Organic Friends' E‑zine: December 2015

The Director and staff of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada would like to wish you and yours every happiness this holiday season and throughout the coming year.

In this issue:

• Organic Science Cluster II
  
• Practical Resources
• Scientific Results
• Organic in Canada
• News & Articles of Interest
• Courses
• Student, Job and Apprentice Opportunities
• Events

Organic Science Cluster II

Organic producers engaging in research and innovation

As Organic Science Cluster II (OSCII) completes the third year of activities, the Organic Federation of Canada and OACC have created a series of eight short films that present organic producers engaged in research and innovation in close cooperation with OSCII researchers. These videos, the first two of which are featured here, illustrate the important cooperation between researchers and producers in advancing the science of organic production to benefit organic yields and quality.

The Lefort Greenhouses

Gosselin Hop Yard

Practical Resources

Soils and Fertility

• Compost Carryover Effects on Soil Quality and Productivity in Organic Dryland Wheat – Recorded webinar
  • eOrganic. 2015
• Making and Using Compost Teas – Recorded webinar
  • eOrganic. 2015
• Organic Farming and Soil Health - Recorded webinar
  
  • Science and Technology Library of USDA. 2014
    
• Soil Fertility in Organic Farming Systems: Much More than Plant Nutrition
  • eOrganic. 2015

Crop Rotation

• Cover Cropping for Pollinators and Beneficial Insects
  • Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. 2015
• Reduced Tillage in Organic Specialty Crop Systems - Recorded webinar
  
  • Science and Technology Library of USDA. 2015

Season Extension

• Managing Diseases of Organic Tomatoes in Greenhouses and High Tunnels
  • eOrganic. 2015

Ecology and Environment

• Organic 3.0 for truly sustainable farming & consumption: Discussion paper
  • IFOAM. 2015

Scientific Results

Soils and Fertility

• Accelerated phosphorus accumulation and acidification of soils under plastic greenhouse condition in four representative organic vegetable cultivation sites
  • Scientia Horticulturae (2015) 195: 67-73
• Long-term tillage, rotation and perennialization effects on particulate and aggregate soil organic matter
  • Soil and Tillage Research (2015) 155: 371-380
• Nitrogen soil surface balance of organic vs conventional cash crop farming in the Seine watershed
  • Agricultural Systems (2015) 139: 82-92
• Organic farming practices result in compositional shifts in nematode communities that exceed crop-related changes
  • Applied Soil Ecology (2016) 98: 254-260
• Organic management and legume presence maintained phosphorus bioavailability in a 17-year field crop experiment
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 211-222
• Research on subsoil biopores and their functions in organically managed soils: A review
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 318-327
• Soil biodiversity and human health
  • Nature (2015) 528: 69-76

Horticulture

• Comparison of organic and conventional managements on yields, nutrients and weeds in a corn–cabbage rotation
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 132-142
• Diversity and abundance of arthropod by-catch in semiochemical-baited traps targeting apple clearwing moth (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) in organic and conventional apple orchards in British Columbia, Canada
  • The Canadian Entomologist (2015) 147: 227-243
• Effect of management strategies on arthropod communities in the colonies of rosy apple aphid, Dysaphis plantaginea Passerini (Hemiptera: Aphididae) in south-eastern France
  • Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2016) 216: 203-206
• Impact of Tillage and Irrigation Management on Bell Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) Grown in Organic and Conventional Production Systems
  • HortScience (2015) 50: 1694-1701
• Management diversity within organic production influences epigeal spider communities in apple orchards
  • Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2016) 216: 73-81
• No-till seeded spinach after winterkilled cover crops in an organic production system
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 473-485
• Plant protection for organically grown potatoes – a review
  • Biological Agriculture & Horticulture (2015) 31: 147-157

Field Crops

• Biological nitrogen fixation and biomass production stability in alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) genotypes under organic management conditions
  • Biological Agriculture & Horticulture (2015) 31: 177-192
• A cultural system to reduce weed interference in organic soybean
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 392-398
• Reduced tillage in temperate organic farming: Effects on soil nutrients, nutrient content and yield of barley, rye and associated weeds
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 270-279

Crop Rotation

• Cover Crop Effects on Light, Nitrogen, and Weeds in Organic Reduced Tillage
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2015) 39: 647-665
• Forage potential of six leguminous green manures and effect of grazing on following grain crops
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 503-514
• The influence of cover crop variety, termination timing and termination method on mulch, weed cover and soil nitrate in reduced-tillage organic systems
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 450-460
• Topography Mediates the Influence of Cover Crops on Soil Nitrate Levels in Row Crop Agricultural Systems
  • PLoS ONE (2015) 10(11): e0143358
• Using cover crops in headlands of organic grain farms: Effects on soil properties, weeds and crop yields
  • Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2016) 216: 322-332
• Weed suppression by cover crops: comparative on-farm experiments under integrated and organic conservation tillage
  • Weed Research (2015) 55: 586-597

Pest Management

• An attract and kill tactic for click beetles based on Metarhizium brunneum and a new formulation of sex pheromone
  • Journal of Pest Science (2015) 88: 707-716
• Improved herbicide efficacy for organically grown vegetables
  • Organic Agriculture (2015) 5: 315-322

Seed Production and Plant Breeding

• Seed and Plant Breeding for Wisconsin’s Organic Vegetable Sector: Understanding Farmers’ Needs
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2015) 39: 601-624

Livestock

• Birdsfoot trefoil as a preventative treatment for gastrointestinal nematodes in pastured dairy heifers
  • Canadian Journal of Animal Science (2015) 95: 533-537
• Conversion of a Conventional to an Organic Mixed Dairy Farming System: Consequences in Terms of N Fluxes
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2015) 39: 978-1002
• DELTA: An Integrated Indicator-Based Self-Assessment Tool for the Evaluation of Dairy Farms Sustainability in Quebec, Canada
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2015) 39: 1022-1046
• Effects of pasture management on poultry welfare and meat quality in organic poultry production systems
  • World’s Poultry Science Journal (2015) 71: 375-384
• European organic dairy farmers’ preference for animal health management within the farm management system
  • animal (2015) 9: 1875-1883
• Plant and soil intake by organic broilers reared in tree- or grass-covered plots as determined by means of n-alkanes and of acid-insoluble ash
  • animal (2015) 9: 888-898

Ecology and Environment

• Comparison of Surface Water Quality and Yields from Organically and Conventionally Produced Sweet Corn Plots with Conservation and Conventional Tillage
  • Journal of Environmental Quality (2015) 44: 1861-1870
• The energy efficiency of organic agriculture: A review
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 280-301
• Farm biogas production in organic agriculture: System implications
  • Agricultural Systems (2015) 139: 196-209

Nutrition, Safety and Health of Organic Foods

• Eating Quality of Carrots (Daucus carota L.) Grown in One Conventional and Three Organic Cropping Systems over Three Years
  • Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2015) 63: 9803-8911

Post-harvest Handling, Storage and Processing

• Shelf life and changes in phenolic compounds of organically grown blackberries during refrigerated storage
  • Postharvest Biology and Technology (2015) 110: 257-263

Marketing and Economics

• Consumption behaviour regarding organic food from a marketing perspective—a literature review
  • Organic Agriculture (2015) 5: 277-313
• Sustaining and enhancing local and organic agriculture: assessing consumer issues in New Hampshire
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2016) 40: 69-95

Transition to Organic

• Transition cropping system impacts on organic wheat yield and quality
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2015) 30: 461-472

Organic in Canada

• The revised 2015 Canadian Organic Standards are now published and available online!
  • General Principles and Management Standards (CAN/CGSB-32.310-2015)
  • Permitted Substances List (CAN/CGSB-32.311-2015)
  • Press release from the Standards Council of Canada
  • Special Issue of the Organic Federation's Info-bio Newsletter
  • With the release of the revised and updated standards, Canadian Organic Growers is offering webinars this winter to ensure operators, producers, processors, certifying bodies, and verification officers are up to date on the revisions. For more information and to register, please visit the COG website.
• The fall/winter, soils-focused issue of the Canadian Organic Grower Magazine is now available.
• Enter The Canadian Organic Grower Magazine’s Spring 2016 issue cover photo contest

News & Articles of Interest

• Despite Profit Potential, Organic Field Crop Acreage Remains Low
  • United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. 2015

Courses

Certificate of Specialization in Organic Agriculture - Online Courses Offered in the Winter 2016 Semester

• Key Indicators of Agroecosystem Sustainability
• Organic Field Crop Management
• Organic Livestock Production
• Weed Control in Organic Agriculture

See the Education pages on the OACC website for links to additional programs

Student, Job and Apprentice Opportunities

• Organic Research Coordinator - PEI Certified Organic Producers Co-operative
• Guelph Organic Conference Eco-Scholar program

Events