Organic Farmer - October/November 2019

October/November 2019 Scaling Up Your Farm—Is It for You? Organic Price Premiums Under Pressure Mating Disruption for Navel Orangeworm Available for Organic Nut Crops Organic Methods to Control Filbertworm and Other Hazelnut Pests

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Organic FARMER

PUBLISHER: Jason Scott Email: jason@jcsmarketinginc.com EDITOR: Kathy Coatney ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Cecilia Parsons Email: article@jcsmarketinginc.com PRODUCTION: design@jcsmarketinginc.com Phone: 559.352.4456 Fax: 559.472.3113 Web: www.organicfarmingmag.com

IN THIS ISSUE 4

Scaling Up Your Farm— Is It for You?

12

Organic Price Premiums Under Pressure

16

Mating Disruption for Navel Orangeworm Available for Organic Nut Crops

4

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS & INDUSTRY SUPPORT Danita Cahill

Contributing Writer

Roland Fumasi

Senior Horticulture Analyst, Rabo AgriFinance

David Haviland

22

Organic Methods to Control Filbertworm and Other Hazelnut Pests

28

Organic Plant Breeding Yields Superior Cucurbit Varieties

34

Transitioning a Conventional Apple Orchard to Organic

38

Growing Herbs the Old School Way

46

USDA Market Facilitation Program

Kiki Hubbard

Organic Seed Alliance

Lynn M. Sosnoskie

34 UC COOPERATIVE EXTENSION ADVISORY BOARD Kevin Day

Emily J. Symmes

Steven Koike

Kris Tollerup

County Director and UCCE IPM Advisor, UCCE Pomology Farm Sacramento Valley Advisor, Tulare/Kings County Director, TriCal Diagnostics

38

NCAT/ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture

Specialty Crop Weed Scientist at Cornell Entomology and University Pest Management Advisor, UCCE Kern County, Jhalendra Rijal UCIPM Advisor, Northern San Joaquin Valley

Integrated Weed Management Practices for Controlling Unwanted Vegetation

42

Tammy Howard

October/November 2019

UCCE Integrated Pest Management Advisor, Parlier, CA

The articles, research, industry updates, company profiles, and advertisements in this publication are the professional opinions of writers and advertisers. Organic Farmer does not assume any responsibility for the opinions given in the publication.

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SCALING UP YOUR FARM—IS IT FOR YOU?

By TAMMY HOWARD | NCAT/ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture Specialist

L

OCAL FOODS PURCHASING has moved beyond farmers markets to mainstream grocery stores. As consumers become more interested in purchasing local foods, chain grocery stores from Walmart to Safeway tout their support of local farmers and are trying to back it up by purchasing from local or regional farmers. At the same time, many established farmers want to move out of time-consuming, often saturated, direct marketing channels such as farmers markets and community supported agriculture models.

One approach is essential, however— scaling up requires planning. Planning for improvements and growth within your operation can help alleviate growing pains and excessive debt. This article will include some strategies, but your approach will depend on your existing resources and markets, as well as how much risk you are comfortable with.

Considerations for Farm Growth Perhaps the most important question to ask yourself when considering expanding your farm and farm markets is why?

Does the expansion align with your farm goals? Is it going to significantly affect your quality of life—for better or for worse? Consider revisiting your goals. If you have not developed goals

Continued on Page 6

What is “Scaling Up?” In a recent article titled “How to know when to scale up,” in Growing For Market newsletter, Jed Beach a farm consultant and farmer at 3 Bug Farm says this term is used a lot by service providers and consultants to signify an expansion in scale of marketing channels, production area or animal numbers to meet regional marketing demands for local foods. He argues that for the most part there are better ways for farmers to meet their quality of life and profitability goals than a farm expansion. It is important to keep in mind that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to expanding your farm.

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Gardens of Eagan started focusing on wholesale production initially as a certified organic supplier to the coop chain in the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Eventually the farm was bought by the coop to be a direct supply chain for the farm. As of 2015 the coop was considering selling the land as it was in a highly desirable suburban corridor. See: https://atinadiffley.com/history-of-diffleys-gardens-of-eagan/ All photos courtesy of Tammy Howard, NCAT.

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the end user—think small grocery stores, restaurants, aggregators. They allow the producer to maintain a brand identity and have a higher return on their product. They are ideal for midscale producers and are a great way for farmers to dabble in wholesale markets and farm expansion, but with a lower risk. Below is an overview of intermediate marketing channels to consider when expanding your farm:

Not all scaling up is through wholesale marketing. Johnson’s Backyard Garden, literally started in Brenton Johnson’s Backyard. Now it is the largest organic farm and CSA in Texas.

Continued from Page 4 for your farm or written your goals down, see the ATTRA publication Evaluating a Farming Enterprise for a goals worksheet at https://attra.ncat. org/attra-pub/summaries/summary. php?pub=277. Most farmers choose to expand due to market factors. If market demand increases or changing to an intermediate or wholesale market channel is in order, expansion will be inevitable.

Market Assessment and Considerations Expanding your farm requires a wellthought-out marketing plan. Wholesale markets require product quality and consistency. It is important to consider whether or not you are able to produce a quality product consistently throughout the season. One of the best ways to make this determination is through excellent planning and record keeping.

Did you produce more product at a consistent quality than you could sell?

Then expansion may be a good choice.

Intermediate markets are a good segue into larger wholesale channels.

Producers are one step removed from

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Grocery Stores Grocery stores vary widely in their volume and food-safety requirements.

Independent grocery stores and food cooperatives can be more amenable to limited volume and lack of consistency.

Larger chain grocery stores may have shelving fees and regional distribution models that might make it harder to break into supplying them. The best way to find out about grocery store requirements is to contact the produce manager.

See the ATTRA Marketing Tipsheet Tips for Selling to Grocery Stores https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/ summary.php?pub=387 CSA There are several very large farms that sell through a community supported agriculture (CSA) model. CSAs are complex in that you have to manage a lot of different crops as well as deal with your customers. It is important to have experience selling through a CSA before expanding to a larger scale. It is also important to consider your goals for expansion. Is your expansion goal to specialize and simplify the number and types of crops that you grow? If so, a CSA is probably not a good marketing option.

For more information, see ATTRA’s publication Tips for Selling through CSAs https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/ summary.php?pub=391

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Restaurants Selling to restaurants can be a great way to scale up the farm. This opportunity really depends on the restaurant and their purchasing volume, however.

Some restaurants will want small quantities of very specialized products from farmers but buy larger quantity items from a wholesale distributor.

Contact chefs that have expressed a desire to purchase local foods. Many local food organizations have events that connect producers with restaurant and other wholesale markets. Keep an eye out for these types of events locally.

Some restaurants and grocery stores are willing to finance equipment purchases.

Gallatin Valley Botanical in Bozeman, Montana worked with a large restaurant in Bozeman to scale up their farm. Ale Works has partnered with Matt and Jacy Rothschiller since 2010, when they invested in the family’s organic vision at a key moment when expansion capital was needed.

Their first initiative—Cash for Carrots—helped Matt and Jacy purchase farm equipment to expand their carrot production such as a seeder and root washer. Ale Works was paid back in veggies. The collaboration earned Ale Works an EcoStar award in 2014.

They also stepped up to help the family purchase neighboring Rocky Creek Farm in 2018, increasing their acreage and ensuring the longevity of an organic family farm just three miles outside busy downtown Bozeman. (Montana Ale Works, 2019) Aggregators and Food Hubs If your operation is not quite large enough to reach wholesale volumes, you may need to aggregate your product with products from other growers.

This can pose a challenge for product quality, consistency, and traceability.

Aggregating can also have significant implications for food safety and marketing (Day-Farnsworth et al., 2009).

There are many innovations and solutions that have helped growers successfully aggregate their products to sell to larger markets. Food hubs coordinate the aggregation of products from multiple producers. Some food hubs can be Internet-based, or virtual. Others provide the physical infrastructure for packing and shipping quantities that most small-scale producers find difficult to manage on their own. An older study of marketing through food hubs as a way to meet the demand for local foods at a wholesale level, researchers found the following innovations to be most successful: • Pre-season planning among grower pools can help match supply to demand and give growers a better idea of what it costs to produce specific products.

• Buyers, growers, and distributors can

collaboratively project product sales in advance of the season, and growers can plant according to these projections.

•Aggregators and distributors can provide buyers with product availability updates at least weekly during the growing season.

• Growers and entrepreneurs can pool their resources to improve their storage capacity, make transportation more efficient, and streamline logistics.

• Development of processing infrastructure can build markets for blemished produce that may not make the cut for fresh market sales but can serve as ingredients in processed foods (DayFarnsworth et al., 2009).

For more information and models on aggregating, see the Good Food

Network’s Food Hub Center. This includes information and resources on starting and managing foods hubs. http://www.ngfn.org/resources/ food-hubs Schools and Other Institutional Buyers Selling to institutions such as schools, hospitals, and government agencies can be a challenge because they often have tight budgets, are locked into contracts with certain distributors, and have limited cooking capacity. There is growing interest on the part of hospitals and schools in sourcing local products, however. It is likely that food safety requirements will be greater in these settings, and producers will need higher liability insurance. If you intend to sell to institutions, it is also important to

Continued on Page 8

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Continued from Page 7 consider whether or not you are able to provide a consistent quantity and supply, and if the price point is acceptable. Contact the food service manager at the institution you are interested in selling to, in order to find out their requirements.

For more information, see ATTRA’s publication Tips for Selling to Institutional Markets https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=399 With wholesale markets, there is typically not a higher price point or brand identity retention. Some growers appreciate the security of forward contracting and less time spent on marketing despite the lower price point.

Wholesale Success, is an essential guide for fruit and vegetable farmers that are considering scaling up for wholesale markets. See the Resources section of this article for information on purchasing this manual.

Distributors Produce distributors are businesses that aggregate product and resell it in small or large quantities to their customers.

Distributors may range in size from an individual with a van to a company with a fleet of eighteen-wheelers.

very diverse operation to one that is more specialized. Nationally, there are several regional CSAs that have scaled up to serve more than 1,000 members.

Managing 50 + crops at that scale can be very difficult but there are some farmers that have successfully pulled it off.

Distributors primarily purchase directly from farmers, although they may also buy from brokers or packing houses.

Most distributors will expect producers to follow stringent food safety requirements and use an invoicing system.

Generally, however, most farmers that scale up decrease the diversity of their crops. While you may grow fewer crops, these crops should be available consistently, for a longer period of time, to satisfy your markets. If you choose to grow fewer crops, it is also important to manage soil quality on your farm through crop rotations, cover cropping, and other measures. This will typically require specialized planting, harvesting and cultivation equipment. Many farms that choose to expand, have acquired equipment over a period of time, however.

For more information, see ATTRA’s publication Tips for Selling to Produce Distributors https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=403

Infrastructure Evaluation and Needs Equipment The type of market will dictate the level of infrastructure investment. Typically, a farm that expands to sell through wholesale channels moves from a

As Jean-Paul Courtens of the Roxbury Agriculture Institute and Hudson Valley Food Hub says in his Roxbury Farm Equipment manual “The ideal equipment system for your farm is (a

Continued on Page 10

Tips for Wholesale Success— Excerpted from Wholesale Success by Family Farmed • Buyers want larger quantities—many prefer pallets. Production should yield a consistent weekly supply.

• Producers must build relationships with wholesale buyers and stay in touch regularly to communicate issues such as timing, quantity, price, quality, etc.

• Field heat must be removed with proper cooling. The “cold chain” must be maintained from the field to the customer with refrigerated storage of most fruits and vegetables.

• Products must be sorted uniformly to match United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grades. Food safety procedures must be followed including necessary record keeping.

This flatbed trailer is converted into a field based grader in the peak harvest season. Consider what your current farm resources are. Where do you need to specialize, and what equipment investments can address the “weak link” on your farm?

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Continued from Page 8 decision) you must make before you spend a nickel. Purchasing equipment narrows your options for future purchases. Try to discover what the weakest link on your farm is. The chain breaks at the weakest link. Out of this you create a list of priorities of equipment to purchase. At our farm we are very dependent on good plant establishment from transplants. For years we set our plants out with a water-wheel planter.

As we grew in size, this method developed problems: it was time consuming, the planter was not ergonomically well designed for long periods of work, and plants would not get into the fields when we had only small windows of opportunity. Our field production suffered, so the process of transplanting became our weakest link. Reducing the number of transplants was in our case not an option. We bought a high-speed carousel planter that allowed us to increase the efficiency of transplanting by 300 percent It is important to be realistic about the scale you will be operating at and allow for improvement.”(Courtens, 2006) Land Often, one of the limiting factors for a farm expansion is land access. Leasing land can be a great option if financing a land purchase is not possible. It also gives you the opportunity to try farming at a larger scale without committing to a piece of land through purchasing. When renting, however, it is important to have a lease that is fair and legal. Research the market price of land rentals in your region. Your county cooperative extension office or farmland preservation organizations may have local land-lease rates. The Farm Commons provides information on leasing and lessee and landowner rights. It also provides sample leases. See https://farmcommons.org/land-matters Another consideration when leasing land is the quality of the land and the existing infrastructure. If you are leasing, it is important to use land that will not take a lot of time and resources to improve. If the land is excessively

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“

When renting, however, it is important to have a lease that is fair and legal. Research the market price of land rentals in your region.

weedy or has poor soil, it is likely not worth investing time because you will not get any equity out of your land improvements. It is also important to consider access to the land, as well as to water and electricity.

The ATTRA publication Tips for Farm Leases and Contracts: Creating Smart, Effective Documents (https://attra.ncat. org/attra-pub/summaries/summary. php?pub=427) can help you understand the considerations in developing an effective and fair farm lease.

If expanding your farm has been a part of your long-term goals, buying land may be a better option than leasing.

Purchasing can be costly, especially if you live in an area that has high land prices. Financing the purchase of land can be difficult. The USDA-Farm Service Agency (FSA) can be a great option for obtaining a low-interest loan for the purchase of land or equipment for your expansion if you do not qualify for a conventional loan. Any financer will expect you to have a projected cash flow statement to demonstrate that your expansion will be profitable.

The ATTRA publication Finding Land to Farm (https://attra.ncat. org/attra-pub/summaries/summary. php?pub=174) includes important considerations as well as helpful resources on leasing or purchasing land.

Labor Labor is a very important, if not the most important consideration for scaling up your farm. Labor costs can quickly eat into gross sales on a vegetable farm of any size. Labor requires a

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”

whole new level of planning, financial management, and communication. Yet, if you are scaling up your farm, you most likely will need to hire labor. It can be difficult to find labor and many farmers refrain from scaling up for this reason alone. Consider whether you enjoy working with people and feel like you have the management skills to take on employees. Check into your state’s labor laws before hiring anyone. If you intend on hiring labor, at the minimum you will need to pay workers compensation tax and the state’s minimum wage.

In a study about livelihoods of several different scales of market farms, the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems found that vegetable farms over 12 acres often have crews of 10 or more people during the growing season. A 20-acre vegetable farm may require 12,500 or more total labor hours per year. The four large-scale organic operations in their study ranged from 462 to 613 total labor hours per acre and averaged 554. The farmers themselves accounted for between 17 percent and 45 percent of the total labor hours in these enterprises. Payroll expenses consumed between 19 percent and 41 percent of gross farm sales (average of 32 percent) (Hendrickson, 2005).

Return on Investment and Gross Margin—In Other Words, are you Financially Equipped for a Farm Expansion?

Jed Beach in his article in Growing for Market recommends that every farm have an understanding of their “gross margin” before considering an expansion. He says “Gross margin is an

important measurement of efficiency for any farm—it measures your ability to convert sales into gross profit. The higher the gross margin, the better.”

Calculating gross margin happens by simply subtracting your variable costs from your gross revenue (AKA your sales). This calculates your “gross profit.”

Next, divide your gross profit by your gross revenues. This calculates your gross margin—the percentage of every dollar in sales you make that is gross profit (Beach 2019). He suggests tracking your gross margin over time. If it starts to go up—maybe it is a good time to expand your farm.

Another important consideration is your return on investment. In other words, will you make more money based on your investment if you expand? The publication titled Fearless Farm Financing helps farmers gain a deeper understanding of their finances.

Chapter 13 on Farm Investment Analysis is a great place to start in breaking down the decision into a series of questions that you should consider when thinking of making investments to expand a farm enterprise. Fearless Farm Financing is a great book to have in your farm library.

Fork. 2019. https://www.montanaaleworks.com/ farm-to-fork Day-Farnsworth, Lindsey, Brent McCown, Michelle Miller, and Anne Pfeiffer. 2009. Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food. Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, Madison, WI. www.cias.wisc.edu/ scaling-up-meeting-the-demand-forlocal-food/

Resources

Produce Safety tutorial and videos https://attra.ncat.org/food_safety/ Padgham, J., Dietmann, P., Chase, C., and Blanchard, C. 2012.

Fearless Farm Finances. Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service. https://mosesorganic.org/ fearless-farm-finances/ Diffley, A. and Slama J. 2012 Wholesale Success: A Farmer’s Guide to Food Safety, Postharvest Handling, Packing and Selling Produce. Family Farmed.org

ATTRA Scaling up for institutional markets tutorial https://attra.ncat.org/tutorials/ Scaling up your Vegetable Farm for Regional Markets https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/download.php?id=469

Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com

FREE online ag resources

publications, podcasts, videos, and more

Scaling up your farm to meet regional market demand takes a lot of planning and investment. Revisit your farm goals to insure that a farm expansion aligns with your farm and lifestyle goals. Be sure to do some return on investment calculators to make sure your expansion will pay off in the not so distant future and finally, before expanding, make sure you have a thorough marketing plan.

References Beach, Jed. April 2019. How to know when to scale up. Growing for Market.

Courtens, Jean—Paul. 2006. Roxbury Farm Equipment. Regenerative Farming Practices-Information for Farmers. https://www.roxburyfarm.com/ information-for-farmers

How can ATTRA help you?

Trusted technical assistance for your ag challenges Call toll-free 800-346-9140 or 800-411-3222 (español)

Montana Ale Works Web site. Farm to

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Organic Price Premiums Under Pressure

By ROLAND FUMASI | Senior Horticulture Analyst, Rabo AgriFinance

T

HE ORGANIC PRODUCE market has had tremendous growth over the last five years. But could the sector’s rapid expansion be damaging its own prices?

A few years ago demand for organic produce was expanding faster than the industry was growing supply. The telltale signs were rising prices alongside rising volumes. Between 2013 and 2015, retail prices for the top seven organic produce items rose by an unweighted average of 1.3 percent per year. Recently however, there are indications that growth in organic movement has changed as retail prices have declined by an annual unweighted average of 0.4 percent in 2016-2018.

In spite of softer prices, retail volume growth has slowed for these top-selling organic products. In 2013-2015, retail volume rose by an unweighted annual average of 13.8 percent. In 2016-2018, retail volume growth slowed to 8.9 percent per year. Growth in organic berry volumes is a notable exception, as volume growth was higher in 2016-2018, but the rate of growth ticked lower in 2017 and 2018.

At Rabo AgriFinance, we dove into analysis mode to make sense of the numbers.

The data suggest that things have changed and will continue to change. It is likely that for some fresh produce crops, short-run demand by consumers who strictly buy organic has been satisfied by increasing supplies. The value-chain must now move additional supplies to consumers with a different demand profile. This second group—the majority of U.S. consumers—are willing to buy organic produce some of the time but

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are much more price sensitive than strict organic consumers. As organic supplies have increased, this price sensitivity has resulted in weaker organic prices.

Shipping-Point Volumes Continue Higher, But Prices Have Declined Reported organic shipping-point volumes were higher for most crops in 2018, and annual increases in shipping-point volume have accelerated for some fresh produce items. Organic apple, orange, strawberry and bell pepper movement have all shown continued acceleration in growth. In 2010-2012, average annual growth in volume for apples, strawberries and bell peppers were 6 percent, 14 percent, and 145 percent, respectively.

From 2016 to 2018, average annual reported volume growth was 14 percent, 26 percent, and 185 percent, respectively.

Annual growth in organic blueberry, cantaloupe, and grape tomato volumes continues, but growth rates have moderated in recent years (Figure 1, see page 13).

The continued growth in organic volumes has now begun to weigh negatively on shipping-point prices. During the 2016-2018 period, seven of the eight organic produce items we compared had declines in average annual price. Table grapes were the exception, but they were also the only crop that had a reduction in average annual volume. However, percentage volume gains have been much higher than the percentage price declines, resulting in increased revenues for shippers, and indicating a high level of price elasticity for organic produce. We also note that the price declines in 2016-2018 followed sharp price increases during the

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2010-2015 period (Figure 2, see page 13).

Due to the increased yield risk and labor costs of organic produce production, relative to conventionally-grown produce, growers/shippers expect to receive a premium price. The premium level needed varies depending on the specific crop, location and grower.

Without an adequate premium to offset the increased risk and cost, producers will find it challenging to justify organic production. Retailers are demanding increased organic volumes, but retail prices are being lowered—in some cases—to adequately move the higher volumes. As organic produce continues to become more mainstream and supplies continue to increase, the organic market will continue to more closely resemble the conventionally-grown market.

Over-supply will cause immediate—and sometimes extreme—declines in price.

These changes are already leading to decreased organic premiums.

Of the crops in which adequate data allowed comparison, half showed clear reductions in organic premiums.

Premiums for organic apples, blueberries, pears, strawberries and bell peppers have come under pressure, while organic premiums are holding up better for cantaloupe, table grapes, oranges and grape tomatoes (Figure 3, see page 13).

Note: Prices used were volume-weighted weekly averages in each year, and were only compared for weeks in which both prices and volumes were reported for both organic and conventional options.

Reported shipping-point movement and prices for many organic crops have only become significant since 2016. Organic premiums for this group of crops are

225% 200% 175% 150% 125% 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% -25% -50%

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Figure ininOrganic Shipping Figure2.

2.Changes Changes Organic Shipping Figure 2. Changes in Organic Shipping Point 2010 -2018 PointPrices, Prices, 2010 -2018 Point Prices, 2010 -2018

average annual change in weekly volume-weighted price

225% 225% 200% 200% 175% 175% 150% 150% 125% 125% 100% 100% 75% 75% 50% 50% 25% 25% 0%0% -25% -25% -50% -50%

average annual change in weekly volume-weighted average annual changeprice in weekly volume-weighted price

average annual change in reported volume

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Figure ininOrganic Shipping Figure1.

1.Changes Changes Organic Shipping Figure 1. Changes in Organic Shipping Point 2010PointVolumes, Volumes, 2010-2018 2018 2018 Point Volumes, 2010-

2010-2012 2013-2015 2016-2018 2010-2012 2013-2015 2016-2018 2010-2012 2013-2015 2016-2018

Figure Produce Shipping - Point Premiums, 2014 - 2018 Figure3.Figure 3.Organic Organic Produce Shipping - PointPrice Premiums, 2014 - 2014 2018 - 2018 3. Organic Produce Shipping -Price Point Price Premiums,

140% 140% 140% 120% 120% 120%

100% 100% 100% 80% 80% 80% 60% 60% 40% 40% 20% 20% 0% 0%

60% 40% 20% 0%

2014 2014 2014

2015 2015 2015

2016 2016 2016

2017 2017 2017

2018 2018 2018

Figure 4. Organic Produce Shipping- Point Price Premiums, 2016 - 2018

a vera ge weekly vol ume-weighted percent premi um

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Figure Figure Produce ShippingPoint Price 2016 - 2016 2018 - 2018 4. Organic Produce ShippingPointPremiums, Price Premiums, compared in (Figure 4, see page 14).4. Organic levels that do not adequately compenopportunity to take advantage of these 200% 200% 200% Organic premiums for cauliflower, celery, sate suppliers for the increased risk and market opportunities depends heavily 180% 180% 180% cost of organic production (Table 1, see kale, spinach and sweet corn appear to on the specific growing region, which 160% 160% 160% 140% 140% green page 14). be trending positive.140% Artichoke, influences the ability to target particular 120% 120% leaf lettuce, iceberg 120% lettuce and red leaf market windows.

100% 100% 100% Short-Run Opportunities lettuce organic premiums weakened.

80% 80% have 80% Aren’t Lost For other crops, any 60% discernable Another consideration is that the 60% 60% trend is 40% 40% harder to see. presented data are averages across all 40% 20% 20% 20% Strategic opportunities still exist for varieties, pack sizes and grades. There 0%0% 0% crops that fall in the Neutral or Caution To aid growers deciding whether to may be opportunities for crops in the categories—which we determined by the expand more acres into organic proCaution category when more specific duction, we categorized the opportunity annual averages for organic premium agro-economic conditions are considered. and risk levels for crops. Crops in the pricing. There are still seasonal opporPositive category could experience short- tunities, in which organic premiums The level of price premium needed to 2016 2016significantly 2017high.

2018 2018 remain For2018 example, run organic supply expansion and most compensate for increased yield risk and 2016 2017 2017 organic premiums for blueberries likely maintain suitable organic price production cost will also vary by grower/ averaged 45 percent in 2018 on a weekly premiums. The Neutral category crops supplier. We tend to use a minimum of 40 volume-weighted basis. There were nine may reach undesirable premium levels percent premium as a rule-of-thumb, but weeks, however, in which premiums rose if supply expansion occurs too rapidly. some producers may need more, while to above 90 percent and three weeks in Crops in the Caution category are experiencing—or are approaching—premium which they were above 100 percent. The Continued on Page 14

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2010-2012

2013-2015

2016-2018

a vera ge weekly vol ume-weighted percent premi um

compensate suppliers for theProduce increased risk and cost of organic production Figure 3. Organic Shipping - Point Price Premiums, 2014 - 2018(See Table 1).

140%

Table 1: Cau�on is Warranted for Short - Run Supply Expansion in Specific Crops 120% Positive 100%

Neutral

Caution

Kale

Broccoli

Apples

Cabbage

Oranges

Carrots

Bell Peppers

Cantaloupe 20%

Spinach

Iceberg Lettuce

Blackberries

0% Cauliflower

Sweet Corn

Lemons

Blueberries

Celery

Sweet Potatoes

Red Leaf Lettuce

Green Leaf Lettuce

Grape Tomatoes

Table Grapes

Romaine Lettuce

Pears

Artichokes 80% 60% 40%

Honeydew

a vera ge weekly vol ume-weighted percent premi um

2014 Source: Rabobank 2019

2015

2016

2017

Strawberries 2018

Figure 4. Organic Produce Shipping- Point Price Premiums, 2016 - 2018 200% 180% 160% 140% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

2016

2017

2018

Continued from Page 13 others will be adequately compensated with less. Growers who have implemented strategies that effectively lower their yield risk in organic production will have a stronger incentive to continue to increase organic production—even in the shortrun—for crops listed in our ‘Caution’ category. Shippers who maintain organic premiums at levels higher than competitors—through branding, quality of product, or quality of service—will have greater incentive to continue expanding organic offerings. And they will be better able to compensate their growers.

Mid-to Long-Term Opportunities Remain, But the Game has Changed Driven by consumer and retailer-centric demand forces, as well as regulatory

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Organic Farmer

pressures that favor organic production, we expect organic produce production to continue to increase, and that long-run opportunities will continue to exist in the space. Growers will have to continue to adapt to effectively take advantage of changes in the market.

Further out, as more millennial consumers grow their disposable income and start families, it is likely that the demand for strict, organic-only produce purchases will continue to grow; especially given the continued expansion of organic promotion by retailers. However, with greater financial responsibility, comes the potential of increasing price sensitivity for this group of consumers as well. Generation Z consumers will ultimately add fuel to these trends.

October/November 2019

Organic produce availability has now become mainstream, which means that the organic produce market will continue to more closely resemble the traditionally-grown produce market.

Price strength—or weakness—has and will become most heavily influenced by supply-side gaps and gluts. Technological advances and continued improvements in production practices will help ensure long-run profitability for adaptive suppliers. Figuring out how to produce organically at a unit cost that is similar to conventional production is the evasive but long-run goal.

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15

Mating Disruption for Navel Orangeworm Available for Organic Nut Crops

By DAVID HAVILAND | Entomology and Pest Management Advisor, UCCE Kern County

By JHALENDRA RIJAL | UC IPM Advisor, Northern San Joaquin Valley Photo courtesy of David Haviland.

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Organic Farmer

October/November 2019

E

FFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF NAVEL orangeworm requires an integrated approach to pest management. This is especially true in organic nut crops where insecticides that are industry standards in convention orchards are not available. This puts added emphasis on the need for variety selection, winter sanitation, timely harvest, and mating disruption.

Mating Disruption Mating disruption works by using dispensers to flood an orchard with synthetically-produced pheromone, thus interrupting the ability of male moths to find and mate with females. Reductions in eggs and larvae occur if females fail to mate or if there is a delay in when mating occurs.

There are currently two mating disruption products registered for use in organic nut crops in California.

The first is Cidetrak NOW Meso from Trécé. The ‘Meso’ dispenser looks like a foot-long strip of rubber that releases pheromone passively throughout the season.

The emitters are typically hung in the orchard at a rate of 20 per acre, with the label allowing a range of 15 to

Semios pheromone dispensers include climate sensors for automatic, in-canopy degree day tracking and pest flight predictions. Photo courtesy of Kelly Petersen.

28. Dispensers are hung in the orchard prior to moth emergence in the spring. Pheromone is released throughout the season for approximately 150 to 180 days and there is no need to recover the emitters at the end of the season.

The second product is called Semios NOW Eco from Semios.

This product releases pheromone from pressurized aerosol Continued on Page 18

October/November 2019

www.organicfarmermag.com

17

Hand-applied pheromone mating disruption dispenser for navel orangeworm in pistachio. Photo courtesy of Trècè, Inc.

OW MESO applied infrom pistachio orchard Continued Page 17

Crack a mummy nut and you may find a navel orangeworm inside.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Petersen.

Semios NOW Eco) reduced captures of male moths in pheromone traps by 93 A separate set of demonstrations in canisters contained within dispensers. and 90 percent, respectively. The diffiModesto during 2018 evaluated the use The dispensers are placed in the tree at a culty of males to find pheromone traps of Cidetrak NOW Meso in ~25 acre nch, distributer with Bear River Supply used CIDETRAK® rate of 1 per acre prior to moth emerserved as an indicator that the systems orchards. Across all three varieties, NOWgence MESO year and said,rate “It’s a good tool in with the the toolin thelast spring.

The standard were interfering use of pheromale captures were reduced by 96.4 by the dispenser we willforbepheromone using it puff again this year.” is mone as a way for males to find females. percent and damage was reduced by at 15-minute intervals when moths are At harvest, these two systems reduced 60-90 percent at the center of each plot, active.used The timing of pheromone release +overall damage by 46 including although overall NOW nut damage was s that have CIDETRAK® CMDA NOW MESO orpercent, CIDEis controlled remotely via a wireless 22.3 percent reductions for Nonpareil, less than 1 percent.

NOW MESO or in with sprays networkalone that allows thecombination dispensers to 59.7 insecticide percent reductions for Monterey, Economic Analysis of Data hourly rates based on and 63.5 percent reductions for Fritz n foundmodify to bedaily veryor effective. pest pressure, weather conditions, crop across all three locations.

Economic analysis of data from all phenology, and seasonal phenology an immediate need to protect your harvest from NOW. Left research trials showed that mating of navel orangeworm. Moth activity Similar results were found during 2017 d, the economic damage on growers will be devastating. The disruption typically paid for itself. is tracked using camera traps that are and 2018 as part of a Pest Management ct is now.

The monitored need is immediate.

This was due to a decrease in yield remotely over a wireless Alliance Project that was funded by losses from damaged kernels, and due network. The system also includes the California Department of Pesticide leading innovator mating disruptionRegulation, and control to improved quality assessments that weather stations,in a password-protected also insystems, almonds. This define price premiums at the huller. As grower computer interface to monitor project did side-by-side comparisons conventional and organic use. an example of how this worked, imagine moths and weather, and degree-day of orchards that were managed cona 2,500 pound per acre conventional models. Dispenser installation, mainventionally, typically using sanitation tenance and removal is provided by the plus one or two insecticide applications, orchard with 3 percent damage. The grower might typically receive $2.79 per manufacturer. versus a neighboring orchard using ® Trécé Incorporated the same management Tel: 1-866-785-1313 pound ($2.75 base price plus a $0.04 program plus UC Research cent bonus) for a total value of $6,875 mating disruption.

At sites in Lost Hills 7569 Highway 28 West Fax: 1-918-785-3063 INCORPORATED per acre. If damage were reduced by 50 (2018) and Ballico (2018), Cidetrak Adair, Ok 74330 custserv@trece.com ONE & KAIROMONE SYSTEMS Trials by the University of California percent (typical for mating disruption), NOW Meso reduced male captures in USA www.trece.com have shown that both mating disthe grower would now have 1.5 percent traps by 100.0 and 94.0 percent, which ruption systems are effective within damage. The grower would get paid translated into 41.9 and 50.0 percent conventionally-grown almond orchards. reductions in the pounds of damage for another 37.5 pounds of undamDuring 2017, side-by-side compariaged kernels, and the entire load might kernels per acre at harvest, respectively. son trials using 40-acre plots in three receive $2.89 per pound ($2.75 base At sites in Wasco (2017 and 2018) and Kern County orchards were funded by Turlock (2017 and 2018), Semios NOW price plus $0.14 bonus) for a total value the Almond Board. They showed that of $7,333 per acre. This is an increase reduced male captures by 94.7 to 100.0 1/15/19 10:56 AM Cidetrak NOW Meso and Semios NOW percent with percentage reductions the of $358 per acre, which is two to three Extra (the conventional equivalent of pounds of damaged kernels averaging Continued on Page 20 63.9 percent.

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Organic Farmer

October/November 2019

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Continued from Page 18 times the cost of using any mating disruption product. In hindsight across all research sites, the cost of mating disruption exceeded the return on investment if damage without mating disruption was under 1 percent, broke even if damage was around 1.5 to 2 percent, and very quickly turned into a positive return on investment any time damage exceeded 2 percent.

Organic growers considering mating disruption should develop their own cost-benefit analysis. This is especially true considering that organic almond orchards typically have reduced yields, but higher per-pound prices than the previous example. Growers should also consider other benefits of mating disruption, such as increased crop exportability due to decreased risk of aflatoxins, increased ability to sell in-shell nuts, or the value of marketing

the sustainability of production practices.

Individual Orchard Conditions Individual orchard conditions should also be considered when determining the fit for a mating disruption system.

This includes the size and orientation of the orchard as well as the surrounding landscape. Effective mating disruption assumes that a solid plume of pheromone can be maintained within the orchard. This means that when implementing mating disruption, bigger is better. Efficacy is also increased when orchards are shaped like squares or rectangles. Efficacy is reduced as orchards become longer and skinnier, especially in areas known for high winds that can blow pheromone off-site.

Orientation of the orchard within the landscape should also be considered.

This is especially true because mating

Aerosol mating disruption dispenser. Photo courtesy of Pacific Biocontrol Corporation.

disruption cannot control gravid moths that fly into the orchard after mating elsewhere. Mating disruption works best when the surrounding landscape does not contain navel orangeworm hosts, or where the neighboring growers have effective sanitation and spray programs. The ability of navel orangeworm to move back and forth among neighboring orchards makes communication with neighbors essential when trying to control this pest at a landscape scale. In an ideal situation, the organic grower using mating disruption would be surrounded by neighbors who are also using mating disruption to contribute to an even larger, contiguous pheromone plume.

For more information on mating disruption, consult with the University of California Integrated Pest Management Guidelines found at the UC IPM Web site (http://ipm.ucanr.edu). Once at the site, click on Agricultural Pests, followed by Almonds, Pistachios or Walnuts. Additional information can also be provided by your local UC Cooperative Extension Farm Advisor.

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Organic Farmer

October/November 2019

October/November 2019

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21

Organic Methods to Control Filbertworm

and Other Hazelnut Pests

By DANITA CAHILL | Contributing Writer Adult filbertworm. Photo courtesy of Vaughn Walton.

Filbertworm Control Session

G

O AHEAD AND GET A little batty if you want to control filbertworms in your hazelnut orchard. Since bats eat night-flying insects, including the filbertworm moth, attracting them to your orchard is a beneficial and organic way to help control filbertworm population. Give bats a place to call home by installing bat boxes.

The Oregon Organic Hazelnut Co-op (OOHC) sponsored a filbertworm presentation at the Nut Growers Society Summer Tour in Albany, Oregon. Two of the four-member panel of experts had opposite results with bat boxes.

Linda Perrine put up boxes, but never had a single bat move in. Kirk Reinecke had better results. He went online to search out plans, and then built his own boxes, which the bats sleep in during the day.

Groundcover going into winter can create increased filbertworm, (Melissopus latiferreanus Walsingham) populations, since debris on the orchard floor creates a habitat for the overwintering larval stage. Overwintering larvae are called hibernacula, “This describes the larva in its protected case which

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Organic Farmer

is woven from silk and debris,” said panelist Betsey Miller, an Oregon State University (OSU) Fruits and Small Nuts research assistant.

It’s hard for the larvae to overwinter in extremely wet soil.

Flailing is an important aspect for organic control of filbertworm. Flail thoroughly and often. Give orchards a flail in the spring to remove debris.

Flail after initial nut drop to destroy larvae—a ½ inch long, cream-colored worm with brown head that lives inside the shell and eats the kernel. Flail all nuts if not picking.

Panelist Taylor Larson said there have been studies done using fire in hazelnut orchards in the early to mid-fall to control filbertworm larvae. “Permitting is the issue,” he said.

One grower from the audience shared how he uses pigs to help clean up his orchard. He puts up hot wire stands and releases about 30 pigs at a time into the orchard. When the pigs have cleaned up one area, he moves them to another.

He later sells the pigs, and raises a new batch the following year.

October/November 2019

Mating Disruption Using mating disruptor pheromone is useful for maintaining a low filbertworm population. It’s a good method to keep the insects in check, but it’s not as helpful if there is already a large population of filbertworm moths in the orchard. When large quantities of moths are present, they could still flutter upon one another by chance.

“Pheromone is heavier than the air, so it will sink in sloped areas,” Miller said.

About the pheromone dispensers, she said. “Put them up into the top onethird of the canopy.”

Other advice from OSU extension service about organic control of filbertworm: Use monitoring traps to keep tabs of insect levels in the orchard. Place these traps up into the top one third of the canopy as well. Use four traps for the first 10 acres. Use one trap per each additional four acres. If you count two to three filbertworm moths per trap, or five filbertworm moths in any one trap, it’s time to take action. Side note: Very early moth flight may not be a threat to crops, especially if there are no nuts yet developing.

"It’s best to hang them before bud break.

Dispensers are easier to hang at that time of the year" Filbertworm larvae on hazelnut. Photo courtesy of Chris Hedstrom.

Other moths will also fly into the traps.

To identify the filbertworm moth, look for a small moth with gold scales on the wings. “They are approximately 1 cm from head to wing tip with an 1.8 cm wingspan. The golden bands along their wings are distinct markings; they have a metallic shine in the sunlight,” Miller explained.

OSU Extension advice when using pheromone, or mating disruptors: The Meso dispensers/rings work best in orchards of at least 10 acres in size, and

"Not seeing moths in your traps? Don’t worry, that’s actually good news."

in those with more “core” than “edge.”

Follow the label recommendation of 20-plus dispensers per acre. It’s best to hang them before bud break. Dispensers are easier to hang at that time of the year. Also, they’ll be in place before the first flight of the moths, which can happen as early as mid-May. The orchard canopy helps hold the pheromone in the orchard.

Not seeing moths in your traps? Don’t worry, that’s actually good news. The pheromone point source is the trap, which is releasing a cloud of pheromones. The pheromones emitted imitate those given off by female moths to attract mates. If the male moth can’t find the trap, it means he’s confused by the pheromones and likely can’t find the female moth, either. It’s a sign that mating disruption is working.

Perrine used Entrust for nine out of ten years to control filbertworm and other insects that overwinter. The active ingredient in Entrust is Spinosad. Use 10 fluid ounces per acre at egg hatch.

The year Perrine tried a different product wasn’t as good a production year for her. But she has concerns about

using the same spray year after year.

“We are going to build up resistance if this is the only product we have to use.”

Hazelnut susceptibility to the filbertworm is based on shell thickness.

Thinner-shelled varieties such as McDonald, Wepster, Dorris, Yamhill, Willamette and Sacajawea are more susceptible. Jefferson and Polly O are in the middle of the road, as far as shell thickness and susceptibility goes.

As for cost, mating disruption is comparable in cost to that of chemical spray management of filbertworms. Some growers choose to use mating disrupter pheromone in the orchard and use conventional full-coverage insecticide spray along the border, whether growing organically or conventionally. Perrine discourages organic growers from using conventional spray in the border. She sited climate change and an already large decrease in insect populations as the reason.

In at least two studies, there was no difference shown in crop damage between mating disruption plots and grower standard plots. However, filbert aphid counts

Continued on Page 24

October/November 2019

www.organicfarmermag.com

23

Continued from Page 23 were higher in the grower standard plots, and beneficial parasitic aphid wasp count was higher in the mating disruption plots.

Other takeaways from the OOHC presentation, which took place at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center: With climate change comes hotter, drier summers. To help maintain moisture in the root zone of trees, use compost or wood chips.

Organic Bud Mite Control Session Perrine said she’s had a 5 to 10 percent reduction of nuts due to bud mites.

Mite infested buds do not produce nuts and can cause abnormal vegetative growth. Bud mites are a nearly translucent, microscopic insect shaped like a cigar. They live and feed inside new buds, damaging or “blasting” the buds, which swell (bud gall), dry up and drop off.

The mites then migrate from the blasted buds to new buds in the spring. If using either a conventional or an organically-certified spray to control bud mites, this is the time to apply. Mite migration generally happens in late-March through early April and into May in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

"As for cost, mating disruption is comparable in cost to that of chemical spray management of filbertworms."

The Oregon Organic Hazelnut Co-op sponsored a presentation on Filbertworm control at the NGS Summer Tour. Panelists from left: Linda Perrine, Taylor Larson, Kirk Reinecke and Betsey Miller. Photo courtesy of Danita Cahill.

There are two varieties of mites that feed on hazelnut leaves, flowers and catkins, (Phytocoptella avellanae and Cecidophyopsis vermiformis).

As nature would have it, there is also a variety of beneficial mite, (Galendromus spp). This cannibalistic beneficial mite lives among, and feeds on the damaging mites, as well as on spider mites, which also cause hazelnut damage. Unfortunately, release of predatory mites may not be practical, or cost effective, in a commercial setting.

Organic Aphid Control Session

Some of the legacy varieties of hazelnuts are the most susceptible to bud blast—Daviana, Ennis and Royal, although mites are not common in the catkins of the pollinizers Daviana and Royal. The OSU breeding program selects against bud mites, so although blasted buds are fairly rare in recent cultivar releases, severe infestations have been noted in Casina, Clark, Lewis and Yamhill.

Barcelona, which is susceptible to Eastern Filbert Blight, is not susceptible to bud blast.

The adult wasp lays an egg inside an aphid nymph. The egg hatches. The larvae feasts on the inside of the aphid.

It pupates inside the aphid shell, or mummy, then emerges as an adult wasp through a small exit hole in the mummy.

Monitor for mites with tacky insect glue, sticky cards or double-sided sticky tape. Place sticky monitor traps on branches below blasted buds.

Since the mites cannot be seen with the naked eye, use magnification to count them regularly.

Mite flare ups could be linked to uses of broad-spectrum insecticide, causing a loss of biological control.

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Organic Farmer

October/November 2019

“Aphids are a lover of moisture,” Perrine said.

There was also talk about the aphid parasitoid—or parasitic wasp (Trioxys pallidus). It was imported to the US in the 1960s. The adult wasp is very small, only 2-3 millimeters (mm) long. It has a shiny black head and thorax. Its abdomen is long, slender and orange or yellowish in color.

Although the wasps are challenging to spot and identify, you can monitor their numbers by counting the aphid mummies in your orchard. To protect the tiny predator, Miller said, “It’s important to spray as little as possible.”

“Let the natural biology process take care of it,” Perrine said about aphid populations.

If you do feel the need to spray, Impede is a certified organic product with a sticker, which helps keep it on the leaves through the next rain. Apply it in late February through early March.

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27

Organic Plant Breeding Yields

Superior Cucurbit Varieties

By KIKI HUBBARD | Organic Seed Alliance

F

ARMERS LOOKING FOR disease resistant cucurbits now have more choices thanks to the release of new cucumber and melon varieties by Cornell University, the result of years of research by public plant breeders and organic farmers. These varieties are a result of participatory breeding efforts focused on cucurbits most in need of improvement, and exhibit exceptional resistance to evolving diseases as well as production and culinary characteristics important to organic farmers.

“Our approach to plant breeding involves a close collaboration with farmers, regional seed companies, and other researchers to test varieties in the environment of their intended use,” says Michael Mazourek with the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics at Cornell University. “In the case of these cucurbit varieties, they were all bred with the needs of organic farmers in mind.”

Pathogens emerge and evolve quickly, and breeders struggle to stay ahead with new resistant varieties. Downy mildew and bacterial wilt are two devastating diseases that too often wipe out entire cucurbit crops. While conventional cucumber growers rely on synthetic chemical inputs, such as neonicotinoid seed treatments and sprays, organic growers don’t have (or want) that option and instead rely even more on protecting crops from the inside out: through plant genetics resistant to diseases.

“The beauty of our success is that these high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties are as beneficial to conventional growers as they are to organic,” Mazourek adds.

The varieties now available were developed with support from the National Institute for Food and Agriculture’s Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), housed within the

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Organic Farmer

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Partnering with Cornell University on the Eastern Sustainable Organic Cucurbit Research Project (ESOcuc) were Auburn University, North Carolina State University, and Organic Seed Alliance. Farmers, extension agents, and seed companies along the East Coast also played an important role.

The four objectives of ESOcuc were to evaluate the most popular cucurbit varieties for yield and pest and disease resistance; breed improved varieties; examine on-farm management strategies to overcome environmental and economic challenges; and make data available to farmers through field days, webinars, and other resources.

New Cucumber is Already a Commercial Hit Farmer-breeder Edmund Frost says he can’t keep up with the demand for seed that he grows and sells of DMR401, a downy-mildew resistant (DMR) slicing cucumber variety that was completed through ESOcuc. Frost helped Mazourek test this variety and related DMR lines from Cornell on his farm for four years to collect data on how it compares to other commercial varieties on the market.

“There’s really nothing else like it,” says Frost, an organic farmer and researcher based in Louisa, Virginia, who also operates a seed cooperative called Common Wealth Seed Growers. “I’m excited to get this variety into the hands of more growers. Trials up and down the East Coast continue to show that, in terms of resistance, DMR401 stands out as the best available.” The variety even beat those developed by the biggest industry players, including Monsanto’s Seminis (now owned by Bayer).

October/November 2019

DMR401 is an open-pollinated (OP) variety that was bred and trialed in organic systems. Because it is an OP with no seed-saving restrictions, growers are encouraged to make their own selections to further adapt the genetics to their local farm conditions and climate. The variety grew out of an earlier release, DMR264, which was funded in part through USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).

“The great arc of continued public plant breeding funding is crucial,” says Mazourek. “Key programs like AFRI and OREI are essential to our success as public breeders so that we can develop new cultivars like DMR401 that have characteristics farmers urgently need.”

In some cases, Mazourek explains, private funds have followed public investment.

One example is the Clif Bar Family Foundation, which awarded a Seed Matters fellowship to Cornell PhD candidate Lauren Brzozowski. This fellowship allowed her to work on DMR401 until it was ready for the marketplace.

DMR401 is now available for purchase through Common Wealth Seed Growers, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, and High Mowing Organic Seeds.

Continued on Page 30

Cucumbers from an organic variety trial in Louisa, Virginia. All photos courtesy of Organic Seed Alliance.

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Meeting the Needs of High Tunnel Producers When Zaid Kurdieh met Michael Mazourek at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture five years ago, the first thing out of his mouth was: “Michael, we need better cucumbers.” Thus began a breeding partnership that quickly turned into a friendship.

Kurdieh is the operator of Norwich Meadows Farm, an 80-acre diversified vegetable operation in Norwich, New York, that serves 1,000 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscribers and six farmers markets in New York City. Increasingly chefs and restaurants are major purchasers, now making up about half of his sales. Cucumbers are one of the farm’s most important crops because of the diversity they offer.

“We work with a lot of chefs, and one of the things we’re able to do is introduce them to new flavors and textures— entirely new cucumbers they’ve never heard of before—which causes an explosion in interest,” Kurdieh says.

“Our first breeding goal when we started working with Cornell was to achieve better flavor,” Kurdieh adds, noting his Middle Eastern origin and disappointment with everything in the market when he moved back to the U.S. over 35 years ago. “I couldn’t find a cucumber with good flavor, so that was the impetus: to find the real deal.”

Mazourek and Kurdieh first went to the USDA collections to get 50 varieties of Middle Eastern cucumbers. They grew them out and selected for flavor.

Meanwhile, disease issues began to accelerate on Kurdieh’s farm and on others’ operations in the region.

Kurdieh grows cucumbers in high tunnels, 10-acres worth, which can make managing pests and diseases more challenging. Controlling cucumber beetles is particularly important as they transmit bacterial wilt. Mazourek explains that there is a lot of water moving through the plant and the bacteria end up clogging

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Organic Farmer

Dr. Michael Mazourek describes his organic plant breeding work in a field of squash trials as part of the 2018 Student Organic Seed Symposium.

Edmund Frost of Common Wealth Seed Growers gives a tour of his organic cucurbit plant breeding projects focused on downy mildew resistance.

Edmund Frost of Common Wealth Seed Growers.

the vascular system, killing the plants.

fungicide resistance to chemical controls.

Conventional growers rely on neonicotinoid seed treatments and sprays to control the disease but fungicides are expensive and not always effective, as fungicide resistance can also emerge with the disease. Neonicotinoids are the most widely used pesticide and frequently make headlines because of growing concerns about their harmful impact on insect pollinators. Certified organic growers aren’t allowed to use synthetic chemicals like neonics to manage pests and diseases.

Kurdieh and Mazourek say the project is ongoing. The long-term breeding goal is to achieve an even bigger package of desired characteristics that go beyond flavor and disease resistance to eventually include insect resistance.

Mazourek's breeding team has made swift progress in developing hybrid varieties that are routinely tested under organic conditions and in high tunnels. Two varieties will be released soon, and, according to Kurdieh, they contain characteristics— including good flavor—that are superior to what’s currently available. The varieties also help conventional growers who want to cut input costs or are experiencing

October/November 2019

“This is the most fun I’ve had farming in years,” Kurdieh says. “The experimentation keeps me going.”

Kurdieh says another reason he’s excited about organic plant breeding is that it helps him meet the organic seed requirement under the organic standards.

Organic farmers are required to use organic seed when commercially available, but when an equivalent variety isn’t available, organic growers can use conventional varieties that aren’t genetically engineered or treated with a pesticide seed treatment, like neonics.

Continued on Page 32

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Continued from Page 30 “More investments in organic breeding will help me and my fellow farmers who need access to more organic seed,” Kurdieh explains. “We grow over 1,000 varieties of vegetables and my organic certifier is always encouraging me to source more organic seed. We prefer buying organic seed but it isn’t always available.”

‘Trifecta’ Melon Lives up to its Name Downy mildew is also wiping out melons. ‘Trifecta’ was first released in 2015 and consistently ranked highest for yield, quality, and DMR in Cornell’s trials.

The variety was named by Frost, who identified the variety as a standout among several experimental melon lines from Cornell, and was most excited about the variety’s ability to consistently rank high in three targeted breeding goals: yield, quality, and DMR. “It’s among the best downy-mildew resistance we’ve seen,” says Mazourek. “We made it a priority to distribute the variety through organic seed companies operating in the Southeast because there is an urgency in the region for varieties that reliably demonstrate resistance.”

Frost first noticed the seedstock that became ‘Trifecta’ for its eating quality in 2012 trials at his farm. In 2014, Frost received a grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education

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Organic Farmer

(SARE) program, administered by the USDA, to test melon, cucumber and squash varieties in late-planted conditions when downy mildew is most intense.

Trifecta again stood out for its excellent eating quality and yield—even under levels of DM pressure that defoliated most commercial melon varieties. The variety also exhibited good bacterial wilt resistance in the trial, and has done so in several trials Frost has conducted since then.

Frost recently received a grant from the Organic Farming Research Foundation to continue work on bacterial wilt and downy mildew resistance in cucumber and muskmelon seedstocks, including new slicing and pickling cucumber varieties he is developing to resist both diseases.

‘Trifecta’ is currently available for sale through Common Wealth Seed Growers and Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

Organic Research Investments Yield Big Impacts As mentioned, ESOcuc is funded through the USDA’s competitive grant program focused on organic agriculture, the Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI). Organic plant breeding relies heavily on the OREI program, which is reauthorized as part of the farm bill approximately every five years.

Fortunately, the 2018 Farm Bill more than doubled the amount of funding available for organic research. Over the course of the next farm bill, OREI funding will increase from $20 million in 2019 to $50 million by 2023. The importance of

October/November 2019

these research dollars to the growth and success of organic agriculture cannot be overstated.

“So little public breeding underway is focused on the needs of organic farmers,” says Frost. “There’s so much room for improvement in terms of the varieties we’re using that, with a small investment, and with time and energy, we’ll be able to make a big impact on agriculture by coming up with varieties that are better suited to our regions, disease pressures, and organic practices.”

Frost also believes in the power of participatory breeding, adding efficiency and value to these types of partnerships.

“Michael Mazourek has been an important mentor to me,” says Frost. “Farmers provide a helpful perspective to plant breeders and the efforts and ideas of university researchers in turn helps us as growers.”

Mazourek echoes this sentiment, pointing to the results these collaborations yield in the form of superior varieties now available to farmers.

“All of our successes with DMR are owed to farmer input,” says Mazourek. “We took moderately resistant material that we had at Cornell, moderately resistant material identified by organic farmers, and people are seeing the literal cross-pollination of these partnerships in our DMR varieties.”

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Transitioning a Conventional Apple Orchard to Organic

By DANITA CAHILL | Contributing Writer

I

N 2014, A SMALL GROUP OF INVESTORS bought Queener Farm, a 40-acre plot in Scio, Oregon with over 115 heirloom and modern varieties of apple trees. Jeannie Berg and Chris Homanics operate the orchard. Transitioning a 2,000-tree heirloom apple orchard from conventional to organic has proved a challenge, although after five years, Berg and Homanics are beginning to feel like they’re getting a handle on it. For the first year and a half they took a hands-off approach, letting the orchard sit and heal.

Apples coated with Surround, an organic clay coating used to prevent sunscald. All photos courtesy of Danita Cahill.

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Organic Farmer

October/November 2019

The previous farm managers sprayed conventional herbicides.

“It took three years to get anything to grow under the trees,” Berg said. “We’ve had to do some things slowly over time.”

Farming Practices and Challenges As Berg and Homanics have discovered, managing such a diverse orchard is a true test of their skills. “It’s a lifetime project. Something you do over time,” Berg said about learning the traits of each tree. With the different varieties and the different rootstocks, she figures there are about 2,500 variables on the farm.

For the operators, rainy days and hot days create more work.

To prevent sunscald on days over 95 degrees, when the sun is hitting the orchard at a direct angle, Homanics and Berg use backpack sprayers loaded with a product called Surround.

It’s an organic clay coating that they spray on the shiny apple varieties. It covers the honey crisp apples with white splatters.

When honeycrisp are fully sugared, they are more susceptible to sunscald than some of the other varieties.

Jeannie Berg bags apples for a customer at Queener Farm.

Without protection, super-hot days can cook the apples on the tree. The inside of an apple can reach 120 degrees in direct sun. “It turns them brown, starts to rot,” Berg said. After harvest, they will wipe the white splatters of Surround off the apples. If the weather is expected to be hot for only a short time, a spray of cool water is enough to prevent sunscald.

What can be even more damaging to apple trees and their fruit than hot days are wet days. “The Willamette Valley is so damp, fungal diseases are really the challenge. Hours of dampness leads to lesions,” Berg explained. But she and Homanics try to stay away from copper as much as possible, even though it’s a widely-used organic fungicide. “Copper is quite toxic to the operator,” she said. When she and Homanics first started working the orchard, the soil tests came back high in copper. For tree health, they rely largely on potassium bicarbonate, and yucca extract. “It’s not cheap,” Berg noted about the yucca. But it’s safe. Safe enough to even taste. She describes it as being like “a molasses that smells of tequila.”

Yucca is reputed to help plants utilize water more effectively and help protect them against stress.

Berg and Homanics also use some extracts of teasel and knotweed. Knotweed—yes, the obnoxious, invasive weed— is anti-bacterial, anti-cancer and anti-fungal, according to Homanics. The extract has a 48-hour effective window. They use it when there is going to be more than 10 to 12 hours of moisture on the trees to fend off fungal issues.

For fertilizer and orchard clean up assistance, Homanics and Berg release a flock of chickens into the orchard. The chickens eat larvae and debris and recycle it into fertilizer. Other fertilizer comes in the form of kelp, fish and organic milk mixtures.

Heirloom apple Belle de Bokoop.

To fight coddling moth (apple worm), Homanics and Berg apply virus bodies of cydia pomonella, plus half-a-billion nematodes. In the style of European organic orchardists, Homanics and Berg start spraying the biological control early in the season. They use low doses and spray weekly. It’s expensive, Berg says, but it kills the coddling moth without harming the pollinators.

Continued on Page 36

October/November 2019

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35

the orchard floor has re-bloomed.

Pollinizers can then move back down to the flowers for food.

A retired entomologist came out to the orchard to look at the insects. “He found things here that were rare,” Homanics said. Besides an array of bees and hover flies, Homanics has noticed bird species in the orchard, such as killdeer, that weren’t there when he and Berg first took over operations.

Organic apples ready for harvest.

Before Queener Farm, Berg managed a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) vegetable farm in Independence, Oregon, where she still lives.

Future of the Farm Homanics and Berg are planning a new orchard. “We’ve realized a couple things,” Berg said. The rows in the established orchard are planted north to south. “The morning side dries off faster than the afternoon side,” she said. They will plant the rows in the new orchard east to west to alleviate that problem.

The winds, which usually blow east to west, would create more air flow. Also, east to west planting would offer better sun positioning.

You pickers head out to the apple orchard.

Continued from Page 35

Taking Care of the Birds and the Bees To protect the pollinizers, which are so crucial to trees setting fruit, Berg and Homanics carefully time mowing of the orchard floor. “Spacing mowing was super key to pollinators,” Berg said. While dandelions and wildflowers bloom on the orchard floor, Homanics and Berg don’t mow. As the apple trees begin to blossom, they mow, which pushes the pollinizers up into the trees.

By the time the trees stop blooming,

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Organic Farmer

Out of the more than 100 varieties currently growing in the orchard, Berg said she’d choose about 70 of those to keep. They’ve already done a lot of top grafting to some of the trees which are most susceptible to disease. Those trees just aren’t cost effective to grow organically, Berg said. Some of them aren’t even producing. They’ve hired a grafter with 40-years of experience. He cuts 2/3 of the tree away and grafts a new variety onto the trunk. They had 200 trees grafted in 2014, 150 in 2015 and 50 more in 2018. “We could probably do another four hundred,” Berg said.

A 15-acre chunk of Queener Farm is leased to a farmer who grows organic hazelnuts. “It makes for a more interesting and diverse farm,” Berg said.

October/November 2019

Community Farming Homanics is a plant breeder and a seed saver, as well as a board member of the Fruit Growers Society. He’s also involved with the Dry Farming Collaborative, which is doing work with dryland tomato, squash, melon and potato varieties. Homanics was orcharding up near Suquamish, Washington, before heading to Scio. He calls what he and Berg are doing at Queener Farm “ecological orcharding.”

The farm is a bustling community hub on Saturdays, the only day it’s open to the public. It’s a time to catch up with local happenings and news. Some of it is bad news: The Stayton cannery is “restructuring.” Hundreds of local employees are facing a lay-off, perhaps permanently. Some of the row-crop farmers are left stuck with large stands of unharvested corn and no more cannery market. But there’s also good news: The organic hazelnut farmer across the road swept his 10-year-old orchard for nuts the day before.

The customers tend to arrive at the farm in small packs. Berg greets one group of you-pickers after another. She hands customers a sheet of paper that explains blemishes they may see on the organically-grown apples. “Leave apples in bins that have flaws you’re not comfortable with,” she instructs them. She and Homanics will later press the flawed apples into cider.

Berg helps Pat Fyke, a handicapped customer, pick out some honeycrisp apples to eat fresh, and two perfect heirloom Belle de Bokoop apples for Pat to cook whole with a pork roast.

Queener Farm offers more than apples.

In season, they sell red, black, white and pink currants, as well as red and green gooseberries, pears, heirloom squash and vegetables. The farm is open to the public June through Thanksgiving.

Locals are invited to join an apple club.

Members pick up their boxes of apples

at the farm every other week throughout the growing season. The farm delivers bulk orders of heirloom apples and seasonal produce to local restaurants, co-ops, and small grocery stores in Eugene, Salem and Portland.

Farming Philosophy Homanics, who lives at the farm, really likes the idea of creating community—chatting, sharing ideas, and generally getting to know the neighbors.

“Everyday happenings are important,” Homanics said.

Redfree is a PRI and co-op series apple.

It comes from a disease-resistant breeding program cooperative among several universities.

Williams Pride tastes like strawberries, Homanics says. “It has a very, very fruity note.”

Gruzhovaka of Moscow is a coddling

moth resistant variety and stores well.

Spokane Beauty “Such a juicy, crispy apple,” Homanics said. “It really is a beautiful apple.”

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He’s been pleased to observe the influx of younger people interested in farming.

He thinks it’s great when neighbors and customers bring their children to the orchard. The children enjoy looking for interesting rocks and insects. Homanics enjoys watching them horse around and play. He loves to hear the sound of their exuberant laughter.

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“We’re raising a community,” Homanics said about the farm. “It’s the heartbeat of the earth kind of idea.”

Favorite Varieties With approximately 25,000 named varieties of apples in the world, it’s hard to choose favorites, but Homanics and Berg, who are always looking for the very best apples for organic growing, have managed to come up with this partial list:

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Belle de Bokoop is a variety that comes up in conversation with Homanics and Berg over and over. It’s a tart, greenish-yellow skinned apple. Great for baking. The trees have a classic heirloom look.

Giant Red Russian Crab “Its flesh is blood red and bleeds like a beet,” Berg said.

Blairmont is one Homanics mentions as a scab and coddling moth resistant variety.

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37

Integrated Weed Management Practices for Controlling Unwanted Vegetation

By LYNN M. SOSNOSKIE | Specialty Crop Weed Scientist at Cornell University

W

HILE ALL GROWERS SHOULD STRIVE TO use integrated weed management practices to control unwanted vegetation, organic farmers are more reliant on the strategy than most. The first step in building any successful weed management system is to properly identify the species that are present. This will allow growers to avoid sites populated with difficult-to-control weeds, such as perennials, and to properly select the types and timing of management measures that target weeds when

• Weeds of the Midwestern United States and Central Canada (Bryson et al., 2010. ISBN-13: 978-0820335063) • Weeds of California and Other Western States (DiTomaso, 2007. ISBN-13: 978-1879906693)

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• Weeds of the Northeast (Uva et al., 1997. ISBN-13: 978-0801483349) • Weeds of the South (Bryson et al., 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0820330464)

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they are most susceptible to control. Recurring scouting efforts will identify control successes and failures and can be used to document changes in the composition of weed communities over time. Many good guides exist to assist growers, consultants and members of allied industries with this task including:

October/November 2019

A variety of smartphone apps, such as PlantNet and iNaturalist, among others, allow the viewer to screen a picture of an unknown plant against a database of curated images for identification. The apps are not perfect, and users should doublecheck results against trusted sources.

Recommendations for improving chances of a successful ID include: focusing on distinctive features, minimizing background distractions, and submitting multiple images of the unknown specimens. County, state and university personnel are also good resources for growers to assist in documenting unwanted plants on their properties.

Cover Crops, Mulches, and Cultural Strategies Cover crops and mulches are valuable tools for protecting soil health; they can also be effective strategies for preventing weed seed germination or for suppressing weed seedling emergence. They may also support populations of arthropods and other organisms that feed on weed seed. However, living mulches that are not

Figure 1. Cover crops, like this rolled cereal rye, can suppress weeds by preventing light from reaching the soil and inhibiting weed seedling emergence. All photos courtesy of Lynn M. Sosnoskie.

successfully terminated may end up competing directly with crops resulting in yield loss. Insufficient cover crop biomass accumulation may support weed development by preserving soil moisture needed for weed growth and development and by preventing the successful use of other control tools such as cultivation or flaming. Make sure that the cover crop seed you purchase is free of weedy contaminants to avoid bringing new problems into a site (the same holds true for manure and compost).

grow quickly and outpace management efforts (e.g. Palmer amaranth), especially when weather events delay entry into fields. This is a concern as re-rooting/re-sprouting potential increases as weeds grow taller and accumulate biomass. Plants that escape control measures can directly impact crops by reducing yields and harvest efficiency; they also have effects that can span seasons if they reach reproductive maturity and propagules enter the seedbank.

Weed seed germination and subsequent seedling destruction in advance of crop planting (also known as pre-germination or stale seedbed techniques) can be useful for reducing the numbers of weeds that can compete directly with the crop. The timing of control operations is crucial as many species can

The suppressive effects of the commodities, themselves, can be maximized by preparing and planting into as smooth a seedbed as possible to facilitate even germination. Seeding depth, seeding rate and row spacing also play

Continued on Page 40

Figure 2. Weeds, such as bindweed, can move within and between fields on farm equipment.

October/November 2019

www.organicfarmermag.com

39

Continued from Page 39 important roles in achieving a competitive crop. The use of transplants to establish a height differential between crops and their weedy counterparts can also be an effective tool for suppressing unwanted competitors. Rotating between crops with different characteristics and/or a fallow season that allows for aggressive weed management can diversify the timing and intensity of disturbances that are applied to weed communities.

Physical Weed Control With respect to physical weed control, cultivation is an effective practice for managing annual species; rhizomatous perennial weeds, like field bindweed and johnsongrass, are not likely to respond to shallow soil disturbance and can even become more widely spread via root fragment dispersal. While many cultivation tools are designed to remove weed seedlings as close to the crop row as possible, torsion and finger weeders can remove weeds from in between crop plants. Although some weeds are likely to remain, within-and between-row soil disturbance can reduce the time needed to conduct subsequent hand-weeding operations. Where weed seed densities

are exceptionally high, deep plowing can be used to bury propagules below optimal germination depths. However, some deeply buried seed may be more protected from fluctuations in temperature and water environments and can remain viable longer than more shallowly buried seed. To avoid returning germinable seed to the surface seedbank, deep plowing should only be used infrequently, depending on the longevity of the target species. Propane flame weeders facilitate damage by causing the sap in plant cells to expand, which then ruptures the cell walls. Best results are achieved when weeds are small (less than two to three inches in height or diameter); broadleaf weeds are, typically, more sensitive to flaming as grass meristems are located below the ground and are usually protected from the heat. Avoid use on or around dried vegetation to prevent fires.

Organic-Approved Herbicides Organic-approved herbicides are all contact herbicides, meaning that they only damage plant tissue that they are directly applied to. Consequently, high spray volumes (often 50 to 60 gallons per acre (GPA) or more) are

Figure 3. Weeds that escape control measures may achieve reproductive maturity and set seed… which can impact crops in following seasons.

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Organic Farmer

October/November 2019

required to ensure adequate coverage. As such, these products may be more cost-effective as spot sprays as opposed to broadcast applications.

If using organic herbicides for weed control, be sure to read the label and select rates appropriately based on weed species composition and plant size; newly emerged weeds will be the most sensitive to these treatments. Check the solubility of the herbicide in water and make sure to regularly agitate mixtures that display separation. Assume that repeat applications will be necessary and avoid drift to prevent injury to desirable plants.

Diversify Weed Management Strategies Regardless of which strategies or combinations of strategies are employed, try not to let weeds reach reproductive maturity. Ultimately, the best way to manage weeds across seasons is to continuously start clean and stay clean.

It is also important to remember that weed shifts can occur in response to any management practice, and not just herbicides. While the evolution of herbicide resistance is the most noticeable development to agricultural forces directed at weeds, unwanted vegetation can adapt to all measures that are applied, repeatedly, over space and time.

For example, close mowing can select for weeds in lawns that are prostrate in habit (so as to avoid mower blades) or that possess a perennial lifecycle (and have the nutrient reserves to regrow following defoliation). Diversifying crop production and weed management strategies as much as possible is a good way to reduce the selective pressures that allow systems to become dominated by one or a few weed species.

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The herb display garden, producing seeds at the end of the season. All photos courtesy of Danita Cahill.

Growing Herbs the Old School Way

By DANITA CAHILL | Contributing Writer

D

IVERSITY, LOTS OF HANDSon labor, and staying on top of chores are three keys to the longevity and success of this Alsea, Oregon herb business. Not only do Rolfe and Janet Hagen and their daughters grow herbs using natural, organic methods, the family also grew their business in an organic way, by following the natural procession of things.

The Beginning The couple started out with a country restaurant in the small rural town of Alsea. Janet used fresh herbs in the dishes she prepared, so she and Rolfe planted herb beds around the restaurant.

The herb plants produced seeds, which they harvested and sold, resulting in The Thyme Garden Seed Company.

In 1989, the couple sold their home that Rolfe custom built—his profession before the foray into a restaurant and herbs— and bought a modest home on a nearby 80-acre parcel. The land was overgrown with blackberries, but also had old growth forest interwoven with wildland streams. Excited about the property’s potential, the couple rolled up their sleeves and started clearing briars and planting herbs. A year later, in 1990, they opened The Thyme Garden to the public.

A Family Affair Rolfe and Janet raised their two daughters among the trees, bees, butterflies and herbs. The daughters, Emily Stimac and Bethany Glanville, are now grown with families of their own.

Janet, the cook, has passed her chef torch down to Emily. Emily inherited a passion for food and experimenting

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Organic Farmer

in the kitchen, especially with herbs. “I like creating amazing meals with all the flavors,” she said. Emily also inherited all the juggling skills needed to organize events for a crowd.

Rolfe is the gardener; Bethany has accepted the herbal torch from him.

She inherited a green thumb, a keen interest in herbs, along with a curiosity and passion for growing and harvesting plants, flowers and seeds. “That helps me a lot,” Rolfe said. “She starts all the germination of cuttings and seeds.”

“I love the herbs, knowing when the seeds are ready to harvest,” Bethany said.

Rolfe is also smitten with herbs. “I so fell in love with them. The power of what herbs can do. The power of plants, what’s going on behind the scenes, what’s going on inside that plant.”

mite populations have been low this year.

They credit that to achieving a natural balance. In years when spider mites get out of hand—end of summer tends to be the worst—the family buys and releases beneficial insects from an outfit out of Southern Oregon.

The farm produces its own population of beneficial insects. “We have a massive amount of ladybugs,” Bethany said. “They overwinter in the ground by the fence row.” She said the ladybugs hang out around the hops field in the early part of the day. “In the afternoon you’ll hear a buzzing and see these clouds of red flying to the herb garden.” Ladybug adults and nymphs have a voracious appetite for aphids.

Continued on Page 44

Growing the Old School Way “All of our seeds are naturally, organically grown. We grow herbs the old school way,” Rolfe said. The family uses no systemic chemicals and no artificial fertilizers. In fact, they use no sprays of any kind in the herb garden, only in the greenhouses when pests or disease, such as aphids or fungus becomes an issue.

And then they use natural products, such as insecticidal oil and pyrethrum. “It’s a contact spray. It breaks down within hours of spraying,” Rolfe said. As a fungicide they use sulfur.

About pests in the greenhouse, Bethany said, “It’s perfect growing conditions. You create this terrific oasis for things, even things you don’t want.” Both she and her dad noted that the aphid and spider

October/November 2019

Rolfe and Janet Hagen in the hops field, with their grandson Micah Glanville, and their daughters, Bethany Glanville and Emily Stimac.

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Continued from Page 42 The herb display garden is one of the largest of its kind in the northwest. The Hagens use yellow sticky cards there to keep the leafhoppers under control. The cards are something they recently tried and are pleased with how many of the insects hopped or flew onto the traps. It pretty much took care of the leafhopper problem this year. And leafhoppers really can create a problem. They are piercing, sucking insects with toxic saliva that causes white spotting or yellowing of leaves. Along with transmitting viral diseases, leafhoppers can cause other damage, too, such as leaf curling, stunting, and other plant distortion. The Hagens sometimes put yellow sticky cards to use in the greenhouse and conservatory, too.

The cards trap fungus gnats, and to a lesser degree, white flies.

Bethany Glanville screens seeds.

In the hops field, the Hagen family hand-picks any leaves or shoots that harbor downy mildew and disposes of them so the mildew doesn’t spread. They also lop off the first new shoots of vine growth in the spring, which, because of the wet spring weather, are more susceptible to mildew. “We remove the primary shoots and let the secondary growth come out,” Rolfe said. If downy mildew strikes the hops later in the season, they use a spray of potassium bicarbonate, which is another form of Epsom salts. It changes the pH of the leaves, which effectively fights mildew. The potassium bicarbonate then breaks down into fertilizer. The Hagens also discourage mildew by watering in the morning, and not late in the day, so the leaves have a chance to dry before nightfall.

If spider mites prove a problem in the field or garden, the Hagen family cuts, bags and throws away the affected plant parts. “It’s a lot of physical labor removing stuff,” Bethany said. “We do a lot of pruning back and dumping.” As much as the Hagens would like to compost everything, diseased or mildewed plant bits are the exception and go in the trash.

A butterfly sips on a flower in the herb display garden.

Clean Up Clean up is a large part of the process at season’s end, especially in the greenhouses. “Less habitat for things to grow in,” Bethany explained. For the overwintered greenhouse stock plants, such as scented geranium, the Hagens use an all-purpose, slow, sustained-release fertilizer from Down to Earth in Eugene, Oregon.

They take the stock plants out of the pots “fluff the roots” and repot.

When planting hop rhizomes, which the family has grown commercially now for 15 years, they stir a three-manure mulch mixture (horse, cow and chicken manure) into each planting hole.

Seed Collection The end of summer and into fall is seed collecting time. Seed is gathered by hand into paper bags, dried in Rolfe and Janet’s house. Next comes winnowing the chaff from the seed with a set of different sized screens, or with an air separator that Rolfe made.

The seeds are labeled and stored in plastic lidded containers in the seed room. Bethany fills 10 packs of each variety at a time—The

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October/November 2019

Honeybee on coneflower in the herb display garden.

special events each year, such as the Fall Salmon Celebration when, for the price of a ticket, the public is invited to enjoy appetizers and watch salmon spawn in one of the two streams that run through the property. In 2002, the family started a salmon restoration project. What started with two pairs of salmon has grown to more than a dozen pairs returning to spawn after years at sea.

All the hand work involved—hand weeding, hand growing potted herbs

for sale to the public, and hand harvesting herb and flower seeds, and hop rhizomes—is a true labor of love for the Hagen family. They share a passion for nature, and a reverence for good food and good company amid the delicate balance and beauty of the natural world.

Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com

Bethany Glanville packages seeds for The Thyme Garden Seed Company.

Thyme Garden sells nearly 500 different varieties. “We want the seeds to be as fresh as possible when we ship them out,” Bethany said.

Janet reuses the seed-collecting bags season after season. Each year she makes notes on the brown paper bags about harvest amounts. “I’m keeping track to see if climate change is affecting our plants and seeds.” The verdict? So far, she has not noticed an adverse effect.

Special Events Over the years, The Thyme Garden business has matured and evolved. It’s no longer simply a mail-order seed company and herb nursery, it’s become an event destination for weddings, and for special celebrations put on by the family with the herb display garden and the forest as backdrops.

Luncheons are a big draw. There are farm tours and luncheons, and classes and luncheons. The family also puts on a few

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Each seed variety has a story. For instance, the African savory came from a woman in Africa 25 years ago. She didn’t have two dollars in American currency for the herb seed she wanted to order, so she offered to trade some savory seed.

Janet and Rolfe took her up on the offer.

The plant has been a favorite of the Hagen family ever since.

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October/November 2019

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USDA Market Facilitation Program

By CECILIA PARSONS | Associate Editor

E

NROLLMENT IN THE UNITED States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Market Facilitation Program will be open through December 6, 2019.

The program, for both specialty and non-specialty crop producers will provide up to $14.5 billion in direct payments. This USDA relief strategy was developed to assist farmers who continue to suffer economic damages due to trade retaliation in some of their export markets.

In May, President Donald Trump directed Sonny Perdue, Agriculture Secretary to craft a relief strategy in line with the estimated impacts of unjustified retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods and other trade disruptions. The Market Facilitation Program (MFP), Food Purchase and Distribution Program and Agricultural Trade Promotion Program are designed to assist agricultural producers as trade negotiations continue.

MFP Payments MFP payments will be made to producers of certain non-specialty crops and specialty crops along with dairy and hog producers.

Payments from this program will be made to producers of almonds, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts as well as many other specialty crops. Each crop will receive a payment based in 2019 acres in production.

Payments will be made in up to three tranches, with the second and third tranches evaluated as market conditions and trade opportunities evolve. If conditions warrant, the second and third tranches will be made in November and early January 2020.

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MFP payments are limited to a combined $250,000 for non-specialty crops per person or legal entity. MFP payments are also limited to a combined $250,000 for dairy and hog producers and a combined $250,000 for specialty crop producers.

However, no applicant can receive more than $500,000. Eligible applicants must also have an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for tax years 2015, 2016, and 2017 of less than $900,000, or 75 percent of the person’s or legal entity’s average AGI for those tax years must have been derived from farming and ranching. Applicants must also comply with the provisions of the Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation regulations.

MFP assistance for 2019 crops is based on a single county payment rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings to the MFP-eligible crops in aggregate in 2019.

Those per acre payments are not dependent on which of those crops are planted in 2019. A producer’s total payment-eligible plantings cannot exceed total 2018 plantings.

More information can be found on farmers.gov/mfp, including payment information, program application and locating their local Farm Service Agency Office. Producers are requested to contact their local office to make an appointment.

Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) is one of three programs set up to assist agricultural producers while work is done to address long-standing market access barriers.

authorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC).

The ATP will provide cost-share assistance to eligible U.S. organizations for activities such as consumer advertising, public relations, point-of-sale demonstrations, participation in trade fairs and exhibits, market research, and technical assistance. USDA awarded $100 million to 48 organizations through the ATP recently to help U.S. farmers and ranchers identify and access new export markets.

The 48 recipients are among the cooperator organizations that applied for $200 million in ATP funds in 2018 that were awarded earlier this year. As part of a new round of support for farmers impacted by unjustified retaliation and trade disruption, those groups had the opportunity to be considered for additional support for their work to boost exports for U.S. agriculture, food, fish, and forestry products.

Already, since the $200 million in assistance was provided, U.S. exporters have had significant success. These funds will continue to generate sales and business for U.S. producers and exporters many times over as promotional activity continues for the next couple of years.

The list of ATP funding recipients is available at: https://www.fas.usda.gov/ atp-funding-allocations

ATP Assistance USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service will administer the Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) under

October/November 2019

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