2005 Year in Review

Organics from Seed to Table Tour -- June 23

The second of six sustainable agriculture tours this year sponsored by the Agroecology-Sustainable Agriculture Program at the University of Illinois will visit organic research plots at the U of I in the morning followed by an organic lunch and a trip to Jon Cherniss' Blue Moon Farm.

The tour will begin at the organic transitions project site on the U of I South Farms in Champaign at 9:30 on Thursday, June 23.

Intensive organic vegetable production is one of three transitional farming systems being compared in the project, a joint effort of Illinois Natural History Survey and University of Illinois scientists, to determine how differences in management intensity and organic matter inputs affect weeds, soil organic matter, nutrient availability, soil organisms, and the relationship between soil fertility, plant health, and insect/disease pressure. The tour will include presentations at five locations by researchers from U of I and INHS who are working on the project.

John Masiunas will discuss weed shifts during transition and implications for weed management. Catherine Eastman will present information on insect monitoring and how organic systems encourage beneficial insects. Ed Zaborski and Carmen Ugarte will deal with biotic indicators in relation to transition goals and Michelle Wander along with Leslie Cooperband will cover the topic of ways to improving soils in order to manage biologically-based fertility and the basics of making and managing compost. Darin Eastburn's portion of the tour will look at soil development and disease control in an organic system.

“Producers can choose from several different pathways to organic certification,” said Ed Zaborski, a soil ecologist from the INHS. “But, we don’t have very much information about the consequences of those different choices. This project will tell us something about what happens to Illinois farmland when it goes through different transition pathways, and help producers decide which pathway might be best for their circumstances.”

After an organic lunch, the tour will continue the theme at an organic vegetable farm located north of Leverett Road just north of Urbana. Blue Moon Farm, farmed since 1994 by Jon Cherniss and Michelle Wander, produces a wide variety of certified organic produce including heirloom tomatoes and salad greens. The farm's produce is sold at the farmers' market in Urbana and to several area restaurants and grocery stores. The tour of Blue Moon will end at 2:30 p.m.

"This is a great opportunity for people who are interested in farming using organic methods to get a chance to see and hear about what scientists are working on right now in the area and then get a look at a functioning organic farm," said Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, a U of I research specialist who is coordinating the tours.

A fee of $15 will be charged per person and includes a box lunch. Registration at least one week in advance is required. Visit ASAP to register and for more details about this tour and the other scheduled tours or contact Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant at (217) 968-5512 or cvnghgrn@uiuc.edu.

The remaining tour schedule is as follows:
- Wednesday, July 13, "Organics from the Ground Up" at Growing Home Farm in Marseilles.
- Tuesday, July 19, "On-Farm Composting" at QW Farms in Edgewood.
- Friday, August 12, "Freshwater Farm-Raised Prawns" at the Lyons Fisheries in Sandoval, Illinois.
- Tuesday, September 13, Marketing for Ag Entrepreneurs" in Arthur.

The tours are sponsored by the Agroecology/Sustainable Agriculture Program in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois, the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Professional Development Program and the Illinois Small Farm Task Force.

by  Editor, theCity1.com
May 16, 2005