Organic Friends' E‑zine: November 2015

Photo of the Month, by Joanna MacKenzie
Canada geese continue their migration south over OACC's certified organic Brookside research site as the fall begins its transition to winter across the country.

In this issue:

• Practical Resources
• Scientific Results
• News & Articles of Interest
• Courses
• Student, Job and Apprentice Opportunities
• Events

Practical Resources

Soils and Fertility

• Recordings from the 2015 US Organic Agriculture Research Symposium
  • Increased microbial efficiency and growth drive soil organic matter increases in organic cropping systems
  • Long-term Tillage, Rotation, and Perennialization Effects on Particulate and Aggregate Organic Matter
  • Soil Health Improvement in an Organic Orchard Production System in Northwest Missouri

Horticulture

• Recordings from the 2015 US Organic Agriculture Research Symposium
  • Comparison of Labor Needs for Field Production, Harvest, and Packing on Organic Diversified Vegetable Farms in the Upper Midwest

Field Crops

• Dehulling Ancient Grains: Economic Considerations and Equipment
  • eOrganic. 2015

Crop Rotation

• Recordings from the 2015 US Organic Agriculture Research Symposium
  • Implementing cover crop-based reduced tillage in small scale organic vegetable production
  • Quantifying the impacts of cover crops on organic dry beans

Scientific Results

Horticulture

• Abundance and Diversity of Wild Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) Found in Lowbush Blueberry Growing Regions of Downeast Maine
  • Environmental Entomology (2015) 44: 975-989
• Accumulation and Translocation of Essential and Nonessential Elements by Tomato Plants (Solanum lycopersicum) Cultivated in Open-Air Plots under Organic or Conventional Farming Techniques
  • Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2015) 63: 9641-9470
• Does the use of ozonized water influence the chemical characteristics of organic cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)?
  • Journal of Food Science and Technology (2015) 52: 7026-7036
• Economic Viability and Environmental Impact Assessment of Three Different Strawberry Production Systems in the Southeastern United States
  • HortTechnology (2015) 25: 585-594
• Effect of the farming system and postharvest frozen storage on quality attributes of two strawberry cultivars
  • Fruits (2015) 70: 351-360
• Growth, Yield and Fruit Quality of Grapevines under Organic and Biodynamic Management
  • PLoS ONE (2015) 10(10): e0138445
• Seasonal Variation in Leaf Nutrient Concentration of Northern Highbush Blueberry Cultivars Grown in Conventional and Organic Production Systems
  • HortScience (2015) 50: 1453-1466

Crop Rotation

• Biomass and Nitrogen Content of Hairy Vetch–Cereal Rye Cover Crop Mixtures as Influenced by Species Proportions
  • Agronomy Journal (2015) 107: 2069-2082
• Cover Crop Biomass Production and Water Use in the Central Great Plains
  • Agronomy Journal (2015) 107: 2047-2058
• Cover Crops and Ecosystem Services: Insights from Studies in Temperate Soils
  • Agronomy Journal (2015) 107: 2449-2474
• Hairy Vetch Seedbank Persistence and Implications for Cover Crop Management
  • Agronomy Journal (2015) 107: 2391-2400
• Legume Proportion, Poultry Litter, and Tillage Effects on Cover Crop Decomposition
  • Agronomy Journal (2015) 107: 2083-2096
• Management of Overwintering Cover Crops Influences Floral Resources and Visitation by Native Bees
  • Environmental Entomology (2015) 44: 999-1010

Pest Management

• Habitat and Time Are More Important Predictors of Weed Seed Predation than Space on a Diversified Vegetable Farm in Maine, USA
  • Weed Science (2015) 63: 916-927

Seed Production and Plant Breeding

• Farmer Participation in Plant Breeding for Canadian Organic Crop Production: Implications for Adaptation to Climate Uncertainty
  • Procedia Environmental Sciences (2015) 29: 238-239

Livestock

• The trade-off between farmers' autonomy and the control of parasitic gastro-intestinal nematodes of sheep in conventional and organic farms
  • Livestock Science (2015) 181: 108-113

Ecology and Environment

• Review: Redesigning Canadian prairie cropping systems for profitability, sustainability, and resilience
  • Canadian Journal of Plant Science (2015) 95: 1049-1072

Nutrition, Safety and Health of Organic Foods

• Differentiation of Organically and Conventionally Grown Tomatoes by Chemometric Analysis of Combined Data from Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Mid-infrared Spectroscopy and Stable Isotope Analysis
  • Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (2015) 63: 9666-9675

News & Articles of Interest

• Video - Organic: A Manifesto
  
  • Certified Organic Associations of British Columbia (COABC). 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

Student, Job and Apprentice Opportunities

• Organic Agriculture Data Coordinator - Canadian Organic Growers
• Faculty Position as Partridge Chair in Food and Sustainable Agriculture Systems, College of the Atlantic
  

Events