January 10, 2008

Purdue speakers featured at the Midwest Organic Conference

The topics that will be included are economics, livestock, agronomic and horticulture crops, and organic management. There will be speakers from Purdue University for many of these topics.

Purdue entomology professor Rick Foster will be speaking on organic fruit tree production. He will discuss an experiment he conducted that compared organic and conventional methods of treatment. Foster's talk, at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 17, also will include recommendations on how to begin an organic orchard.

"Producing tree fruits organically in the lower Midwest is a difficult challenge because of the variety and severity of pests," Foster said.

He began a study in 2000 to evaluate the feasibility of organic apple production in Indiana. The experiment consisted of two treatments - organic and conventional - had four replications and two varieties of apples.

"We planted the scab-free varieties Pristine (a very early apple) and GoldRush (a very late apple). The entire trial consisted of a total of 512 trees," Foster said.

He said that one of the largest early challenges was weed control and tree establishment. Initial attempts to use organic herbicides were unsuccessful, and the organic trees did not get off to a good start.

"A combination of weed mats and wood mulch was later used and provided excellent weed control," Foster said. "The primary disease problems are sooty botch and fly speck, and the most serious insect pests are Japanese beetles and plum curculio."

Corinne Alexander, assistant professor in agricultural economics and Purdue Extension specialist in grain marketing, will speak at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 17 about grain marketing and economics.

"Since organic grains are a certified product, the marketing of organic grains is very different from commodity grains, and we will discuss these differences," Alexander said. "We will also consider the economics of organic grains by looking at existing organic crop budgets."

Liz Maynard, Purdue Extension specialist on commercial vegetable and floriculture crops, will present integrated weed management at 3 p.m. on Jan. 17.

"The integrated weed management approach helps by implementing a variety of methods throughout the life cycle of the weed to reduce production and survival of weed seed," she said.

Dan Egel, Purdue Extension specialist in plant pathology, will discuss managing diseases and insects organically during a 3 p.m. session on Jan. 18.

"Management techniques such as crop rotation, the use of resistant varieties, sanitations and accurate diagnosis are critical to organic production," Egel said. "Organic growers should be careful using disease-forecasting techniques."

Writer: Elizabeth Fritz, (765) 494-8402, elfritz@purdue.edu

Sources:   Rick Foster, (765) 494-9572, rfoster@purdue.edu

Corinne Alexander, (765) 494-4249, cealexan@purdue.edu

Liz Maynard, (219) 785-5673, emaynard@purdue.edu

Dan Egel, (812) 886-0198, egel@purdue.edu

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
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