Posters from the Triad Symposium on February 25, 2012.
Weed Management, Environmental Quality, and Profitability in Organic Feed and Forage Production Systems
The overall goal of this integrated project is to create sustainable cropping systems to produce high value organic livestock feed and forages. Balancing weed suppression, beneficial arthropod conservation, environmental quality and profitability is central to this project. We are testing the hypothesis that adverse impacts associated with tillage for weed management can be mitigated by alternating or "rotating" soil depleting activities with soil building activities to result in acceptable crop productivity, weed population dynamics, and biological, environmental and economic indicators at various temporal scales.
Denise Finney, Sara Eckert, and Jason Kaye
Christina Mullen and Mary Barbercheck
Meagan Schipanski, Mary Barbercheck, Sara Eckert, Denise Finney, Jayson Harper, Jason Kaye, Nancy Ellen Kiernan, Dave Mortensen, Christina Mullen, Tara Pisani Gareau, Dave Sandy and Rich Smith
Sustainable Cropping Systems for Dairy Farms in the Northeastern US
We are evaluating ecological strategies for an average-sized, Pennsylvania dairy farm to produce all of its forage, feed, and tractor fuel needs, and to minimize off-farm inputs. We have designed two diverse crop rotations with legumes, green manure and cover crops, no-till, manure injection and integrated pest management practices. Canola is grown for fuel for the straight vegetable oil powered tractor, and the meal is a protein source for the cows.
Elina Snyder, William Curran, Heather Karsten and Glenna Malcolm
Maggie Douglas and John Tooker
Robert Meinen, Douglas Beegle, Heather Karsten, Peter Kleinman
Improving Weed and Insect Management in Organic Rotational No-Till
This project is funded through the USDA's Organic Agriculture Research Initiative. Our overall goal is to develop sustainable reduced-tillage organic feed grain production systems that integrate pest (weed and insect) and soil management practices to overcome production constraints associated with high residue, reduced-tillage environments. We will focus on the interactions between weed-, insect- and soil-management methods for organic production of small grains, corn and soybeans. Studies will include a soil quality component. The project activities will include research-station and on-farm research and extension.
C. Keene, W. Curran, M. Ryan, S. Mirksy, M. VanGessel, M. Dempsey, B. Scott, and L. Young
Ariel Rivers, Christina Mullen, and Mary E. Barbercheck
Cover Crop Cocktails for Use in Organic Crop Production
This study, funded by the USDA Organic Research and Extension Initiative, will determine whether diverse cover crop mixtures -- as opposed to a single-species cover cropping -- can enhance ecosystem functions in a corn-soybean-wheat cash crop rotation that produces organic feed and forage. The experiment will transition a 30-acre parcel of land at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center to organic production during the duration of the experiment. Research is also being conducted on several commercial organic farms in Pennsylvania.
Katherine Ellis and Mary Barbercheck