December 2011

Photo of the Month, by Joanna MacKenzie
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:

Editor's Note: Organic practitioners may find the information presented in the Newspaper Articles and Extension Information sections to be the most easily accessible and applicable.

• A Note from OACC's Director
• Newspaper Articles
• Extension Information
• Research Articles
• Student & Job Opportunities
• Standards
• Consumers
• Market Information
• Issues
• Animal Welfare

Newspaper Articles

• Equivalency for Organic Trade
• Organic farming...organic varieties?
• Martin & Martine - Organic Science Clusters Researchers
• The Western Producer's Organic Matters Column:
  • Can organic production feed seven billion people?
    

Extension

Horticulture

• Tomato Grafting for Disease Resistance and Increased Productivity (SARE)

Field Crops

• Against the Grain (The Organic Research Centre)
• Design the Cropping System to Minimize Niches for Weed Growth (eXtension)
• Ecosystem services of biodiversity in organic grasslands (ICROFS)
• How Cover Crops Suppress Weeds (eXtension)
• Legume Pick ‘n’ Mix (The Organic Research Centre)
• Put the Weeds Out of Work—Grow Cover Crops! (eXtension)
• There is Nothing Like an Oat (The Organic Research Centre)
• Weed Management for Organic Producers (SOD)
• What is “Organic No-till,” and Is It Practical? (eXtension)

Livestock

• Importance of Providing Roughage to Organic Growing/Finishing Pigs (OMAFRA)
• Improving veterinary care for organic livestock producers (Leopold Centre)

Research Articles

Soils and Fertility

• Below- and aboveground abundance and distribution of fungal entomopathogens in experimental conventional and organic cropping systems
• Compost, rapeseed rotation, and biocontrol agents significantly impact soil microbial communities in organic and conventional potato production systems
• Crop yield, root growth, and nutrient dynamics in a conventional and three organic cropping systems with different levels of external inputs and N re-cycling through fertility building crops
• Long-term organic farming fosters below and aboveground biota: Implications for soil quality, biological control and productivity

Field Crops

• Perspectives to breed for improved baking quality wheat varieties adapted to organic growing conditions

Livestock

• Organic and free-range egg production
• Use of diagnostic markers to monitor fasciolosis and gastrointestinal nematodes on an organic dairy farm

Food and Health

• Quantitative proteomics by 2DE and MALDI MS/MS uncover the effects of organic and conventional cropping methods on vegetable products

Ecology and Environment

• The effects of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta-analysis
• Generalist predators in organically and conventionally managed grass-clover fields: implications for conservation biological control
• How does agricultural intensification modulate changes in plant community composition?
• Which carabid species benefit from organic agriculture? - a review of comparative studies in winter cereals from Germany and Switzerland

Economics

• Production costs across the EU in 2006

Student & Job Opportunities

• Employment Opportunity: Executive Director, Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN)
• Nuffield Canada Scholarship:
  • Nuffield Canada searches out enthusiastic individuals with a passion for agriculture and a desire to expand your knowledge, pursue new ideas and to share your findings with others. Desired scholarship candidates are mid-career, between the ages of 30 and 45 (although exceptions are made) with a minimum of five years of agricultural business or farming experience.
• Permaculture Cuba 2012!  An Immersion Experience in Sustainable Urban Agriculture in the Heart of Cuba

Standards

• Proposed Questions and Answers Regarding National Standards for Organic Agriculture

Consumers

• Startling differences in produce pesticide residue levels (COTA)
  • See the original CBC news story, with links to the data
• FAQs: Canada's rules for organic food (CBC)

Market Information

• The Fairtrade movement: Six lessons for the organics sector
• Organic farm incomes in England and Wales 2009/10
• The Uptake of Organic Agriculture: A Decade of Worldwide Development
• A World Map of Organic Agriculture

Issues

• Nanomaterials in food and agriculture: The big issue of small matter for organic food and farming

Animal Welfare

• Addressing the pain associated with disbudding and dehorning in cattle
• Castration induced pain in pigs and other livestock
• Human–animal interactions at abattoirs: Relationships between handling and animal stress in sheep and cattle
• The long and short of it: A review of tail docking in farm animals
• Pain issues in poultry