North Carolina State University (with grant funding from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation) began a project in 2004 concentrating on organic grain production in North Carolina. This project is focused on equipping farmers in North Carolina with the skills and agronomic support needed to produce and market organic grain crops. The goal of this project is to motivate individuals, through extension educational activities, to adopt organic crop rotations and to pursue markets for their value-added farm gate products.

Many North Carolina farmers have expressed interest in opportunities for organic grain production. Through this project, Extension education workshops and farm tours for farmers and Extension agents are addressing production issues unique to organic management. These issues include recommendations for weed control, pest control, seed varieties and sources, fertility, certification and equipment. The project is also concentrating on the marketing of organic grains. This project has the potential to help farmers in North Carolina realize the profitability of organic grain production.

Successful marketing will be critical to the success of establishing a North Carolina organic grain program. Demand for organic corn and wheat, by two mills in North Carolina is over 150,000 bushels each. The demand for organic livestock feed by small livestock producers has also increased in the state and the organic dairy industry in NC will potentially need 2000 tons of grain and 2500 T of forage a year.

This project has great potential to help farmers in North Carolina realize the profitability of organic grain production. There is much more work to be done to achieve this goal, including work on infrastructure, research and education. Infrastructure for distributing and processing organic grain needs to be developed further in order for North Carolina organic grain to be sold outside the state and within the state to support growing interests in supplying organic food to consumers and organic feed for livestock producers. Local feed mills need to increase their capacity for purchasing NC-grown organic grain and for preparing organic livestock feed. More research is needed on organic grain production issues such as weed and pest control, appropriate varieties, fertility, and cover crops. More work is also needed to research marketing opportunities for organic grains grown in our state.

One of the results of this project is the North Carolina Organic Grain Production Guide. This guide provides extensive information on production of organic corn, small grains, and soybeans, organic weed management, fertility, organic certification, marketing, and organic crop budgets. It can be ordered from the distribution center of the Agriculture Communication Services through Jeanne Marie Wallace, telephone 919-513-3152 or fax 919-515-6938 or email jeannemarie_wallace@ncsu.edu

To read about events sponsored by this project, go to News and Events.

For more information about this project, contact: