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Michigan Organic Listserv December 13, 2011 From the Desk of Vicki Morrone Happy Holidays to all!! Organic News for Michigan’s Farmers and Community Don’t forget if you plan to watch the reduced tillage webinar…. Reduced Tillage Webinar with Helen Atthowe on TODAY Reduced Tillage in Organic Vegetable Production <http://www.extension.org/pages/61629> by Helen Atthowe. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 2PM Eastern Time (1PM Central, 12 PM Mountain, 11AM Pacific Time). Advance registration is required at http://www.extension.org/pages/61629 About the Webinar Reduced tillage enhances plant diversity and improves soil health, fertility, and microbial activity. These benefits provide the backbone upon which biological control of insectpests and disease suppression occurs naturally at economically practical levels. This webinar will take you along on Helen Atthowe's 25 year journey to develop a reduced tillage organic vegetable production system. Helen Atthowe has been farming on her own and consulting for other organic vegetable and fruit farms for 25 years. She was also a horticulture extension agent for 15 years, owned and operated Biodesign Farm (30 acre diverse, Organic fruit and vegetablefarm) in western Montana for 17 years and recently spent 6 months as consulting vegetable grower on a 2000 acre organic vegetable and fruit farm in northern Colorado with a 5000 member CSA. See the complete list of upcoming and archived eOrganic webinars <http://www.extension.org/pages/25242> <...>It’s not too late to register for a free webinar on Pest Management for Organic Production, today at 3 pm Webinar on Pest Management in Organic Production Systems-Today at 3!! If you miss it you can see it at a later time as an archived program Rex Dufour Agriculture Program Specialist National Center for Appropriate Technology Tuesday, December 13, 2011 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Eastern 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Pacific Join the audio: 888-677-8128 Passcode: 8577054 Three things to remember when thinking about pest management in organic production systems are: prevention, prevention, and prevention. Whether talking about insect or mite pests, diseases, or weeds, organic growers have fewer chemical tools available to them to deal with pests compared with conventional growers. By supporting the system’s ecology, both above and below ground, and limited and timely use of other inputs, pests can (usually) be successfully managed in organic systems. In this webinar, NCAT’s Rex Dufour will discuss basic principles and approaches for managing weeds, diseases, and arthropod and vertebrate pests in organic systems. Management tools and informational resources will also be discussed. More Farm Bill News from the Farm Journal Forum http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-national.php?Id=2599&yr=2011 December 6th, 2011 At the annual Farm Journal Forum in Washington, DC today, SenateAgriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said the farm bill prepared for consideration by the congressional Super Committee will serve as the “foundation” for efforts to write and enact a farm bill next year, starting in February. Noting that the process this year was unusual and accelerated, the Chairwoman noted “we did important reforms” and “achieved a tremendous amount.” She indicated her plans to take the next steps to “put together the final workings of the farm bill” next year and to pass a bill “as soon as possible.” In her concluding comments, Stabenow reiterated “We won’t start from zero. We have expedited the process by flushing out the areas where we really need to do more work.” Her view contrasted to a degree at least with the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee, Pat Roberts (R-KS), who earlier during the same conference reiterated his view that the bill prepared for Super Committee consideration should be scrapped with bill development starting over again in a more normal and open process. Peterson’s ‘Hail Mary’ Pass A third member of the ‘big four’ who worked on the bill this year, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN), also addressed the Farm Journal Forum crowd. Peterson suggested a long shot approach, using the farm bill prepared for the Super Committee as an offset for the so-called “doctor fix” to Medicare, one of four or five big spending issues that Congress is trying to pass before the holidays. The proposed $23billion in farm bill savings over ten years is nearly identical to the one-year cost of the doctor fix, which seeks to stave off a big reduction in Medicare payments to physicians. Peterson said that both he and Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) have let it be known to their colleagues that the farm bill offset is an option they would consider. Peterson indicated that he was a likely ‘no’ vote on any of the remaining big spending issues for the year (payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance extension, doctor fix, Alternative Minimum Tax patch, etc.) though he and other Agriculture Committee members might lean the other way if the farm bill — plus a deal to exempt the farm bill from any later automatic cuts — was made part of the package. Lucas did not address the Forum. The general reaction in the room to Peterson’s trail balloon was that is was extremely unlikely to happen. On farm bill timing for next year, should that come to pass, Peterson suggested that the entire bill could be worked on and adopted in both houses and a House-Senate conference by May. He generally agreed withStabenow that the bill prepared for the Super Committee should serve as thefoundation. Peterson said the dairy provisions are pretty much agreed to by all parties involved and are basically finished in his view. He said he would urge Lucas and Stabenow to make at least that section of the bill public. Conservation Title All three congressional speakers were united in their generally very favorable comments on the draft conservation title. All three noted it was an area where most of the hard work is already finished and that they are pleased with the outcome. Stabenow described the conservation title in terms of creating “five buckets” or five “tools,” those being working lands programs (Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Conservation Stewardship Program), regional partnerships (targeted, competitive cooperative conservation projects), a consolidated easement program (with a wetlands component and an ag lands component), the Conservation Reserve Program, and a fifth bucket that was agrab bag of remaining programs that do not fit in the other categories. NSAC Policy Director Ferd Hoefner addressed the Forum as part of a panel that included representatives of the Risk Management Agency and the National Corn Growers Association. His remarks also focused in part on the conservation title, noting the many positive features of the draft bill as well possible places for further improvements. Hoefner also took issue with an earlier speaker at the conference who suggested that farm programs were taking a disproportionate budget cut hit relative to conservation programs. Correcting the record, Hoefner noted that in fact the percentage cut is nearly identical when looking at the farm bill alone, but the cut is actually substantially disproportional the other way, against conservation, when including changes to farm bill mandatory spending made by Congress in the annual appropriations bill. That issue was one of several that he suggested as areas for further improvements within the conservation title. Hoefner also noted that NSAC’s support for the farm bill would hinge in part on the re-establishment of effective targeting and conservation compliance with respect to commodity and crop insurance programs. He also suggested there are now a short period of a few months in which to craft robust, forward looking credit, rural development, agricultural research, and other titles of the farm bill that necessarily received shortshrift during the accelerated process of preparing a bill for Super Committee consideration. The 13th annual Farm Journal Forum was hosted with support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The forum heard from Buffett and formerSecretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman among other speakers. Ag Committee Leaders Talk Timelines for 2012 Farm Bill USAgNet - 12/09/2011 Agriculture leaders in Congress began opening up this week about their plans for the 2012 Farm Bill process. The leaders - and the ag community atlarge - have been examining options for renewing the law since attempts to attach a farm policy proposal to a debt reduction bill failed with the debt-deficit super committee last month. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said Congress must complete the farm bill rewrite before the current bill expires. Speaking at the Farm Journal Forum in Washington, she said her Committee will resume hearings on farm bill issues in January, with the goal of having an 'initial product' by spring. She also said 12 public hearings held this year and the lessons learned from the super committee-related attempt have helped us identify ways to streamline and strengthen programs to reduce the deficit and create agriculture jobs and will be the framework for coming efforts. In an interview with Oklahoma farm broadcaster Ron Hays, House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) noted Stabenow's plans to hold hearings, but did not commit to do the same. He was generally positive about the package he and Stabenow negotiated prior to the super committee's collapse - which has yet to be released publicly - and indicated the House's schedule could mean an extension of current policy is needed. For his part, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) suggested the proposal formulated before the super committee's demise be added to a bill to extend an existing payroll tax holiday. Extending the payroll tax holiday is popular in Congress, but how to pay for it is a significant roadblock. Though it is unlikely Peterson's idea will get traction, and he said he hadn't discussed it with other key Congressional ag leaders, the concept would theoretically provide a $23 billion offset. It would also lock in farm safety net spending for five years while largely avoiding what is expected to be a drawn-out and nasty House floor flight. Lucas later voiced support for the idea in an interview with the RedRiver Farm Network. Senate Agriculture Ranking Member Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) continued this week to call for hearings to begin under regular order, telling agriculturenews outlet Agri-Pulse 'the biggest thing is the process.' Roberts maintains he was not part of the super committee proposal negotiations and, based on what he's heard about them, thinks they're problematic. Long-running experiment shows organic farming is profitable http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/news/11-15-2011/long-running-experiment November 15, 2011 GREENFIELD, Iowa -- Organic crop systems can provide similar yields and much higher economic returns than a conventional corn-soybean rotation, according to thirteen years of data from a side-by-side comparison at Iowa State University’s Neely-Kinyon Research and Demonstration Farm. The Long-Term Agroecological Research Experiment (LTAR) began in 1998 with support from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. The LTAR is one of the longest running replicated comparisons in the country. Kathleen Delate, professor in ISU Agronomy and Horticulture, leads the project. “The transitioning years are the hardest years,” Delate said, explaining that the project was originally designed to help farmers make the shift into an organic system. To sell a product as organic, the crop must be raised on land that has received no synthetic chemicals for three years prior to harvest. The LTAR experiment shows that organic crops can remain competitive with conventional crops even during the three-year transition. Averaged over 13 years, yields of organic corn, soybean and oats have been equivalent to or slightly greater than their conventional counterparts. Likewise, a 12-year average for alfalfa and an 8-year average for winter wheat also show no significant difference between organic yields and the Adair County average. Organic crops fetch a premium price on the market and eliminate the need for expensive inputs like herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. As a result, they are far more profitable than conventional crops. Craig Chase, interim leader of the Leopold Center’s Marketing and Food Systems Initiative and extension farm management specialist, calculated the returns to management—that is, the money left over for family living after deducting labor, land and production costs—for both systems. He based his calculations on actual LTAR data from 1998 to 2004, as well as scenarios modeled with enterprise budgets. Both methods gave the same result: On average, organic systems return roughly $200 per acre more than conventional crops. In addition to its profitability, organic agriculture helps build healthy soils. While conventional LTAR plots receive synthetic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer, organic plots receive only local, manure-based amendments. Total nitrogen increased by 33 percent in the organic plots, and researchers measured higher concentrations of carbon, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium and calcium. The results suggest that organic farming can foster greater efficiency in nutrient use and higher potential for sequestrating carbon. Delate said they use “a whole suite of practices to manage weeds” in the organic plots, including timely tillage and longer crop rotations. Allelopathic chemicals from rye and alfalfa help keep weed populations under control, asdoes growing an alfalfa cover crop in winter, which provided cover for beneficial insects and animals. “I think there’s a strong future for organic agriculture,” Delate said. “My phone is ringing off the hook. The interest hasn’t waned.” When Delate became Iowa State’s first specialist in organic agriculture in 1997, the Leopold Center provided start-up funds to develop a program and set up LTAR research plots. The Center has provided annual operating funds for LTAR and, in 2010, the work was moved to a competitive grant in the LeopoldCenter’s Cross-Cutting Initiative. LTAR’s findings concur with recently published results from the Rodale Institute’s 30-year Farming Systems Trial in Pennsylvania. The Rodale Institute also concluded that organic systems can provide similar yields and greater profits. In addition, they calculated that organic crops required 45 percent less energy, and contributed significantly less to greenhouse gas emissions. Organic corn proved especially profitable during drought years, when its yields jumped up to 31 percent higher than conventional. Download a brochure about the LTAR project at www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs-and-papers/2011-11-ltar-experiment<http://www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs-and-papers/2011-11-ltar-experiment>. Read the Rodale Institute report at http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/fst30years. Educational Opportunities Register today for MIFMA’s Business Planning and Market Growth Management Session of the Market Manager Certificate Program The Market Manager Certificate Program is a voluntary program designed to encourage farmers market managers to pursue education, leadership and skills development in topics essential to market management. Market managers will be recognized with a certificate upon completion of the full program. Business Planning and Market Growth Management Session will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on January 11 at GreenStone Farm Credit Services in East Lansing. Single sessions will be $75 for MIFMA members and $150 for non-MIFMA members. Individuals can register for single sessions, but will not receive certification. Program registration closes December 31, 2011.The fee is $300 for all six sessions for MIFMA members and $600 for all six sessions for non-MIFMA members. Individual session registration closes two weeks before the session. Please call 517-432-3381<file://localhost/tel/517-432-3381> with any questions. Permacutlure Course (accredited) offered at Univ of Cincinnati I'm very pleased to share with you all that I will be teaching a 3 credit hour Introduction to Permaculture through the Horticulture Department in the College of DAAP at the University of Cincinnati this coming winter quarter on the weekend of February 10th-12th.Also, if you register for this course and would like to get certified in our Winter Permaculture Design Certification through This-Land.org we will be offering a discount to the students of this course. To learn more please visit OMValleyPermaculture.com Keep on Growing Braden This-Land.org<http://This-Land.org/> Cincinnati's Permaculture Education Non-Profit OMValleyPermaculture.com<http://OMValleyPermaculture.com/> "Designing a Regenerative Ohio Valley" 513-569-2579 U Tube video features the Student Organic Farm At MSU What to see what the MSU Student Organic Farm is all about? A volunteer on the farm created this U tube for our viewing pleasure. Take a moment out of your busy day (5 mins actually) and see what the buzz is all about at the Student Organic Farm. Here is the link. Just click it and you will see and hear a little bit about the enthusiasm of the workers and volunteers and see a bit of the farm. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU1G-X_a31o There are several other U tube videosavailable at this site, just look on the right for others featuring the Student Organic Farm at MSU. Job Opportunties Here is the information for the market manager position. There is a classified ad (below) and the job description (attached). Please pass it along to anyone you know who may be interested. Thanks, Hugh BOYNE CITY FARMERS MARKET MANAGER Boyne City Main Street is accepting applications until 5:00 p.m., Friday, January 6, 2012, for an independent contractor to serve as Market Manager of the Boyne City Farmers Market. The market manager’s job description is available at www.boynecityfarmersmarket.com<http://www.boynecityfarmersmarket.com/> or by contacting the Main Street office at [log in to unmask]<http:[log in to unmask]>. Please submit your resume, letter of interest, and three references to Main Street, 112 South Park St., Suite F, Boyne City, MI. 49712. For more information, email [log in to unmask]<http:[log in to unmask]> or call 231.582.9009. Hugh Conklin, manager Boyne City Main Street 112 S. Park Suite F Boyne City, Michigan 49712 (231) 582-9009 [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Calhoun Conservation District Offers Grants for Community Gardens in Southwest Michigan The Calhoun Conservation District is offering grants to groups and organizations through their program for the People’s Community Gardens of Southwest Michigan. In a national competition, the Calhoun Conservation District was one of 10 organizations to win People's Garden grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Calhoun Conservation District is sponsoring the People’s Community Gardens of Southwest Michigan program that will award grants for community gardens within the following thirteen counties of southwest Michigan: Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass, Eaton, Hillsdale, Ingham, Jackson, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph and Van Buren. The Calhoun Conservation District was formed in 1945 and currently employs six full-time staff with backgrounds in natural resource management, agriculture, and education. The work of theDistrict focuses on sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, environmental risk reduction, community projects and education. The People's Garden Grant Program is an expansion of the People's Garden Initiative, started in 2009 by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on the 200th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln founded the Department of Agriculture in1862, calling it "The People's Department" in his last annual message to Congress. USDA awarded $725,000 to create 155 gardens in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan and Ohio. There are more than 1,400 People's Gardens across the nation, three U.S. territories and nine foreign countries. The People's Garden Grant Program is designed to facilitate the creation of produce, recreation, and/or wildlife gardens in urban and rural areas, which will provide opportunities for science-based informal education. This program is a joint initiative supported by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Food and Nutrition Service, Forest Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service, in addition to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Through the People’s Community Gardens of Southwest Michigan, the Calhoun Conservation District will provide sub-grant awards to groups and organizations wishing to create, expand or rejuvenate community gardens. To learn how your group or organization can apply for a sub-grant award of $2,000 to $5,000, visit thedistrict’s website at www.CalhounCD.org<http://www.calhouncd.org/> to download the materials needed to submit your proposal by the February 29, 2012 deadline. For more information, call Suzanne Ebright at (269) 781-4867, ext. 39. ###END### Vicki Morrone Outreach Specialist for Organic Production 303 Natural Resources East Lansing MI 48824 517-353-3542/517-282-3557 (cell) 517-353-3832 fax Www.MichiganOrganic.msu.edu If you would like to access previous postings to the Mich-Organic listserv you can copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar http://list.msu.edu/archives/mich-organic.html