If you haven’t heard or just didn’t know, we have a new podcast rolled out and ready to enjoy. My coworker, Timber has worked very hard to first learn how to create a podcast, how to get them uploaded somewhere (I don’t have a clue where or how) and to line up interviews of great organic farmers, industry people and more. I really like it because she just tells me when we are creating a podcast, who we are interviewing, and where to sit!!!
The first podcast we did was mostly for us to learn how, but she interviewed me about my organic journey, and I will have to say it was fun just getting to talk. Timber takes the interviews and “cleans” them up so that all the pauses and “ah” or “and” or “like” is taken out and it sounds really smooth. Our second interview was with Rob Warren from Seminole. Rob is a wealth of information, and he loves organic farming making him a lot of fun to talk to. He told us about his grapes and how he is moving all his production to organic – something that is not common in grapes.
I won’t tell you about the upcoming podcasts just yet, but I will encourage you to subscribe so you get all the new ones as they come out. Here is the link below or you can subscribe through Apple or Google or the many other ways you listen to podcasts. Just click here: On TOPP of Organic Or click the picture below.
Collaboration is not really defined as a willingness to give, or is it? Here is the definition of collaboration that I asked Bing Chat to generate…..
Collaboration is the act or process of working together or cooperating with others to achieve a common goal or create something new.
Bing Chat
John Kemp with Advancing Eco Agriculture was interviewing a farmer, Austin Allred on his podcast and at the end John asked Austin what he believed most limits farmers from being able to take the next steps forward. Almost instantly Austin said, “COLLABORATION.” The conversation then talked about collaboration really being a way to share with each other, give to each other, to better both.
This comes at a time when I am rereading, “Give and Take – Why Helping Others Drives Our Success” written by Adam Grant years ago but selling millions of copies and being translated into 30 languages. Dr. Grant makes a point to tell many stories of people who are extremely successful while spending lots of time giving away both talent and treasure.
Why am I writing this blog post at this time? First it is Thanksgiving, and I am very thankful for my family, my friends, my coworkers, my colleagues and the many farmers who let me have the privilege of working with them. I am blessed by my God and the huge number of people I interact with on a daily basis. Second, it is the time of year when you think about the past many months and plan for the next many months! This means I am thinking about organic agriculture and the many organic farm families in Texas. I want to see us all do more collaboration to make us all better together. And I want to do more to “give” myself away in this collaboration so that we will all together be able to “cooperate with others to achieve a common goal or create something new.”
I pray you will have a very Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy all you have with all those who love you very much.
I got my email magazine from the Organic Farmers Association and right in the middle is good article by Harriet Behar entitled “Organic Seed: Protect Organic Integrity from GMO’s.”
“With more genetic engineering in nonorganic seed occurring, organic growers in the United States and Canada will need to aggressively increase their use of organic seed over the next few years.”
I have heard this issue raised many times over the last few months and it is because most in the organic industry don’t know any way to make sure the nonorganic seed you may be buying has not been genetically engineered. GE or genetically engineered seed is a process whereby no new DNA is introduced to the plant but is simply a modification of the original plant. According to Harriet Behar, “the only gene-edited seed available in the US is mustard greens.” I didn’t know about this one, but I do know that there have been articles in American Fruit Grower about companies exploring GE for several fruit crops including blackberries.
Harriet makes the point, “gene-editing technologies like CRISPR are not traceable or trackable since there is no marker to test if gene-editing occurred.” GMO’s have a marker which is why they can get you for saving THEIR seed! Currently the problem (GE Plants or Seed) is so new and so controversial that the National Organic Program has not addressed the issue even though the NOSB has asked them to classify GE just like a GMO.
What may be pushing this issue to the forefront is the European Union and its organic program. In the EU they list specific crops by country that must be grown with organic seed because they have determined there is enough organic seed available. If the EU moves to put more organic varieties on these country lists because of the potential for GE in seed varieties, then the US is sure to follow suit. This is because of the organic equivalency agreements between the US and EU which make organic trade possible.
It is a good article and so I pulled it out and have it here to download. If you haven’t had a chance to sign up for the free email magazine from OFA then try it now….
Sometimes you read a research paper at just the right time – basically because someone asked you a question that the research paper talks about! This is exactly what happened when I got notice that this paper was being published. I had a question about how to do weed control in organic wheat and the question is one that is hard to answer. My answer, basically you wait as late as you can to plant, make sure to have a clean seedbed, plant a little deeper than normal and use a rotary hoe set very shallow to take out “white thread” weeds till the wheat is established.
Notice the wheat seed singulated on the vacuum planter plate.
But what if there was a better way? This research paper explores the idea of a uniform planting pattern for wheat across the field versus a typical drill which plants in drill rows that are about 7-8 inches apart. This is not necessarily new technology. We do have precision planters for small grains that do a great job placing seeds together in a uniform pattern. There are many studies using precision planters in wheat that show a minimum increase in yield of 10% with a maximum of 60%.
What is unique about this research is the fact that they were looking at organic wheat production and the ability of precision planting to increase yields but maybe as important also control weeds. In the two years they conducted this study, the weed biomass production was 73-82% less with the precision planting (Uniform seed spacing) versus the typical drill row spacing pattern. So, what do you do? It could be worth it to try and lease a precision drill for your next organic wheat crop and see if it helps – I bet it does.
I was recently asked to give a presentation on Organic Weed Control to the Texas Weed Information Group or TWIG. This is a statewide or bigger group that is focused on weed identification, weed issues, weed control, weed anything! This group has over 300 members from researchers to Extension Specialists and Agents to consultants to farmers and is a great way to get smart folks together to work on a problem…. I only had 10-15 minutes to get it done as most speakers had but I had a great time being there and even thinking through what I would say. I started off with this —-
Anyone in organic knows that you follow the rules, and the first rule is to prevent weeds in organic if possible.
Organic does have “chemicals” approved for weed control and in this slide, you see that there are not many. The QR code takes you to the whole list. or just click here: Organic Products List
This slide illustrates the reason that organic “chemicals” are used sparingly. The cost per acre makes them expensive but they work great for spot treatments around the farm.
This last slide emphasizes an exciting potential for organic weed control – Bioherbicides!
Bioherbicides are made from bacteria or fungi that infect a particular weed with the hope that it will kill the weed if the bacteria or fungus is applied at high numbers. In this slide I talk about fungi that can infect field bindweed, pigweed, and northern joint vetch. These naturally occurring organisms are found in Texas infecting our weeds but generally not in high enough numbers to kill out the weeds in a field. LockDown is a good example of a fungus found on northern joint vetch (NJV) in Texas rice fields, but it doesn’t wipe it out. But when you take millions and millions of pieces of this fungus and spray it on a NJV weeds in rice fields it infects and ultimately kills northern joint vetch!
Here is another look at various organic control for a very bad weed, field bindweed. Organic Control of Field Bindweed – Click the link to see.
SARE Book titled Manage Weeds on Your Farm is an excellent resource with lots of pictures on different weeds.
For another potential option, we can use the type of planting to help control weeds. This research study provides great insight into using a newer type of drill for wheat with tremendous reduction in weeds. Organic Research Winner!
I am adding this into the discussion. Several organic growers are using Weed Zappers in row crops and here is a use in perennial crops.
Weed management is a significant problem in organic orchard and berry production, due to limitations on crop rotation and tillage between crops. Organic weed control requires frequent soil disturbance, hand labor, high rates of organic herbicides, or the application of large amounts of organic or synthetic mulches. These practices can be barriers to economic, soil health and sustainability goals. In this project, a team of researchers in three states will consider the performance, safety, and economic and environmental sustainability of electric weed control (EWC) in perennial crops. To read more just click this link and see video, updates and pictures.
The question at hand is no longer as simple as it used to be! However, obtaining certification for anything organic has become almost a necessity. It might seem somewhat difficult, but the recently implemented Strengthening Organic Enforcement regulations are mandating many non-certified entities to acquire organic certification. This process is deemed necessary to ensure the integrity and transparency of organic products – something the consumer has been demanding for a long time. When does this go into effect? March 19,2024 and as it gets closer folks are getting nervous.
Why am I bringing this up? I have had many questions over the last few weeks from folks who want to know if they need to be certified. Or I have had questions from certified operations who want to know if someone they deal with needs to be certified. These new rules affect everybody in organic including producers, processors and handlers; all organic certifiers and inspectors; and many who are in the organic supply chain who have not been certified in the past. That said there are exemptions to certification, and I want to cover those here. This is straight from the regulations.
7 CFR 205.101(e): An operation that only receives, stores, and/or prepares for shipment, but does not otherwise handle, organic agricultural products that: (1) Are enclosed in sealed, tamper-evident packages or containers prior to being received or acquired by the operation; and (2) Remain in the same sealed, tamper-evident packages or containers and are not otherwise handled while in the control of the operation.
7 CFR 205.101(f): An operation that only buys, sells, receives, stores, and/or prepares for shipment, but does not otherwise handle, organic agricultural products already labeled for retail sale that: (1) Are enclosed in sealed, tamper-evident packages or containers that are labeled for retail sale prior to being received or acquired by the operation; and (2) Remain in the same sealed, tamper-evident packages or containers that are labeled for retail sale and are not otherwise handled while in the control of the operation.
7 CFR 205.101(h): An operation that only arranges for the shipping, storing, transport, or movement of organic agricultural products but does not otherwise handle organic products.
If you think you are exempt from certification, then maybe you should check out this resource from CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) called an Exempt Handler Affidavit. This simple form asks a series of questions that helps you know if you are exempt and answering these questions lets the organic business you are dealing with know you are exempt. Then you sign the form and hand it to the business so they can file it in the OSP (Organic System Plan).
How serious is this? Well this is from the federal record!
7 CFR 3.91(b)(1)(xxxvi): Civil penalty for knowingly labeling or selling a product as organic except in accordance with the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, has a maximum of $21,689 per occurrence. You call it organic and get paid for it, you better be CERTIFIED ORGANIC.
Texas A&M AgriLife Organic 