06/11/08 WSU Dryland Organic Field Day

Washington Ag June 11, 2008 Organic crop management research on the Palouse will be featured at the Dryland Organic Cropping Systems Field Day June 18th at the Boyd research farm site near Pullman. The program runs from 8:30 to noon on the 18th and WSU's Pat Fuerst details one feature on the agenda. Fuerst: "I think the feature is we are going to have is we are going to have a grower from Fairfield talk about his experience. He just got started in organic production and he is going to talk about weed management strategies." Fuerst says they don't plow at the research farm and weed management implements that minimize soil disturbance will be shown. Fuerst: "We have used a rotary hoe for in-crop weed control. We have used the rotary hoe for pre-plant weed control. And we have used the under-cutter as a conservation tillage measure both pre-plant and post-harvest." Results from the first five years of organic cropping systems research will be highlighted including profitability, yields, weeds, and soil fertility in different organic transition systems. The Boyd farm site is located between Pullman and Moscow at 3081 Pullman Airport Road. I'm Bob Hoff.