We've gathered additional resources that we thought you might find helpful. Click on the list above to get information you can use for your farm or as a consumer who wants to make choices that have a positive impact on our environment.

Announcements

May 2013

Transplant Production Decision Tool
A new online tool can help vegetable growers in the Upper Midwest select the best system for transplant production on their farm. Producing transplants allows farmers to mitigate risk and get a jumpstart on the growing season. Transplants are germinated and grown in a controlled environment and then replanted in the field. This new online tool provides information about options, challenges and costs for every step of this process, from choosing a growing tray to ‘hardening’ the plants for field conditions.

The tool includes profiles of six vegetable farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa, as well as photo galleries of infrastructure, equipment and crops. A one-page matrix summarizes the costs, skill level, benefits and drawbacks of various options for transplant equipment.

The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture awarded a grant to the Iowa Organic Association to compile the online tool. Chris Blanchard, organic farmer and consultant (Flying Rutabaga Works), developed the Transplant Production Decision Tool.

In October 2012, the National Organic Standards Board recommended that biodegradable mulch be added to the National Organic Program's list of approved substances. NOP has stated it is working to include this on the approved synthetic list for crops, sometime in the next year.  The NOSB recommendation is:

§205.601(b)(2) Mulches:
(iii) Biodegradable biobased mulch films to be reviewed meet the following criteria:

(A) Completely biodegradable as shown by:

1. meeting the requirements of ASTM Standard D6400 or D6868 specifications, or of other international standard specifications with essentially identical criteria, i.e. EN 13432, EN 14995, ISO 17088; and
2. Showing at least 90% biodegradation in soil absolute or relative to microcrystalline cellulose in less than two years, in soil, tested according to ISO 17556 or ASTM 5988;

(B) Must be biobased with content determined using the ASTM D6866 method;
(C) Must be produced without organisms or feedstock derived from excluded methods; and
(D) Grower must take appropriate actions to ensure complete degradation.

Biobased: organic material in which carbon is derived from a renewable resource via biologicalprocesses. Biobased materials include all plant and animal mass derived from carbon dioxide recently fixed via photosynthesis, per definition of a renewable resource (ASTM).

Get ready for the upcoming vegetable growing season! Cornell recently published a Second Edition of the Resource Guide for Organic Insect and Disease Management. It's free to download the PDF.

April 2013

The On-Farm Food Safety Project website offers resources to help fruit and vegetable farmers ensure their produce is safe to eat. The website includes a an online tool to create a customized on-farm food safety plan.

Conservation Compliance: A 25-Year Legacy of Stewardship (5 MB PDF)
Former USDA Deputy Secretary Jim Moseley explains how conservation compliance has helped save millions of wetland acres while keeping billions of tons of soil on farms by requiring farmers to implement conservation measures in return for federally funded farm support. This report, created February 2013, explains the benefits of Conservation Compliance, and urges Congress to include conservation initiatives in the 2013 farm bill.

Project Produce has published a local food prospectus showing opportunities for scaled-up fruit and vegetable production in the Tri-State region (Wis., Ill., and Iowa), resulting from changes in the food market due to rising gas prices and decreased subsidization. The project, funded by a USDA Rural Business Opportunity Grant, is a joint venture of Southwestern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, East Central Intergovernmental Association in Iowa, and the Tri-County Economic Development Alliance in Illinois.

Unlock the Secrets in the Soil
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers a series of fact sheets on soil management.

Healthy, Productive Soils: Checklist for Growers (4 MB PDF)
This checklist from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) can help farmers increase crop production and profitability by managing for soil health. The 2-page PDF shows the benefits of various types of soil health management systems and covers the four basic principles for improving soil health:
1. Keep the soil covered as much as possible.
2. Disturb the soil as little as possible.
3. Keep plants growing throughout the year to feed the soil.
4. Diversify as much as possible using crop rotation and cover crops.