Organic crop production and sustainable agriculture are the focus of a morning tour and afternoon meeting being held during the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center’s annual field tours on July 14.

Tour:

This is the Center’s Fourth Annual Organic/Sustainable Ag tour and the 11^th year since establishing and managing an organic field at the CREC.

The organic/sustainable agriculture program will begin at 9 a.m. with registration, coffee and a welcome.  Steve Zwinger, Research Specialist at the Carrington Research Extension Center, and member of the NPSAS Farmer Breeder Club will lead the tour.

Speakers and their topics include:

• Byron Lannoye and Emily Paul, General manager and Sales representative for Pulse USA – Organic Field Pea Variety Development

• Steve Zwinger, organic/forage researcher at the Carrington center -  research summary for the Ancient grains -  Spelt, Einkorn, & Emmer

• Frank Kutka, Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society (NPSAS) Farm Breeding Club - Einkorn Accession Evaluation and Development funded by CERES – a non-profit the funds organic research

• Chiwon Lee, NDSU professor of greenhouse production, vegetable culture and breeding- Multistate collaborative vegetable research on cucumbers, onions and green beans

• Mike McMullen, NDSU professor of oat breeding and genetics – Oat Breeding and Variety Performance results

• Tom Rabaey, Agronomist, General Mills – improving Organic Oat Production Research

• Frank Kutka, Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society (NPSAS) Farm Breeding Club -  developing cow pea varieties that can be used for seed and  cover crops in northern climates. This is a multistate project involving NPSAS, NDSU, South Dakota State University and University of Wisconsin.

• Steve Zwinger – Fingerling potato variety trials – A three year project evaluating ten types of specialty potatoes

• Edd Goerger, Executive Director, NPSAS – Radishes for cover crops  project that is funded with a North Central SARE research and education grant

Afternoon Meeting :

Opportunities for Expanding Organic Grain Production in the Northern Great Plains 

A presentation from the U.S. Organic Grain Collaboration seeking input from farmers on a strategic plan to increase market opportunities and investments that will help to support the expansion of organic grain production (feed grade and food grade).  This session is an opportunity for farmers, seed suppliers, buyers, processors and organic grain consumers to ask questions about the project and share insights about where additional investment is most needed. The collaboration will be represented by Grain Millers, Annie's, Clif Bar, Nature's Path and the Organic Trade Association.

Also, Agronomy, northern-hardy fruit and livestock tours will be held in the morning. The tours will depart at 9:30 and run until noon. An afternoon program on unmanned aerial vehicle use in agriculture will start at 1:30 p.m.  An open house and tours of the new Agronomy Laboratory will be available.

For more information about the organic/sustainable ag programs, contact Zwinger or Karl Hoppe at (701) 652-2951 or email Zwinger at steve.zwinger@ndsu.edu or Hoppe at karl.hoppe@ndsu.edu.