February 2011

Photo of the Month, by OACC Staff
Map indicating the locations of Organic Science Cluster Research Activities across Canada. Please click on the map to open a PDF file with an enlarged map and additional information about the Organic Science Cluster.

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.

• Newspaper Articles
• Extension Information
• Consumers and Issues
• Organic Science Cluster
• Research Articles
• Student and Job Opportunities
• Events

Newspaper Articles

• Budgeting for phosphorous and nitrogen with manure applications
• The Western Producer's Organic Matters Column:
  • Livestock grazing improves economics of green manure

Extension Information

Soils and Fertility

• Dirt: Sustaining a Resource (Farm Focus)
• Nitrogen Deficiency and Carbon: Nitrogen Ratios of Organic (OMAFRA)

Horticulture

• Organic Apple Production and Marketing Webinar (ATTRA)
• Green in the winter brings white flowers in the summer (FiBL)
• Blossoming cabbage fields help beneficial insects (FiBL)

Field Crops

• Video of Dr. Steve Shirtliffe, Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Saskatchewan, presenting his talk "Changing Weed Populations Under Long-term Organic Management" at Organic Connections 2010 - Visit OACC's YouTube page, or view the videos below

Livestock

• Handbook of Control of Parasites of Sheep (Updated)
• Monitoring Body Condition Score of Dairy Cows (OMAFRA)
• Sheep raising: reducing worm infestations with forage clover and the right breed (FiBL)

Ecology and Environment

• Video of Dr. Derek Lynch, Canada Research Chair in Organic Agriculture at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, presenting his keynote talk "The Science Behind Organic Environmentalism" at Organic Connections 2010 - Visit OACC's YouTube page, or view the videos below

General

• Organic Risk Management (University of Minnesota)

Consumers & Issues

• Climate debate: A voice for the organic movement (FiBL)
• Organic is best for the climate (FiBL)
• Organic Food in Pregnancy (ScienceDaily)

Organic Science Cluster

• Video of Dr. Andy Hammermeister, OACC Manager, presenting "Organic Research Rocks Agriculture" at Organic Connections 2010 - Visit OACC's YouTube page, or view the videos below

Research Articles

Soils and Fertility

• Effects of organic transition strategies for peri-urban vegetable production on soil properties, nematode community, and tomato yield

Horticulture

• Cultivar mixtures of processing tomato in an organic agroecosystem
• Organic and conventional fertilizer effects on a tritrophic interaction: parasitism, performance and preference of Cotesia vestalis
• Relationships between beneficial invertebrates, field margin vegetation, and thrip damage in organic leek fields in eastern England

Field Crops

• Intercropping spring wheat with cereal grains, legumes and oilseeds fails to improve productivity under organic management
• Legume cover crops with winter cereals in southern Manitoba: Fertilizer replacement values for oat
• Legume cover crops with winter cereals in southern Manitoba: Establishment, productivity, and microclimate effects
• Molecular markers to exploit genotype-environment interactions of relevance in organic growing systems
• Organic and conventional management of mixtures of wheat and spring cereals
• Sensory profiles of bread made from paired samples of organic and conventionally grown wheat grain
• Tolerance of selected weed species to broadcast flaming at different growth stages

Livestock

• Fat composition of organic and conventional retail milk in northeast England
• Organic dairy farming: impacts on insect–flower interaction networks and pollination
• Production and egg quality in layers fed organic diets with mussel meal
• Productive, environmental and economic performances assessments of organic and conventional suckler cattle farming systems

Ecology and Environment

• The Carbon and Global Warming Potential Impacts of Organic Farming: Does It Have a Significant Role in an Energy Constrained World?
• Do the opportunity costs of providing crop diversity differ between organic and conventional farms? The case of Finnish agriculture
• Food security and biodiversity: can we have both? An agroecological analysis
• How does agricultural biodiversity contribute to food security?
• Mixed effects of organic farming and landscape complexity on farmland biodiversity and biological control potential across Europe
• Organic agriculture and biodiversity – a global review of research results

Consumer Behaviour and Marketing

• Consumer perception of different organic certification schemes in five European countries
• Does it Matter Who Verifies Production-Derived Quality?
• Effect of Organic Poultry Purchase Frequency on Consumer Attitudes Toward Organic Poultry Meat

Food and Health

• Characteristics associated with organic food consumption during pregnancy; data from a large cohort of pregnant women in Norway
• Effects of organic and conventional growth systems on the content of carotenoids in carrot roots, and on intake and plasma status of carotenoids in humans
  
  

Student and Job Opportunities

• Graduate Studies Opportunity: Soil Nutrient Dynamics in Organic Systems
• OACC Summer Student Research Intern (NS)
• International Summer School in Agroecology and Sustainable Management - Lyon, France
• Operations Supervisor at Horse and Garden Organic Farm (NS)
• Organic Apprenticeship/Internship at Horse and Garden Farm (NS)
• SOIL Organic Apprenticeship Program

Events

• Dr. Temple Grandin: "Creating the Best Life for our Animals"Presented by Harmony Organic on Thursday, March 17, Stratford, ON