Making the Big Switch!

By Andy Hammermeister Ph.D., P.Ag.

Anyone who has ever made the switch from conventional to no-till farming will know the challenges of switching approaches. At first you might think it is as easy as getting a new seeder and sprayer. But as you get into it, you find that you may need a whole new way of looking at how to farm, a change to your whole farming system.

Many of your basic practices and knowledge need to change. Seedbed conditions change your residue management and planting depth and timing. Your weed management system changes, affecting the timing of operations. As you make the switch you realize that the fields go through a transition. Your weed profile and soil tilth and fertility all adjust to the new management conditions. You look for different crops, crop varieties and rotations to help make the system work. As you learn what works best on your farm, you park some of the equipment and ways of doing things that you grew up with in the back corner of the yard or your mind.

A switch like this can be done quickly, but the soil, weeds and your thinking take time to adjust. You have questions about whether or not the new system is sustainable, in the field and the bank account. How do I manage weeds, insects and diseases? How do I optimize my soil fertility? How will my yields be affected? What changes do I need to make to my crops and crop rotations? What should I expect while I make the switch? To answer these questions you start by talking with neighbours and extension agents and attending meetings. For some questions, however, answers are hard to find so you ask researchers, who carry out trials and hold field days.

The switch from conventional production to organic is much the same. Residue management and rotations become especially important for weed, insect and disease control. And the fertility and weed profile of your fields change gradually, or sometimes not so gradually, over time. You park some of your equipment and ideas in the back corner, and adapt to a new way of thinking. You make changes to your seeding, fertility and weed management programs. You look for help from successful farmers, extension staff and researchers.

The questions in a switch to organic will be very similar to those asked in a switch to no-till. Good resources are now available to new farmers interested in organic including: production handbooks, workshops, internet courses, technical bulletins, extension specialists and of course, successful farmers who are willing to share information. There are also researchers from across Canada who spend at least a part of their time studying organic systems or organic management practices.

With funding from an organization called NSERC and provincial funding agencies, a recent cooperation of over 20 researchers, 40 students and technicians, and 70 farmers from across Canada has targeted the questions above. So, what kind of results have they found? Soil fertility management requires a careful balance of understanding your cropping history entering transition, the effect of your rotation on soil fertility, and the amount of nutrients supplied by soil amendments or ploughdown crops. You can run into phosphorus deficiency problems if not carefully managed. There is no difference between organic and conventional systems as to how likely it is that a soil will erode. What is more important is how often a forage crop is included in the crop rotation (of either system).

Intercropping can help maintain yield and reduce risk of crop failure. Soil fertility can affect your weed competitiveness; increasing seeding rates by 25% can help the crop compete with weeds. Depending on the crop, weeds can be controlled using tine weeders, rotations, and flaming. Insects like Colorado potato beetle do have preferences for different varieties of potatoes. The beetle can be controlled by using products like spinosad, flaming, or by applying neem products (not yet on the market in Canada).

Organic research in Canada is growing. See OACC's Research page for details about these projects and many others, and sign on to the free monthly newsletter called Organic Friends E-Zine. Or, contact your local organic farm group or specialist for more information.

Andy Hammermeister, Ph.D., P.Ag., is the Research Associate with Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada (OACC), at the national headquarters located at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College. Andy would be happy to answer your questions related to organic production of field crops, and he can be reached at 902-893-7296 or ahammermeister@nsac.ca .

 

Posted March 2007