Ivan Morley...I would like to welcome everyone to the 2008 organic reporting session. The reason I am speaking with you today about cover crops goes back many years. In 1961 I graduated from Standish-Sterling High School, soon to be 47 years ago. I was very active in my ag class, and was sure my ag teacher could do no wrong. I would do anything to please him. He was just starting his career in education and we were lucky to have him.

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Jim Riddle...The University of Minnesota’s Southwest Research and Outreach Center (SWROC) in Lamberton, Minnesota, leads an extensive organic agriculture research and outreach program, exploring the science of organic agriculture. On Thursday, July 10, from 8:00 AM to 4 PM, the Center will hold its annual Organic Field Day to present the latest research-based information about organic no-till production, high tunnel season extension, weed management, cover crops, soil quality, and crop variety selection.

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Jim Riddle...The University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center (SWROC) is pleased to announce receipt of a $20,000 gift from the Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools (CROPP). CROPP is an organic-farmer-owned cooperative of the Organic Valley Family of Farms products, based in LaFarge, Wisconsin.

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Liz Maynard...Earlier this spring, Extension at Purdue, Michigan State, Ohio State and University of Illinois collaborated to present a program about growing vegetables in high tunnels and hoophouses. The program was recorded live and is now available for viewing as a streaming video. The video along with speaker handouts and links to other references is available at tristateorganic.info under the ‘Hoophouses and High Tunnels’.

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Richard Leep...Summer annual grasses are used for summer pasture, green chop, hay, and silage. Annual grasses are normally used as emergency forage. The most common annual grasses used in Michigan are sudangrass, hybrid sudangrass, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, and forage sorghum. A relatively new annual grass called teff, has been grown to a limited extent in Michigan with varying results, however, some growers have had good experience growing it.

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Rich Leep...Alfalfa is an important forage for dairy cows because it provides fiber that effectively stimulates chewing while also providing energy and protein for milk production. The measure of fiber most commonly used to balance diets of lactating dairy cows is neutral detergent fiber (NDF).The optimum concentration of NDF for alfalfa is 40 percent. Alfalfa containing 40 percent NDF allows reasonable grain concentrations in the diet while maintaining adequate diet NDF concentrations.

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Dan Brainard...Buckwheat can be used as a cover crop to improve soil health and fight weeds in any six to seven week window in vegetable production systems. Now (mid-May) is a good time to sow buckwheat in fields that will be planted with a late vegetable crop. Buckwheat is also a good choice following early-harvested vegetable crops like peas and before winter grains.

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Dan Egel...The best way to combat any plant disease is through resistant varieties. Muskmelon (cantaloupe) growers have been able to use cultivars resistant to powdery mildew for the last several years. However, that resistance may not serve growers much longer in the future. This article describes powdery mildew of muskmelon, the host resistance situation in the United States and possible management options.

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Joy Landis...Jim Riddle, Organic Outreach Coordinator at the University of Minnesota, has posted a paper at the New Agriculture Network including a question/answer section on Organic Certification of Research Sites and Facilities. Riddle notes that some grant funds require research to be conducted on certified organic or transitional land. For example, USDA’s Integrated Organic Program requires all research be done on land that is either certified or transitioning to organic.

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Dale R. Mutch...The 2008 growing season is upon us and we’ve had cooler than normal conditions this spring. Our cover crops look pretty good. Red clover looks good, but is shorter than usual. Hairy vetch is shorter than and not as dense as last year. Cereal rye is growing well and should do much better because we received one-half inch of rain this week. We planted spring wheat this year for the first time at MSU/KBS and it looks good.

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