Ashley Adair and the Purdue Agroecology Lab hosted the inaugural Indiana Organic Network Advisory Board Meeting on Tuesday, 2/18. The board, made up of grain and specialty crop farmers and ag service organization partners, will advise the project team on the grant that funds the Indiana Organic Network effort (NIFA-ORG “Empowering Indian’s Organic Farmers: Assessing[Read More…]
Ashley Adair hosted the 2025 Indiana Organic Grain Farmer Meeting on 2/19 at the Beck Center. There were about 85 growers and ag professionals in attendance, including 12 exhibitors sponsoring the event. The event has steadily grown over the last few years. The Indiana Organic Network and SARE supported this event by providing resources and[Read More…]
Ashley Adair moderated the “Market Signals from End-Users” panel discussion at the Ohio State Organic Grains Conference on January 9th. Ashley discussed trends and issues in the organic grain trade from the perspectives of three organic grain buyers and processors in the region: Annette Cook of Simmons Grain in Salem, OH; Rex Marquart of Miller[Read More…]
On Wednesday, December 4, HLA Extension hosted a booth at the Showcase event during the Purdue Extension Professional Development Conference. Thanks to engaging activities such as weed identification and a hydroponics demonstration, our exhibit received positive feedback from attendees. Special thanks to Aaron Patton for providing weed samples and signage, which added great value to[Read More…]
Ashley Adair, Organic Agriculture Specialist, John Orick, Extension Master Gardener State Coordinator, and Karen Mitchell, Consumer Horticulture Specialist, provided training to equip 22 Extension educators with the skills and curriculum needed to implement four hands-on horticulture activities in their local communities. Focused on plant propagation, weed identification, and hydroponics, the training emphasized practical techniques in[Read More…]
Ashley Adair presented “The Dirt… on soil health, cover crops, and the bottom line” at private applicator recertification programs in Clark, Harrison, and Washington Counties on 11/12/2024. The talk covered soil health, N-credits from cover crops, and organic transition (an unusual topic for a PARP meeting!). Across the three events, Ashley reached approximately 100 farmers.[Read More…]
Ashley Adair presented at the Rooted & Resilient Homesteading Conference in Kendallville, IN this past Saturday. She co-presented a talk on organic labeling and certification with Noble County ANR Educator Ann Kline, and presented a talk “From Scraps to Soil: Mastering Composting and Organic Production.” Shout out to the educators in Area 11 and Wabash[Read More…]
Find yourself a tin roof, a rain gauge and enjoy the smell of petrichor on the horizon – we’ve got a potential thunderstorm this morning! And I say now as many a farmer has said before me: we suuuuure needed it. As a whole, it’s been a slower week, mostly harvest and maintenance. A classic case[Read More…]
A research article entitled “Effect of in-row spacing on weed suppression and yield of ‘Covington’ and ‘Monaco’ sweetpotato” was published in Weed Technology on October 16, 2024. The research was conducted as part of the Master’s thesis of Emmanual Cooper, funded by the USDA-NIFA-OREI grant program. Co-authors include Stephen Meyers and Ashley Adair from HLA,[Read More…]
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