Penn State Organic and Sustainable Ag Research and Extension: What we are doing to benefit you! A
s the recognized land-grant university for Pennsylvania, Penn State strives to “provide unparalleled access to education and public service to support the citizens of the Commonwealth and beyond. We engage in collaborative activities with private sector, educational, and governmental partners worldwide to generate, integrate, apply and disseminate knowledge that is valuable to society.” Research and extension projects being conducted in support of the organic and sustainable agriculture are multidisciplinary involving the plant and animal sciences, entomology, environmental science and management, plant pathology and environmental microbiology, ag economics, sociology and education and extension. From the crops side, we focus on improving production, managing pests, diseases and weeds, identifying new/emerging crop opportunities, improving environmental quality and overall farm profitability. Several ongoing research and extension efforts were highlighted during the recent 2020 PASA Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Lancaster, PA and are further summarized here.
IDENTIFYING NEW CROP OPPORTUNITIES
Dr. Alyssa Collins, Director of the Penn State Southeast Research and Extension Center in Lancaster Co., PA One of the advantages of Land Grant research is the flexibility to explore the production of new and reemerging crops. Whereas a farmer may not have the resources to devote to discovering the best management practices for a new crop on their own, the scientists at Penn State can expand their programs to test various ways of producing crops without “risking the farm.” Dr. Alyssa Collins has seen grower interest drive the direction of her projects over the past decade. While much of the work at SEAREC is focused on traditional Pennsylvania crops, it has also included sugar beets, malting barley (Fig. 1), hybrid rye, spelt, and most 4
Organic Matters • sPring 2020
Fig 1. Evaluation of malting barley variety trial. Photo: Kristy Borrelli.
recently industrial hemp. From variety trials to nutrient studies, every new crop requires a host of baseline data to determine if it could be a good candidate, financially and practically, to include in a farm rotation. As Collins likes to say, “we farm with other people’s money so that you can save your money.”
IMPROVING PRODUCTION IN PROTECTED CULTURE Dr. Elsa Sánchez, Professor and Vegetable Specialist
Extended production seasons and increased profit margins have led to a marked increase in high tunnel vegetable crop production. Between 2015 and 2019, Sánchez and researchers at the University of Vermont studied the use of biocontrols to manage aphids in high tunnels. An element of the project was using habitat plants to attract natural enemies of aphids. Habitat plants provide food sources (nectar, pollen and attracted insect pests), sites to reproduce and shelter for beneficial insects. Of the plants tested, alyssum which is inexpensive and easy to grow, provided the highest value and can be grown year-round in high tunnels. Approximately 2 feet of habitat plants were maintained within 100 feet of row (Fig. 2), but they could also be planted as a strip along a sidewall within a tunnel. One key point to remember is to make sure that they can be easily watered. More information on this project can be found here: uvm.edu/~entlab/High%20Tunnel%20IPM/HighTunnelIPM.html. Not surprisingly, intensive production in high tunnels can have an impact on soil quality. Sánchez and Tom Ford, Penn State Extension Educator, worked with 33 farmers, including 8 organic farmers, across Pennsylvania to identify potential soil chemistry and organic matter constraints in
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