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The University of
Missouri Bradford Research Center in Columbia will hold its first Organic Field
Day, Aug. 1 from 1-6 p.m. The field day will feature a variety of tours,
demonstrations and activities.
Researchers in the MU
College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources are looking at greenhouse
gas emissions when using cover crops and compost in organic production, organic
no-till planting, organic vegetable production, and how to transition from
conventional to organic production. Funding is through grants from the Ceres
Trust and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“As part of these
grants we do a lot of outreach activities,” says Kerry Clark, a research
specialist at Bradford. “We have an organic page on Bradford’s website, we present at
field days, and the apex of our outreach activities is this field day.”
Visitors can choose from
3 concurrent wagon tours: 1. will look at organic vegetable production,
hoop house production and soil health assessment; 2. will highlight organic
grain production, winter cover crops and the use of cover crops and no-till; 3.
will cover heirloom tomato production, composting, soil amendments and trap
cropping for insects in vegetable production.
There will be
presentations on equipment for organic farming, adding native plants and
pollinators, and using your soil test results. The Missouri Department of
Agriculture will demonstrate a mobile flash freezer facility, which will also
be open for tours. Visitors can try organic snacks made from food grown at the
Bradford Research Center.
“Not only do we hope
we can get new information out to farmers, this is also an opportunity for us
to network with farmers and get their experiences and their ideas for further
research,” Clark says.
The Bradford Research
Center Organic Field Day is free and open to the public, but attendees are
asked to register by contacting Clark at 573-884-7945.
For more information
about organic research at Bradford. For directions to
get to the organic field day click here.
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