Set for January 19, 2013
The Kansas Graziers Association (KGA) Winter Conference
will be held Saturday, January 19, 2013, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Courtyard
Mariott Hotel in Salina, Ks.
“Back to the Basics of Grazing Management” is the theme for this year’s
conference.
“With so
many new people interested in grazing management or wanting information on how
to manage drought stressed pastures, we thought a full day of state experts on
a number of critical topics was the best idea,” stated KGA secretary Mary
Howell.
Speakers will include David Kraft, and Dwayne Rice, Kansas
based USDA NRCS Rangeland
Management Specialists. Kraft will address drought management, and Rice will compare conventional
grazing to MIG (management intensive grazing) and mob grazing. Gary Kilgore, retired KSU grass and
forages specialist, will discuss soil health and fertility in grazing systems,
and Dale Strickler, rancher educator, will cover plant physiology, forage
options, and extending the grazing season. Rancher Ted Alexander will also lead
a rancher/farmer panel on drought planning and general questions on grazing.
Registration fees are $50 for the first person per ranch, and $35 for a
second person. Student
registration is $25. The Courtyard Mariott is located at 3020 Riffel Drive,
Salina, Ks., at the Schilling Road Exit from I-135.
Check the KRC website at www.kansasruralcenter.org for registration forms and information, or contact Mary
Howell at marshallcofair@gmail.com or 785-562-8726 or call the KRC office at 785-873-3431.
Cosponsors are Kansas Grazing Lands Coalition, Kansas Rural Center, Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, and Kansas Farmers Union.
KGA is
sponsoring a social at the conference headquarters starting at 7 p.m. Friday
night January 18 for those coming to Salina the night before.
 |
| Dr. Michel Cavigelli, USDA ARS Farming Systems Project Leader, spoke to about 70 organic, transitional and conventional farmers at the forum. |
Organic Farming Opportunities and Benefits
Highlighted at Forum
“Dollars for organic research exist because of all of you,” Dr. Michel
Cavigelli, USDA ARS lead scientist for the Farming Systems Program told the
crowd at a recent forum on organic farming in Salina, Ks.
About 70
organic farmers, transitional or beginning farmers and a number of conventional
farmers and non-farming landowners gathered to listen to Cavigelli’s overview
of organic research across the country, as well as to learn more about organic
cropping systems, certification, marketing opportunities, and USDA NRCS
resources for organic.
Cavigelli was referring to the growing farmer interest and consumer
demand for organic products, and to the funds included in the past couple of
farm bills dedicated to organic research needs. Organic production is one of the fastest growing sectors
within agriculture averaging about 18 to 20% per year the past 15 years. While
research funds have not grown proportionately, forum participants learned that
USDA and a few universities around the country have still been able to
establish some important long- term studies and begin collecting base
data.
Cavigelli and others spoke at the daylong forum organized by the Kansas
Rural Center, and cosponsored by the Kansas Organic Producers Marketing
Association, and Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative
Crops.
All
farming systems manage ecological processes to provide ecosystem services,
Cavigelli explained. These services include food production, regulating of
water quality, pests, and climate, and supporting soil retention and nutrient
cycling. Soil organic matter is
the new buzzword in agronomy and conservation circles, largely due to concerns
about soil health and carbon sequestration.
Soil organic matter, stated
Cavigelli, provides ecosystems services of increasing fertility, stabilizing
soils to prevent erosion, helping control some pests, increasing carbon
sequestration, and building system resilience in all agricultural systems. But
organic farming, he explained, does all this without synthetic fertilizers,
pesticides, or genetically modified organisms. “Improving organic matter and soil health have long been the
foundation of organic farming systems.”
“Organic
farming systems have a mean carbon sequestration rate similar to no till
systems,” he stated. While quick to acknowledge that more research is needed
because the sites were not set up for one-to one comparison, organic systems
fixed carbon in the soil at rates equal or higher than no till, especially at
lower soil profiles at five long term agriculture research sites (LIARS). In addition to the carbon benefits,
organic systems also can have erosion or loss rates
comparable to no till despite the tillage used in organic, although reduced
tillage or no till within organic systems had better results than organic with
tillage.
As for yields,
organic yields are on average lower than conventional systems—about 85 to 90%
of conventional yields on average in all of the LIAR sites. But a closer look
at the research has shown that the longer rotation systems (i.e. a six year
rotation such as a corn followed by a fall rye cover crop, then soybeans,
followed by wheat and then 3 years of alfalfa) brought crop yields closer to conventional
averages. The longer term rotations also showed better weed control and lower
soil erosion.
Cavigelli pointed to organic farming’s research needs and challenges:
improve manure management, integrate cover crops and perennial forages, and
reducing tillage. “We have learned, “ stated Cavigelli, “ that you must pay as
much attention to the cover crop as to the cash crop.”
Crop
rotations and soil building legume's and manure management practices were
emphasized by Ed Reznicek, organic farmer and General Manager of the Kansas
Organic Producers Association, as he outlined the challenges and opportunities
in organic field crop production. Ib Hagsten, independent certified organic
inspector, laid out the basics of organic certification. If you are averse to record keeping,
then organic farming is probably not for you, he advised.
“Demand
for organic crops surpasses the available supply,” stated Rodger Schneider,
Kansas Organic Producers Association Marketing Director. “About 60% of the organic soybeans
processed in this country are imported from China or India. That is opportunity for Kansas
farmers.” While conventional crop
prices are at all time highs, premiums for organic crops have climbed too. “We need more organic farmers to meet
the product demand.”
USDA
official numbers for certified organic farmers nationally was under 12,000 with
400 million in sales in 2002. By
2011, the number was nearly 13,000 with $3.5 billion in sales. The official numbers for organic
farmers certified in Kansas ranges from 83 to 167, depending on which set of
data you are looking at and which definitions of organic farmer they used. Numbers for surrounding states such as
Iowa and Nebraska are much higher (Iowa 677 and Nebraska 211), according to
USDA.
Lyle Frees,
Resource Conservationist, with the USDA NRCS office in Salina described how the
EQIP Organic Initiative can help transitioning or existing organic
farmers. The NRCS program is there
to provide cost-share assistance to transitioning organic farmers in adopting
conservation practices (such as crop rotations, cover crops, nutrient
management, grazing management, etc.) to facilitate the transition, and to help
existing organic farmers in adopting needed conservation measures. Each county should have a staff person
who participated in the organic training workshops coordinated by the Kansas
Rural Center and State NRCS office in 2010 and 2011.
A range
of farmers attended the meeting coming from all parts of the state and some
from Nebraska and Northwest Missouri.
At the
beginning of the day forum organizer Mary Fund told the group, “This is exactly
what we wanted to see today—a broad spectrum of experienced organic farmers and
transitional or beginning farmers or just curious conventional farmers. I don’t want to downplay what you will
learn from the speakers today, but what you’ll learn from each other will be
just as important.”
About a third of those attending were currently certified
organic farmers, another third were land-owners or non-organic farmers
interested in learning more, and about a quarter were beginning or transitional
organic farmers. Following the forum, Fund said, “98 percent of those
responding to our forum evaluation asked for additional regional or local education
and information meetings. KRC is
going to see what we can do to help make that happen.”
The
Forum was partly funded by a grant from the National Center for Appropriate
Technology via a USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant.
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