The Rural Voice, 2002-02, Page 23Organic cropping offers
challenges, rewards
By Hugh Martin,
OMAFRA Organic Crop
Production Program Lead
(taken from Crop Talk
Newsletter)
The Canadian farm gate value of
organic farming products is
estimated at $500 million annually.
Roughly 25 per cent of Canada's
organic production comes from
Ontario, about 1-1.5 per cent of our
agricultural production. While not a
big proportion, the organic sector
has been growing at approximately
20 per cent per year for over 10
years — an impressive record of
growth in any sector! And with
somewhere over 600 certified
organic farmers in Ontario, this
sector continues to have excellent
opportunities!
Prices for good
quality organic soy-
beans have recently
been ranging from
$18-20 per bushel,
and organic corn
ranges from $7-
9/bushel. Impressive!
But how do you get
there?
A study by Dr. Alan Hall from
University of Windsor last year
surveyed 256 organic farmers, with
some interesting results. Only 51
per cent of organic farms have
livestock! The average organic farm
is 217 acres with 153 acres of
cropland. Many of these farms are
integrated with small acreages of
fruit or vegetables. Some have
larger acreages of processing green
beans, peas, and sweet corn. Not
what some of my colleagues
envisioned.
One of the challenges on an
organic farm is managing crop
needs for fertility and pest control.
Organic farmers choose not to use
many of the tools that conventional
neighbours rely on, like commercial
fertilizers and pesticides. Organic
farms rely on longer crop rotations
with cover crops and timely
cultivations to control weeds and
other pests. For example, soybeans
are delayed in planting to late in
May so that preplant tillage will kill
the first flush of weeds, and rotary
hoeing or harrowing is used to kill
many more weeds at the white root
stage — before the weeds emerge.
The success of these strategies is
more variable than their
neighbours', with a greater
dependency on management skills
and weather.
Many growers of organic
soybeans indicate that yields may
be below conventional norms, but
are acceptable and profitable with
the current prices. Continuous
soybeans do not work. It degrades
the soil structure and encourages
too many weeds.
The challenge has been to
develop a crop rotation
that is profitable. On
livestock farms there are
options for hay crops
and other feed crops that
can be fed to organic
livestock.
In recent years, as the
organic livestock sector
has developed, the need for organic
feeds has also grown. New markets
for organic corn and cereal feed
grains are developing. Export
markets for a variety of orgsnic
products continue to grow.
Organic wheat and spelt are
winter cereals with successful
markets in the milling and baking
product markets. Fall rye and
buckwheat are largely used as cover
crops to enhance weed control but
also have some opportunity for cash
markets.
Organic farming has many
challenges. While the production
challenge is manageable, often
marketing is more difficult. Know-
ing the requirements of the market
and designing your production
system to meet them is critical.
There is a lot to learn when you
start to farm organically, but
successful organic farmers say they
are having fun!O
Prices for good
quality organic
soybeans have
been $18-$20
recently
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FEBRUARY 2002 19