Certified Organic - Ground Level, Part 2

This post picks up where the last left off: halfway through the MCIA's Organic Producer Questionnaire.

The sixth section of the questionnaire deals with Crop Management. Here we get into weed, pest, and disease management. A quotation:

NOP Rule requires a crop rotation plan that maximizes soil organic content, prevents weed, pest and disease problems, and manages deficient or excess plant nutrients.

► After asking for the identity of your problem weeds, the questionnaire follows up with, “What weed control methods do you use?” (Note “control,” not “eradicate,” which probably isn’t an effective use of resources or even possible.)

Black fallow: Tillage without a crop for a season. Doesn’t seem to be as popular as green fallow.

Smother crops: Densely-growing crops that shade or crowd out weeds. Winter rye, vetches, and clovers work well.

Corn gluten: This natural preemergence herbicide, a byproduct of corn wet- milling, inhibits root formation of germinating seeds.

Monitoring soil temperature: Many seed germinate between 40 and 50°F. If you monitor the soil temperature, you can apply a preemergence herbicide, like corn gluten, before the weeds get going.

Soap-based herbicides: Nonselective (will affect weed and crop alike), these kill only the part of the plant with which they come into contact by penetrating the plants’ protective outer layer.

Steam weeding: Destroy weeds’ cells with hot water under pressure.

Electrical: High voltage pulses electropermeabilize the cell membranes of germinating weed seeds. I'm really not sure what this is all about.

Prevention of weed seed set: Plant weed-seed-free crops and keep weeds from going to seed.

► On to pests. MCIA asks, “What strategies do you use to control pest damage to crops?”

Timing of planting: Know when your particular pest is prevalent and plan accordingly. For example, carrot root flies peak in late May and September, so sow as early as possible or in June after the first wave is over.

Companion planting: Grow specific combinations of plants that benefit one or both of them; for example, grow flowers that attract parasitic wasps or hoverflies, which will attack aphids, beetles, caterpillars, etc.

Trap crops: Crops that are more attractive to the pest than the harvest crop due to appearance time or physiological properties. Did you know that stink bugs like black-eyed peas?

IPM: Integrated Pest Management, which takes into account the ecosystem as a whole, incorporates regular monitoring, and understands that the presence of a pest is not necessarily a problem.

► We’re not through with all the potential threats yet. Do tell, “What disease prevention strategies do you use?”

Solarization: A soil pasteurization technique that suppresses damaging nematodes. You raise the temperature of tilled, moistened soil by trapping solar heat with clear plastic sheets.

Vector management: Vectors are insects or other living organisms that transmit diseases, as deer ticks do with Lyme’s disease. Manage the green peach aphid and you’ll manage the Potato virus Y.

Compost/tea use: Compost tea, which is compost extract brewed with a microbial food source, has fungicidal properties.

Field sanitation: Removal or destruction of diseased plant residues

Soil balancing: Adding nutrients to correct deficiencies in the soil.

Whew! Crop Management is finally over. The only thing that puzzled me about the seventh section, Maintenance of Organic Integrity and Crop Storage, was “gravity wagons.” I had an inkling that I knew what they were, just didn’t know the name. And in fact, I had met a gravity wagon at Kent and Linda Solberg’s farm that stored chicken feed.

The eighth section is Record-Keeping System. The questionnaire lists twenty categories of records to be kept for five years, including input records for soil amendments, seeds, manure, foliar sprays and pest control products (“keep all labels”); compost production records; equipment cleaning records; and storage records that show storage location, amounts stored, and cleaning activities. Farmers, start your spreadsheets.

Sections nine and ten are Final Fees and Affirmation, exciting only because it means you’re almost done... with the paper application. Later on, an inspector will come to tour your fields and go over your records with a fine tooth comb. As luck would have it, Cornercopia is going through the inspection process right now and yours truly gets to sit in on the fun. You'll hear all about it on Wednesday.

Corn gluten from Planet Natural and green peach aphid from DPVweb.net