04/09/08 Farm Walks

Farm Walks. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Like to get the latest information on farming practices from the producers themselves? Then sign up for a Farm Walk. Tilth Producers of Washington are sponsoring a series of educational Farm Walks for growers beginning with Dennis Nicholson of Nicholson Orchards. NICHOLSON: We're going to talk about transitioning from conventional growing to organic growing and we're going to be talking about some of the pitfalls in that and some of the management issues. We're also going to have a grafting demonstration and we've got a couple of old Red Delicious trees out there we're going to convert over to Honey Crisp or something a little more exciting. Nicholson's reasons for transitioning to organic come from a safety aspect. NICHOLSON: We live in a watershed up here in Peshastin Creek that most of us grew up around and we know it's a salmon bearing creek and so the endangered species act is a part of what we have to live with. We want to do the best job we can to keep pesticides and herbicides and so forth out of the creek and make it a safe environment for fish and for families that want to recreate in the creek There is a lot to think about when converting over to organic growing and Nicholson is more than willing to discuss that with growers attending. NICHOLSON: We hope it will be fun for everybody. We're going to be open for questions and I'm sure we're going to have some experts in the audience that we'll be able to learn from too so we're looking forward to that interchange between the participants and us. For more information on the Farm Walks, visit tilthproducers.org. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.