10/06/06 Green manure cropping field day

October 17th is the date. The Fort Hall Indian Reservation is the place for a green manure field day. Jennifer Miller of the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides says they are five acres of mustards, oilseed radish and arugula. MILLER "We've teamed up with the University of Idaho and this year you have a chance to look at some new test plots they've started, to look at additional benefits of green manures and you also have a chance to look at six different green manure crops growing in the field." Miller says the test plots at Fort Hall were planted in mid-August and will be turned back into the soil in mid-October, shortly after the field day. Scientists are measuring the costs and benefits of growing the green manure crops. MILLER "What kind of weed control will we be able to see in the following potato crops? How it may be involved in helping to control wireworms and also looking at general diseases and nematodes too." The work you'll see at the field day is supported by a two-year 69 thousand dollar grant from the American Farmland Trust and the Environmental Protection Agency. NCAP and the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have been jointly exploring mustard green manure cropping for pest control and improved soil health on the reservation since 2002. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott