southern sawg systems design for organic market farms

For SSAWG

This presentation of 76 slides took between 1 hr and 5 minutes to 1 hr and 15 minutes with a few questions asked during the presentation.

Elements of Organic Farming

George KuepperKerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Systems Design For

Organic Market Farms

Organic Production Is:

A Production System that… respond(s) to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. NOP Definition

per §205.2

Conventional Systems

Fertilization

Weed Control

Insect Control

Disease

Control

HEALTHY SOIL

HEALTHY FOOD

HEALTHY PEOPLE

HEALTHY SOCIETY

Essential Plant Elements

From Air & Water: Carbon (C), Hydrogen (H), Oxygen (O)

Macronutrients: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K)

Secondary Nutrients: Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sulfur (S)

Micronutrients: Iron (Fe), Boron (B), Copper (Cu), Manganese (Mn), Zinc (Zn), Molybdenum (Mo), Chlorine (Cl)

Also important to biological systems: Selenium (Se), Vanadium (V), Cobalt (Co), Silicon (Si), Iodine (I), Sodium (Na), others…

Feed the Soil* *Not the Plant

— An Old Saying among Organic Farmers

Organic Soil Management

2005 National Center for Appropriate Technology

The Soil Food Web

What the Food Web Needs

Air Water

NutrientElements

OrganicMatter

Sunlight

Organic Soil Management

Feeding the Soil Food Web means providing organic matter as food. In organic farming, this has been called the Law of Return— returning mineral- rich rich organic material to the soil.

Plant Roots

Soluble Minerals

Antibiotics, Chelates

Other “phytamins”

Glomalin, Bact. slime

Plant Nutrition Under Natural Conditions

ParentRock

Material

Digestiveprocesses and

nutrient recyclingin the

Rhizosphere: The Soil Food Web

Organic

Matter

Source of plant nutrition:- plant residues- animal remains- animal wastes

Plant Roots

Soluble MineralsParentRock

Material

Conventional ManagementS

le Minerals

Organic Matter

as CropResidues

Digestiveprocesses and

nutrient recyclingin the

ConventionalSoluble

Fertilizersζ

Plant Roots

Soluble MineralsParentRock

Material

ine rals

Digestiveprocesses and nutrient

recyclingin the

Organic Management

Organic

Matter

Organic Materials

and Methods:Composts

Crop ResiduesGreen Manures

Livestock ManuresNatural Fertilizers

Biological InoculantsRotations w/ sod crops

The Many Benefits of Healthy Soil

HEALTHY BIOLOGICALLY-ACTIVE

SOILSelf-Generated Fertility•Fixes nitrogen•Makes nutrients available•Water conservation•Air/water balance

Suppresses Disease•Natural antibiotics•Nematode predation•Aeration/Drainage•Induced resistance in crops

Weed Suppression•Less weed stimulation•Weed seed predation•Easier cultivation

Pest Insects Reduced•More predators & parasites•Natural insect disease agents•Induced resistance in crops

Nematode-Trapping Fungi

One Reason Why Organic Crops Tend to Resist Pests

Mycorrhizal “infection” is a beneficial symbiotic relationship where plants trade carbohydrates for help in absorbing water and nutrients.

Aids in stress reduction.

Root from sorghum with vesicles ("little sacs") of the mycorrhizal fungus called Gigaspora rosea.

http://microbezoo.commtechlab.msu.edu/zoo/zdrm0194.html

Organic Farmers claim:

Organic Crops Resist Pests

Do organically-grown plants develop induced resistance to diseases and insect pests?

Organic Crops Resist Pests

•Predisposition theory

•Due to general stress reduction?

•Due to phytochemical agents?

Mycorrhizae:What did we know? When did we know it?

GK’s College Soil Texts Soil Fertility and Fertilizers. Tisdale &

Nelson. 1966. One passing mention on p. 506.

The Nature and Properties of Soils. Brady. 1974. Two- page discussion.

Soils: An Introduction to Soils and Plant Growth. Donahue, Miller, & Shickluna. 1977. Three pages.

The Soil and Health: A Study of Organic Agriculture. Albert Howard. 1947. Thirty pages.

Organic Mgt. begins w/ Healthy Soil

WELL-DESIGNED ORGANIC SYSTEM

The Most Common Approach…

…to building biologically active soil is COMPOST; also the planned use of raw manures and other organic materials .

Biologically-Active Soil can also be derived

through a Bioextensive Rotation**A long-term planned crop rotation in which a significant percentage of the land is planted to season-long cover crops each year.

CANNONHORTICULTURE

PROJECT

Key Organic System Elements

1.Crop Rotation 2.The inclusion of cover

crops within a crop rotation

Crop Rotation

Put simply, crop rotation is the sequencing of crops on a field over time.

Example of a 4- crop

rotationover 5

seasons

A-3A-4

2008 *Tomatoes*2009 Okra2010 Cowpeas2011 Corn2012 *Tomatoes*

2008 Corn2009 *Tomatoes*2010 Okra2011 Cowpeas2012 Corn

2008 Cowpeas2009 Corn2010 *Tomatoes*2011 Okra2012 Cowpeas

2008 Okra2009 Cowpeas2010 Corn2011 *Tomatoes*2012 Okra

Cover Crops

Cover crops are plants you grow or allow to grow, not for harvest, but for purposes such as preventing erosion, improving the soil, and weed control.

Can be categorized by season—winter & summer.

A-1Example of a 4- crop

rotationover 5

seasons,with wintercover crops

A-3A-4

2008 Tomatoes w/winter cover crop2009 Okra “ “ “ “2010 Cowpeas “ “ “ “ 2011 Corn “ “ “ “2012 Tomatoes “ “ “ “

2008 Corn w/winter cover crop2009 Tomatoes “ “ “ “2010 Okra “ “ “ “2011 Cowpeas “ “ “ “2012 Corn “ “ “ “

2008 Cowpeas w/winter cover crop2009 Corn “ “ “ “2010 Tomatoes “ “ “ “2011 Okra “ “ “ “2012 Cowpeas “ “ “ “

2008 Okra w/winter cover crop2009 Cowpeas “ “ “ “2010 Corn “ “ “ “2011 Tomatoes “ “ “ “2012 Okra “ “ “ “

Winter Cover Crops

Small Grains like rye, wheat, or triticale

Annual winter legumes like vetch, crimson clover, arrowleaf clover, or Austrian winter peas

Brassicas like turnips, mustards, rape, or tillage radish

Kerr Center’s

Cannon Rotation Plots

2011: Early Vegetables w/ winter CC2012: Green Fallow “ “ “2013: Late Vegetables “ “ “2014: Green Fallow “ “ “

2011: Green Fallow w/ winter CC2012: Early Vegetables “ “ “2013: Green Fallow “ “ “2014: Late vegetables “ “ “

2011: Late Vegetables w/ winter CC2012: Green Fallow “ “ “2013: Early Vegetables “ “ “2014: Green Fallow “ “ “

2011: Green Fallow w/ winter CC2012: Late Vegetables “ “ “2013: Green Fallow “ “ “2014: Early vegetables “ “ “

Early Vegetables: those planted in spring prior to July 1st • Tomatoes• Peppers• Okra• Sweet Potatoes

Kerr Center’s

Late Vegetables: those planted in summer or fall after July 1st • Summer squash• Winter squash• Pumpkins• Flour & meal corn

Kerr Center’s

Green Fallow: growing summer cover crops throughout the whole growing season

Green fallow cover crops are typically annual forage sorghums (e.g. sudan-grass), millets, cowpeas, buckwheat, lab lab,—individually or in some combination

Why must you rotate crops?

“Because we said so!” —NOP

§ 205.205 Crop rotation practice standard. The producer must implement a crop rotation including but not limited to sod, cover crops, green manure crops, and catch crops…

#1 Reason for Rotating Vegetables

DISEASE CONTROL

Clubroot, fusarium yellows, blackleg, & black rot in cole crops

Black rot in pumpkins White rot in onions and

garlic Root rots in beans &

peas Gummy stem blight in

cucurbits Early blight in

solanaceous crops like tomatoes and potatoes

Photo: Gummy Stem Blight

General Strategy: Rotate Families

Brassicas: cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts

Cucurbits: melons, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, gourds

Legumes: English peas, southern peas, peanuts, beans, faba beans, soybeans

Alliums: onions, garlic, chives

Solanaceous: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillo

Umbels: carrots, dill, fennel, parsley, celery,

Composites: sunflower, lettuce, artichoke, jerusalem artichoke

Grasses: popcorn, sweetcorn, sorghum

Winter Cover Crop

2013Tomato

Winter cover Crop

2012 Tomato

This is NOT what we mean by rotation!

Another Reason to Rotate Vegetables

WEED CONTROL

Changes in timing and manner of seedbed prep, cultivation, & harvest

“Cleaning crops”

November 1, 2007

Bermudagrass

BermudagrassStrengths

Perennial

Summer season

Drought tolerant

Encouraged by

mowing

Many means for

propagation and

spreading

Weaknesses Winter tillage

Sorghum-

Sudangrass

Seth Stallings Student Intern

Green Fallow in Rotation as a “Smother Crop”

For a Smother Crop to Work:

It has to grow during the same season as the target weed(s). A winter cover crop is not going to smother a summer weed.

It must have a competitive advantage or advantages over the target weed(s), e.g. shade provided by height and canopy; earlier emergence; greater drought tolerance; etc.

It must demonstrate those advantages for the entire growing season of the weed(s), or long enough, to do the job. For example, if it drops its leaves early, weeds will have a chance to emerge and reproduce before the end of the season.

Smother CropsCover crops grown for the purpose of out-

competing and controlling weeds.

← Crotalaria

Pearl Millet→

← Buckwheat

Southern Peas→

Systems-thinking means:

1. That you work to accomplish multiple objectives with each action.

Disease suppression Weed control

2. That you recognize every action has multiple effects.

Another Reason to Rotate & Cover Crop …

…and include cover crops:

SOIL HEALTH & FERTILITYGreen Fallow crops are “Green Manures” that contribute organic matter

Sorghum-Sudangrass

Estimated biomass

Yield of 7 tons/acre

That you work to accomplish multiple objectives with each action.

Disease suppression Weed control Organic matter for the Soil Food

Another Reason to Rotate & Cover Crop…

…and include cover crops:

SOIL HEALTH & FERTILITYLegume cover crops fix nitrogen for themselves and subsequent crops

Kerr Center’s Cannon Horticulture

Winter Season:When we

grow most of our nitrogen.

2008 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch2009 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch2010 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch2011 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch2012 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch

2008 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch2009 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch2010 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch2011 Rye w/peas, clover or vetch

After a Season in Green Fallow…

ANN. SORGHUM GREEN FALLOW

1. A winter cover crop of rye plus winter vetch is planted in fall

2. Both rye and vetch emerge in early-mid fall

3. By spring, vetch will dominate the cover crop stand, with very little rye in evidence

COWPEAS AS GREEN FALLOW

1. A winter cover crop of rye plus winter vetch is planted in fall

2. Both rye and vetch emerge in early-mid fall

3. By spring, rye will dominate the cover crop stand, with modest evidence of vetch

Strategies to Grow More N

Using legumes as summer cover crops. This works fine where weed control objectives have been reached. Examples: Cowpeas (Iron & Clay), Sesbania, Crotalaria.

Interplanting legumes with annual sorghums. Examples: Lablab, Cowpeas.

More legumes as vegetable crops. : English peas, southern peas, peanuts, snap beans, dried beans, lima beans, faba beans, edamame soybeans, etc.

Disease suppression Weed control Organic matter for the Soil Food

Web Nitrogen fixation

Beneficial Insect Habitat

Buckwheat and southern peas are exceptionally good for beneficial insect habitats.

Beneficials include pollinators, predatory and parasitic insects, predatory mites and spiders.

Disease suppression Weed control Organic matter for the Soil Food Web Nitrogen fixation Beneficial habitat for pollination &

pest mgt.

Mulching w/Organic Materials

Generally works well to smother

emerging annual weeds, conserves

moisture, moderates soil

temperatures, and adds organic matter

& nutrients.

Creating in situ Mulch With a Sicklebar Mower

Heirloom & Grafted Tomato Trials, 2010

Crimper/Roller

Crimper/Roller: adapted to a BCS Tractor

Crimper/Roller:Cowpeas

Kerr Center’s Cannon Horticulture

PlotsGreen Fallow

Early Vegetables

Green Fallow

Late Vegetables

Supplementary Mulch Transfers

FieldBorders

Advantages:•Conserves nutrients•Reduces weed introductions•No herbicide contamination•Saves $$

Disease suppression Weed control Organic matter for the Soil Food Web Nitrogen fixation Beneficial habitat for pollination & pest

mgt. Supplying mulch

A Good Organic System:

Provides for soil fertility, especially nitrogen

Suppresses many crop diseases Thwarts many insect pests Reduces weed pressure Creates a biologically healthy soil

which in turn: Self-generates soil fertility Suppresses Disease Reduces insect pests Suppresses weeds

A Positive Feedback System

WELL-DESIGNED ORGANIC SYSTEM

All Farms and Farmers are Unique

Learn from model systems; don’t assume you have to adopt them wholesale.

A Bioextensive System:

…trades land for: labor required for annual weed control much of the organic matter normally imported as manure, compost, other high-carbon amendments

most or all of the nitrogen usually brought in as expensive organic fertilizer

many of the purchased pest control products needed in more intensive systems

Green Fallow

Late Vegetabl

Green Fallow

Early Vegetabl

Kerr’s 4-Year Bio-extensive Rotation

Typically a warm season smother crop of sudangrass

Winter cover cropsof grain rye withwinter annualLegumes—allplots.

Green Fallow

Vegetables

Alternate Bioextensive Designs

Green Fallow

Vegetables

Green Fallow

Vegetables

Green Fallow

Vegetables

Green Fallow

Vegetables

Green Fallow

Vegetables

Input Substitution

CONVENTIONAL ORGANICFertilization

Weed Control

Insect Pest Control

Disease Control

Putting it together?…maybe:Input Substitution

Bio log i ca l l y Hea l thy So i l

A Sound Organ ic Sys temRotat ions—Cover C rops

Compost , ManureOrgan ic Cu l tu ra l P rac t i ces

Off -Farm InputsFer t i l i ze rs—Pest i c ides

GoodOrgan ic

Emphasis in

this area

Lack of attention

In these areas.

Often un-sustainable

agronomically

and financially.

Summary PointsOrganic growing requires a

systems approach in which our “tools” are used to accomplish multiple objectives.

Organic Systems center on building healthy soil.

Sound strategies typically include effective crop rotation, cover crops, and/or compost.

Most systems still benefit from off-farm inputs, but are not designed to rely on them.

Resources on Crop Rotation

Crop Rotation and Cover Cropping on the Organic Farm by Seth Kroeck. NOFA Organic Principles and Practices Handbook Series. 95 p.

Gaining Ground by Canadian Organic Growers, Inc. 2005. COG, 323 Chapel St., Ottawa, ON KIN 7Z2. 311 p.

Organic Crop Production Overview by G. Kuepper & L. Gegner. 2004.http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/organiccrop.html

Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual (NRAES-177) by C. L. Mohler & S. E. Johnson. 2009. NRAES/Cornell Cooperative Extension , Ithaca, NY. 156 p.

Cover Crops on the Intensive Market Farm by John Hendrickson. 2003.CIAS, University of Wisconsin–Madison. 20 p.

This publication outlines the origins of organic agriculture. It highlights the concepts, ideas, and milestones that define it as a distinct and sustainable approach to farming that involves more than simply precluding synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. 23 pages.

Copies can be downloaded free-of-charge at:http://www.kerrcenter.com/publications/organic-philosophy-report.pdf

Print copies can be requested from:

The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture

P.O. Box 588Poteau, OK 74953Tel: 918-647-9123

Copies can be downloaded free-of-

charge at:http://

www.kerrcenter.com/publications/

summer-cover-crops.pdf

Print copies can be requested from:

The Kerr Center for Sustainable AgricultureP.O. Box 588

Poteau, OK 74953Tel: 918-647-9123

Anne & Eric Nordell, Beech Grove Farm, Trout Run, PA.Look for their column: The Bioextensive Market GardenIn The Small Farmers Journal

Small Farmer’s Journal

the international agrarian quarterly

Physical address192 west Barclay DriveSisters, Oregon97759

Phone numbers800-876-2893541-549-2064541-549-4403 fax

agrarian@smallfarmersjournal.comwww.smallfarmersjournal.com

Mailing addressPO Box 1627Sisters, Oregon97759

Keep Smiling!

Contact Information:George KuepperKerr CenterP.O. Box 588Poteau, OK 74953Tel: 918-647-9123Fax: 918-647-8712gkuepper@kerrcenter.comwww.kerrcenter.com

southern sawg systems design for organic market farms

organic soil managementfeeding

active soil

cowpeas wwinter cover

okra wwinter cover crop

crop rotation2012 tomatoes

inclusion of cover crops

organic crops resist

organic farmersclaim

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