlation between diversity in the diet and total caloric intake, advice to
increase dietary diversity should be coupled with recommendations on how to
diversify the diet without increasing, or even while decreasing caloric intake.
Across the fifteen nutrients studied, an average of 67 and 58 percent of men
and women had adequate intakes, and so, on average, 34 and 42 percent had
inadequate intakes. At least 15 percent of women had inadequate intakes of all
15 nutrients studied (15 percent of men had inadequate intakes of 12 of the 15
nutrients studied).
Accordingly, the ability to increase the density of vitamins and minerals in
organically produced foods can help bridge the gap between adequate and
inadequate consumption of common nutrients. A review by Worthington found
significantly higher levels in organic crops compared to conventional crops of
eight of the 15 nutrients studied in this research. In addition, greater
nutrient density can increase the percent of people consuming adequate levels
of nutrients without increasing caloric intake.
Sources: "Dietary Variety Increases the Probability of Nutrient Adequacy
among Adults."
Authors: Janet Foote, Suzanne Murphy, Lynne Wilkens, Peter Basiotis, and Andrea
Carlson.
The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 134, No. 7, July 2004
"Nutritional Quality of Organic Versus Conventional Fruits, Vegetables,
and Grains."
Author: Virginia Worthington.
Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, Volume 7, No. 2, 2001
Vicki Morrone
Organic Vegetable and Crop Outreach Specialist
Michigan State University
C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems
303 Natural Resources Bldg.
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-3542
517-282-3557 (cell)
517-353-3834 (fax)
For information on organic
agriculture production please visit:
http://www.MichiganOrganic.msu.edu/
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