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HEALTHY ORGANIC FRESH

Winner of the

Ottawa Consumers’ Choice Award

1230 Wellington (at Holland), Ottawa

613-729-5973

Established 1999

Our Nature is Organicwww.cog.ca Summer 2012 – 3

Canadian Organic GrowerFEATURESDEPARTMENTS

Guest editorial ...................... 4Guiding organic research

Harvesting the numbers ....... 7

Tribute: Mary Perlmutter ..... 9

Contributing writers ............36

Canada’s Organic ScienceCluster .................................38

Classifieds ........................... 77

WEED AND PEST MANAGEMENT

Controlling weeds with ‘many little hammers’............. 10

Planting for pest control .............................................. 16

COVER CROPS AND SOIL FERTILITY

Crop rotation: The 19-year Glenlea study ................... 22

Catch P if you can ........................................................ 26

Grazing green manures ................................................ 32

Cover crops for disease suppression ............................ 34

LIVESTOCK

Managing internal parasites in sheep ......................... 40

Organic dairy cows: Health and welfare ...................... 44

GREENHOUSE PRODUCTION

The Northern tomato: A hot topic .............................. 48

Perfecting the potting mix ........................................... 52

FRUIT PRODUCTION

Immunizing apple trees: Gordon Braun...................... 56

Growing apples using an organic philosophy .............. 58

Berries, berries, berries ................................................ 62

ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH IMPACTS

Nitrates and nitrites in preserved meats ...................... 68

The carbon footprint of organic farms ........................ 70

Canadian Organic Extension Network........................ 74

The

Canadian Organic GrowersCultivons Biologique Canada

Canada’s Organic ScienceCluster (OSC) is part of theCanadian Agri-Science Clus-ter Initiative of Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada’s GrowingForward Policy Framework.

Growing Forward,a federal-provincial-territorial

initiative

The Science Cluster Initiativeis led by the Organic Agricul-ture Centre of Canada(OACC) and the lead indus-try applicant, the Organic Fed-eration of Canada.

The Canadian Organic Grower www.cog.ca4 – Summer 2012

GUEST EDITORIAL

Welcome to this special issue ofThe Canadian Organic Grower,dedicated to the science of organicagriculture! As Director of the Or-ganic Agriculture Centre ofCanada (OACC), I am thrilled toshine a spotlight on some of theimportant and innovative workhappening across the country tosupport you, the organic practi-tioners who will ultimately put thisresearch to use.

The OACC is presently work-ing in collaboration with the Or-ganic Federation of Canada tomanage the Organic Science Clus-ter, an initiative that began in 2009and will end in March 2013. OurOrganic Science Cluster, a part ofthe Science Cluster Initiative ofAgriculture and Agri-Food Cana-da’s Growing Forward PolicyFramework, is providing fundingfor more than 50 researchers andcollaborators working on 29 re-search and communicationprojects at 36 research institutionsand facilities across Canada.* Asyou peruse this special issue ofTCOG, you will find that many ofthe articles recount the work of theOrganic Science Cluster (OSC).

March 2013 will soon be uponus. With this in mind, we are nowin the process of planning for thenext Organic Science Cluster,which will hopefully begin in April2013. Forefront in our minds whenCover: Andy Hammermeister

explores the field of organicswith student Jody Nelson atthe Organic AgricultureCentre of Canada.

Photo credit: NSAC

The CanadianOrganic Grower

Editor

Janet Wallaceeditor@cog.ca

Contributing Editors

Roxanne Beavers, Matthew Holmes,Anne Macey, Beth McMahon,

Stuart McMillan, Gwen O’Reilly,Av Singh, Elizabeth White

OACC Contributing Editor

Joanna MacKenzie

Advertising

contact COG office(see address below) or ads@cog.ca

Subscriptions / COG Membership

www.cog.ca

Production

Karyn Wright, Foxboro, Ontario

The Canadian Organic Grower

is published by:

Canadian Organic Growers (COG)

39 McArthur Ave, Level 1-3,

Ottawa ON K1L 8L7

T: 613-216-0741

1-888-375-7383

F: 613-236-0743

office@cog.ca

www.cog.ca

COG Board of Directors:

Daniel Brisebois, Rochelle Eisen,Janine Gibson, GenevièveGrossenbacher, Sheila Hamilton,Tony Marshall, Vlad Skotar

The editor cannot accept responsibilityfor unsolicited manuscripts or photo-graphs. The opinions expressed hereinare not necessarily those of COG.Editorial content may not bereproduced without permission.

©Canadian Organic Growers, Inc.

ISSN 1710-761X

The Canadian Organic GrowerPublications Mail #4076 8546

Cost per issue: $9.00

Volume 9, Number 3

Summer 2012

undertaking this process is ensur-ing that we have the greatest im-pact possible for the Canadianorganic sector. Input from thoseon the ground—the people work-ing in the organic community inCanada—is essential in meetingthis goal, so farmers, processors,marketers and other stakeholderswill be asked to participate in everystep of the planning and projectevaluation process.

So, over the past few months, Ihave been asking organic farmersand other industry stakeholderstwo important questions: “Whatresearch would affect you as an in-dividual?” and “What researchwould be of greatest benefit to theorganic sector?”. As you can im-agine, we will end up with a longlist of potential research questions.Ultimately, we want to embarkupon research projects that willhave substantial impact, support-ing the principles of organic agri-

* For further details, including theinitial proposal, lists of the researchprojects and participatingresearchers, and the latest results,go to www.oacc.info/OSC/osc_welcome.asp.

By Andy Hammermeister

Help guide the future of organic research inCanada

Our Nature is Organicwww.cog.ca Summer 2012 – 5

culture and the development oforganic in Canada.

To ensure that this goal is met,there are several steps that are fol-lowed to identify research priori-ties. We begin by consulting withorganic farmers and others in-volved in organic agriculture inthe country to identify any factorsthat might be holding back or-ganic in Canada and also to iden-tify any opportunities that exist.We then prioritize these possibleresearch projects based on the po-tential level of economic, environ-mental and social impact.Practical issues must then be con-sidered, such as:• What is the likelihood of suc-cess of this research?• How much will it cost?• How long will it take?• Are there researchers availablethat can do the work?

And lastly, we look for poten-tial sources of industry funding

that we can use to leverage moneyfrom funding sources like Agricul-ture and Agri-Food Canada. Almostall federal and provincial research-granting programs require match-ing industry investment accountingfor anywhere from 10–50% of thetotal project value.

Often the most effective way foryou, the proponents of organicagriculture in the country, to havea say in this process is to meet withyour fellow producers, or othersin the value chain (such as proc-essors) to identify:• the most significant barrier(e.g., weeds, product quality, yieldpotential),• the most serious threat (e.g.,insects, disease, GMOs), or• the greatest opportunity (e.g.,new crop markets, product pack-aging, processing) in your produc-tion area.

If you work together to iden-tify a key problem, we will do our

best to find two or three dollarsof funding for every dollar thatyour group, or an industry sup-porter, is prepared to commit.We’ll help you get hooked upwith a researcher to work on yourproject.

We want to hear from you!Please feel free to help us identifypriorities for our next Organic Sci-ence Cluster by sending us a noteor email answering the followingfour questions (see attached formand envelope).1. What is the main barrier, threator opportunity you would like tohave addressed?2. What is the research questionyou want answered that will allowyou to address this barrier or op-portunity?3. How will this affect the organicsector (i.e., how many farms, acres,return/acre, markets, etc.)?4. Who would likely provide cashto leverage funding to do this re-

The Canadian Organic Grower www.cog.ca6 – Summer 2012

search (e.g., companies, farmercooperatives, etc.)?

The OACC is delighted to havehad this opportunity to collaboratewith Canadian Organic Growerson this special issue of TCOG. Wehope that you will find the articlesinformative, useful and maybeeven transformative as together wework towards supporting the sci-ence behind organic agriculture inCanada.

Send your ideas or commentsto Andy Hammermeister atahammermeister@nsac.ca, 902-896-7095 (fax), or Organic Agri-culture Centre of Canada, Box550, Truro NS B2N 5E3.

Andy Hammermeister is Director ofthe Organic Agriculture Centre ofCanada (OACC), and AssistantProfessor at the Nova ScotiaAgricultural College.

Our Nature is Organicwww.cog.ca Summer 2012 – 7

This issue of The Canadian Organic Grower

marks an important moment of collaborationfor the Canadian Organic Growers. Thanks

to the initiative of our editor, Janet Wallace, Summer2012 TCOG offers our readers important informa-tion on the extensive research led by the CanadianOrganic Science Cluster (OSC). Only a few years ago,we would have been challenged to fill our pages withCanadian organic research and now, we need an ex-panded issue to squeeze it all in.

One area of organic research that remains incom-plete and unfunded is that of statistics and marketresearch. Each year, COG’s dedicated statistician,Anne Macey, pieces together the numbers and par-tial information received from certification bodies.The certifiers volunteer to provide this important in-formation, but details such as acreage, crops and live-stock numbers are too burdensome for most tocompile without compensation. Invariably every year,some certifying bodies will not submit their infor-mation, leaving substantial gaps in our figures andunderstanding of organic production in Canada.

Recently, the statistics for 2010 were finalized andrevealed that certification in Canada is in decline.

Between 2009 and 2010, more than 180 farmsdropped certification, down to 3732 farms. Quebec,the only province with a mandatory provincial or-ganic regulation, was the only region showing a pat-tern of growth. Due to the significant decline ofgrower numbers in Saskatchewan (down 16%), Que-bec now has the largest number of organic growersin the country.

Anecdotally, we know that some Prairie growersdropped certification when the record-high grainprices of 2007–08 were closely followed by the eco-nomic retraction and recession in 2009 and 2010,

HARVESTING THE NUMBERS

Province Farms/primary Farms/primary Change in no. Processors Handlersproducers producers of primary (includes food (includes packers,

2009 2010 producers manufacturers brokers & retail)from ‘09 & seed cleaners)

BC 475 471 –0.8% 124 57

AB 319 275 –10.6% 59 15

SK 1123 938 –16.0% 72 3

MB 168 158 –5.9% 34 3

ON 716 685 –4.3% 248 18

QC 956 1054 10.25% 291 143

NB 56 56 0.0 13 1

NS 47 43 –8.5% 20 2

PEI 48 43 –10.4% 6 3

NFL 2 2 0.0 3 0

YK 4 6 50.0% 0 0

NT 0 1 0 0

Totals 3914 3732 –4.6% 870 245

Number of Canadian certified producers

‘92 ‘94 ‘96 ‘98 ‘00 ‘02 ‘04 ‘06 ‘08 ‘10

4500

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

The Canadian Organic Grower www.cog.ca8 – Summer 2012

which affected the grain sectormore than many others. We havealso been told that many farmerssimply retired, and that othersdropped certification in provincesthat don’t require it for intra-provincial sales. Furthermore, ourstatistical information on proces-sors and handlers is limited to thenumber of businesses, with noindication of products, type ofoperation or volumes.

This basic information is essen-tial for the continued develop-ment of the organic sector. Howcan a researcher quantify the valueor potential impact of a project?How can a government assess theimpact of a provincial regulation

if there are no reliable statistics onacreage and production levels?

Canada’s lack of statistical in-formation is also noticed interna-tionally, evident in the annualWorld of Organic Agriculture

book published by the Interna-tional Federation of Organic Agri-culture Movements (IFOAM). Inthis publication, many countrieswith far fewer resources have muchmore detailed production infor-mation, as well as market data.

The Government of Canadahas a role to play here; indeed, onecould argue that the Organic Prod-ucts Regulations require that thissort of information is collectedand used as part of the govern-ment’s oversight of the sector.Without this most basic of infor-mation on the sector—who is cer-tified, where they are, what theygrow—how can they hope to trulyoversee organics in Canada? Andhow can we hope to strategize andgrow our sector?

The Canadian Organic Officeof the Canadian Food InspectionAgency has said they will develop

COG—helping to connectthe farmer’s organic

fields to the organicconsumer’s fork.

an informatics system to collectthis type of information, but it isonly in the conceptual stage, yearsaway from implementation. In themeantime, the national organicorganizations in Canada are deter-mined to create or support a sys-tem for reliable and accurateorganic production and process-ing statistics. We don’t know theexact means to accomplish this,but we’re looking for a better wayat approaching organic statistics inCanada: one more way we arehelping to connect the farmer’sorganic fields to the organic con-sumer’s fork.

—Beth McMahon

Executive Director

beth@cog.ca

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