OACC Brookside Field Site – Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC)

Prepared by Andy Hammermeister

The Brookside Pasture has been part of the NSAC for over 40 years. When purchased from a local farmer it was primarily scrubland used for blueberry production. It was subsequently ploughed, fertilized and drained to bring it into pasture production. The pasture, located only 3 km from the NSAC campus, has been mostly used for forages and grazing research since that time. With the establishment of the OACC at the NSAC, it was decided that lands needed to be set aside for organic research. We now have a wide variety of projects underway at Brookside, some of which have been carried over from before the OACC was formed.

The Brookside Pasture is approximately 80 acres in size, including 55 acres of cleared land and 25 acres of forest. The cleared land is bordered on two sides by forest, and on two sides by residential development. The pasture is divided into 15 distinct paddocks and includes a newly renovated corral and livestock handling system. Most of the paddocks have remained as pasture. With the growing need for land for organic research plots, however, we now have 5 paddocks ploughed and more slated for ploughing in the fall.

The Brookside Pasture can be a very busy place during the summer. There were 11 research projects underway this year, including crop rotations, intercropping, mulching, Colorado potato beetle control, stream quality, mixed species grazing, wheat seeding rate, barley variety trials, potato fertility and mycorrhizal research.

Several paddocks in the Brookside Pasture are in transition towards becoming organic. There are many challenges that we face as a research institution trying to have land become certified as organic. By organic standards, we are in transition and under parallel production. This means that while the Brookside Pasture is in transition, the rest of the NSAC farm operation and research sites are under conventional management. So why is this a problem? We do not yet have equipment dedicated to organic production and research; therefore the NSAC conventional researchers and farm are generously sharing their equipment with us. This means we need to be especially careful to make sure that equipment is cleaned before using it at the Brookside Pasture. With the pressures associated with timing of seeding and harvesting, sometimes it is hard to focus on keeping everything up to the organic standard. Imagine sharing your equipment with three conventional farmers!

This summer (2003), Brookside Pasture was home to 50 Limousin cross steers (also known as the Leaping Limos) and a flock of over 90 sheep (36 ewes and 54 lambs). We have no overwintering facilities at Brookside so the animals are only kept around for the summer. These animals are part of a mixed grazing research project continuing from previous years with conventionally managed animals. We are looking for organic animals from organic farms for future research. As a research institution we are required to follow very strict animal health guidelines. This means that conventional treatments must be used to maintain livestock health. As an organic operation, it could be very useful to have manure available to compost and use in research or for use as a fertilizer. As the cattle are not organic, however, it will be difficult to have areas in pasture certified and the use of conventional manure/compost is frowned upon.

As researchers we are also interested in trying new things, pushing the boundaries so-to-speak. In order to support the development of organic farming, we sometimes want to test amendments that have not yet been approved as organic. The data will be useful when certifying bodies make decisions about which materials to allow in the future. We also need to keep track of management history because it will have a big impact on the results of future experiments. We are addressing this issue by starting to keep a detailed management history of the Pasture. This is similar to keeping records for each field on a farm. However, we need to keep track of every research plot at Brookside. This year we are managing over 300 research plots and paddocks. Imagine trying to keep a record of inputs or planning crop rotations on that many fields! This is certainly one of our biggest challenges. On-the-other-hand, we don’t market anything produced at Brookside (or if we do it is not sold as organic). This simplifies record keeping related to product tracking and sales.

Another challenge, and an opportunity, is farming in the midst of a residential area. We have over 15 neighbours to share organic principles with. The neighbours are also very willing to lend a hand by letting us know if the cows are out, especially if they are in their garden…

We are quite interested in maintaining the biodiversity of the Brookside pasture. The land area includes forest, pasture, cultivated forages, a stream, shelterbelts in progress and land cultivated annually for research. We try to protect the soil by reducing tillage and planting cover crops, such as buckwheat, in areas that are not being used for research.

The Brookside Pasture is a very busy place during the summer. Our mandate includes educating farmers, conducting research relevant to organic farmers and supporting organic researchers and extension personnel across the country. If you are interested in learning more about the OACC or our research at the Brookside Pasture, plan to attend our annual Organic Research Field Day held in July. You can also do a virtual tour of our research plots on this website or contact one of the OACC researchers or graduate students.