This farm, located in eastern North Carolina, has been in certified organic production for 17 years and has grown some certified organic grain for at least 10 years.

 

Land certified organic: ~150 acres (all farm is organic)

 

 

 

Rotation:

• Corn—wheat—soybeans (wheat and soybeans are double cropped)
• Used to have melons in rotation, but is too busy now to have vegetables in rotation, however,
• Wants to expand rotation to have vegetables (melons, etc.) or some other crop in rotation (sunflowers or buckwheat)
• Sometimes puts in cover crops after soybeans and especially before vegetables (rye and vetch; sometimes together, sometimes separate)
• won’t plant vetch in fields where wheat is going to be because it can become a weed problem in wheat—seeds become contaminants
• seeding rates for cover crop: rye: 2 bu/acre; vetch: 20 lb/acre
• rye is used as a cover crop in the grain rotation after soybeans

 

Weed control:

• 6-row Lely weeder: can go 6-7 mph; used 2-3 times on beans and corn starting 2-3 days after crop is planted
• After Lely weeder, uses an S-tine cultivator about two times
• After S-tine, uses rolling cultivator (about two times)—throws dirt up under plants to get in-row weeds
• Uses higher seeding rate (e.g. 32,000 seed/acre on corn) because will get some loss when cultivating—also helps shade the weeds faster
• Wheat: plants on 7” rows and does not need any weed control (would like to plant on 4” rows to get faster between row shading)
• Has worst weed problems when transitioning a field to organic, esp. in the first 2-3 years. After that, weed problems diminish, and he has little troublesome weed problems in organic fields.
• Sees that it is important to plant directly after field has been field cultivated (prepared for planting)—don’t want to let weeds have even an extra day of germinating before crop

Mushroom compost - Sept 200 4

Fertility:

• Applies 3-3.5 T/acre of mushroom compost (4:1:4 analysis) on beans and 2 T/acre in fall on wheat. Applies the compost to wheat because it has gypsum in it and sees that wild garlic populations are lowered in fields higher in Ca.
• Applies 3-3.5 T/acre of pelletized chicken litter from Perdue broilers (4:2:2 analysis) on corn. Has applied 1-1.5 T/acre on wheat in spring, but wants to apply all fertility to wheat in fall so that as organic matter it can release nutrients when the plants need it when it starts to warm up in the spring.
• May use Griffin Industries (feather/bone meal: 12:1:1 analysis) as a side dress on corn. Meal is very expensive, and is used rarely and/or in small quantities.
• Sometimes applies chicken litter at about 3 T/acre from local chicken houses to supplement these fertilizers.
• Does not have to apply lime any more—thinks that the mushroom compost has neutralized a lot of the acidity in the soil. Also does not have to apply as much fertilizer as he used to because of the build up of organic matter and amino acids in the soil
• Mushroom compost is applied at 2 T/acre in the fall on wheat. Mushroom compost is applied because it contains gypsum and feels that wild onions/garlic populations are reduced in fields with higher calcium (if magnesium is high and calcium is low sees a problem with wild garlic). In the spring, 1-1.5 T/acre of 4:2:2 (palletized manure) is applied to wheat, but would like to apply all fertility to wheat in the fall and have the organic matter do the work in the spring.

Insect control:

• Does nothing for insect control
• Sees that sometime he could get late worms in his soybeans, and plans to treat with Bt if it becomes a problem
• Uses food-grade diatomaceous earth in storage bins—pours in a scoop on the grain in the auger occasionally as the grain is being loaded into storage bins

Row spacing:

• 36” rows for corn and beans because of his equipment (may go to 18” rows)
• 7” rows for wheat

Organic wheat - June 2005

Seed source:

• Soybeans: from local seed company—untreated (wants to support local economy as much as possible)
• Corn: from NC+; bought the two varieties they recommend for the SE
• Wheat: from local seed company; got samples of most of the locally available wheat varieties and sent them to the buyer who picked the one that had the best qualities he was looking for—plants that variety every year

Harvesting and Storage:

• Harvests with a combine that he borrows from a family member—they keep it repaired and he lets them use it for free
• Cleans combine with compressed air; harvest the outside of each field and sell as conventional (to decrease GMO and chemical contamination)
• Have two grain bins which are used to store the grain. Sell wheat in September—buyer likes it then and that bin is then empty for corn or beans
• Clean trucks with pressure washer—haul corn and wheat themselves (likes to be in charge of the hauling because knows what happens to his product)

Certified by: Quality Certification Services (in Florida)

• Not satisfied with the certification service: thinks they take advantage of the farm; take a percentage of what is sold, etc.

Yields: within the county average

Top information sources for farmer:

• Rodale Institute
• Practical Farmers of Iowa
• Conferences held by organizations like Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA), Sustainable Agricultural Working Group (SAWG), and Georgia Organics

 

• Wants NCSU and state to provide more information about organic grain production and marketing. Would like NCSU to do more research on organic production systems, and more advocacy as a state organization for farmers, especially organic farmers.

 

 

 

 

Organic soybean field - Sept 2004

 

 

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