Iowa Ag Connection - Organic Cropping Systems Research Highlighted Today

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Organic Cropping Systems Research Highlighted Today
Iowa Ag Connection - 06/28/2016

Iowa Organic Association will host a field day featuring agricultural research on organic cropping systems, June 28 from 2--5 p.m. near Boone. The field day will be conducted by agronomists from Iowa State University and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service at the Iowa State University BioCentury Research Farm located at 1327 U Ave.

The field day, sponsored by ISU Extension and Outreach and USDA-ARS, gives farmers an opportunity to see organic research in the field, create dialogue with agronomists about their results and share organic research ideas farmers want to see explored by public institutions. Attendees will view organic field research plots and discuss the impact on farmers' production options and implications for organic farming in Iowa.

Kathleen Delate, professor and extension organic specialist in horticulture and agronomy at Iowa State, will share her research on organic no-till, a crucial research topic as organic farmers seek to add soil carbon while reducing or eliminating tillage from their farms. Her talk will discuss the Integrated Organic Program experiment on no-till soybeans, which has generated yields ranging from 25-37 bushels per acre, with higher soil quality than tilled systems.

David Weisberger, graduate student in agronomy at Iowa State, will highlight his research on organic oats, an essential low-input crop for organic row crop rotations in Iowa. This research aims to add greater precision to organic oat production by testing the effects of seeding rate and seeding date on yield, test weight, forage establishment and weed suppression within organic production.

Paul Scott, USDA-ARS scientist, will share his research on organic corn and specialty corn varieties, which focuses on improving nutritional value and breeding for a genetic mechanism that can be used to prevent pollination by unwanted sources. He will cover basic corn breeding and display different corn cultivar types including inbreds, hybrids and open pollinated varieties.

Cynthia A. Cambardella, USDA-ARS research soil scientist, will discuss the Organic Water Quality experiment, comparing organic and conventional crop rotations and pasture systems on 30 field plots over 10 acres. Fully-instrumented, tile-drained plots isolate tile drainage from each plot and permit comparison of treatment effects on tile flow and tile nutrient concentrations to examine water quality from three cropping systems: an organic corn-soybean-oat/alfalfa-alfalfa rotation, an organic perennial pasture system (bromegrass, fescue, alfalfa, white clover) and a conventional corn-soybean rotation.

The Iowa Organic Association works to advance organic opportunities by fostering education, research, promotion, market development and policy. The IOA was founded in 2006 to advance Iowa's organic food and farming system. It serves as an umbrella association to represent all of Iowa's organic farmers, gardeners, food and farm businesses and consumers in building a more sustainable Iowa.

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