Progress 08/01/08 to 07/31/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Major audience: Organic vegetable farmers, agency personnel associated with organic farming, students, other researchers Secondary audience: Other farmers interested in aspects of this project. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We had five people who had the opportunity for training as interns in this program. These included two recent graduates from Peru who came to the US through the Multicultural Exchange in Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) program, one student from Evergreen State College, one from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), and one from Washington State University. One of the MESA stewards worked with us for a year, learning organic farming techniques in the US, learning to collect soils data on our organic vegetable systems experiment, and visiting other organic farms through farm walks. The second MESA steward joined us for the last three months of her time in the US, and also participated in data collection and farm walks.Both of them translated and recorded a powperpoint presentation on soils, nutrient management, soil testing, and organic amendments into Spanish, and recorded it for Spanish-speaking audiences. The Evergreen intern also participated in data collection, farm activities, and farm walks and field days. The PLU student did research on microbial biomass measurement and collembolan populations in the systems experiment, in addition to other field data collection and farm walks. She was an ASA Golden Opportunity Scholar (one of few from a liberal arts college) and presented posters at ASA and at Soil Ecological Society meetings in Canada. The WSU student focused on Good Agricultural Practices research, and then began working in the food safety lab at WSU Pullman. He switched majors from Engineering to Food Science as a result of his work with us. Besides these interns, 1-3 students or recent graduates worked with us each summer, learning about soils, organic farming systems, and soils research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Results have been disseminated to farmers, agricultural professionals and agencies, agricultural students, and future farmers through a variety of means including annual field days at the organic vegetable systems experiment at WSU Puyallup, farm walks, Cultivating Success classes, short courses, presentations at the annual Washington Tilth Producers conference, Good Agricultural Practices workshops, presentations at other agricultural meetings, videos, web pages, traditional extension publications, and other printed and electronic materials. Some of these activities were done in conjunction with other grant funding (such as USDA immigrant farmer grants), which allowed us to extend our outreach. Field days at WSU Puyallup have focused on soil quality, cover cropping, pastured poultry, equipment demonstrations, and food safety on the farm, including worker hygiene, irrigation water, harvest tools, and soil amendments, with attendance ranging from 40 to 80 per field day. We also held a bi-lingual cover crops field day for Hmong farmers. Most of the farm walks occur on commercial organic farms and cover a wide range of soil quality, fertility, crop, and farm management issues. From 2009 through 2012, members of our team developed, coordinated, and evaluated 39 farm walks with the host farmers leading the walk in collaboration with WSU. Two farm walks were held at the WSU Puyallup organic vegetable systems experiment. One was a mock good agricultural practices (GAP) audit at the organic vegetable systems experiment at WSU Puyallup, and included crate washing, hand washing, irrigation, and composting. Cultivating Success is a series of classes for farmers and future farmers focused on basic soil and crop information, farming practices, and farm business planning. Not all participating farmers are organic, but many are, and all can benefit from the classes. Research results from our organic systems experiment are worked into the curricula of the classes and several of our team members teach one or more sections of the class in different locations. Bi-lingual Cultivating Success classes were done for Hmong, east African, and Latino immigrant farmer groups. Short courses included winter and summer cover crops schools, and pastured poultry. The winter and summer cover crops schools had an on-line component followed by a field day. Presentations at the annual Washington Tilth conference are typically attended by 80-100 farmers. They have included English and Spanish presentations on soil quality and food safety, farmer-researcher co-presentations on topics such as cover crops, and presentations on management zones for on-farm soil sampling and the roll of soil organisms in maintaining productive soils. Our work on Good Agricultural Practices was an outgrowth of food safety research done at the organic systems experiment and collaborations from that research. We have held 3-6 workshops each year since 2009, focused on basic GAPS, developing GAPS plans, and GAPS certification and Food Safety Moderization Act (FSMA). Dissemination also included other local and regional presentations and workshops, and videos. These include a series of video clips from a WSU Puyallup organic farming systems farm walk in 2009. Each short video clip features a WSU speaker highlighting elements of their research, including: drip irrigation for food safety, riparian buffers, and sources of food-borne pathogens on the farm. These videos were watched by 485 people in 2012. Videos also include a Spanish language video on harvest practices and food safety. We have two web pages on small farms (http://smallfarms.wsu.edu) and soil management ( http://puyallup.wsu.edu/soilmgmt/ ). The small farms web page contains links to the videos and other educational materials. Five extension bulletins are in print or in press, including ones on management zone approaches to soil testing for small farms, soil fertility in organic systems, and three on cover crops. Other printed/electronic materials include practical nutrient and soil management articles in Tilth Producers Quarterly, which is read by organic farmers. Dissemination to researchers includes presentations at national and international meetings (11 abstracts), and refereed journal articles in print(one on the early years of the systems project, one on farm-scale variability of soil quality indices, and one on cover crops and nitrogen management). Additional journal articles are in preparation, including crop yield and N availability in the systems experiment, organic matter and physical soil quality in the systems experiment, two on soil biology, and another publication on on-farm soil variability. We have also done outreach activities to reach members of communities who are not usually aware of these research activities. These include presentations at high schools during college and career days, field tours/labs for technical college students, and field labs for undergraduate students at non-land grant colleges and universities. We typically have done 1-2 high school events and 2-3 technical college/undergraduate field labs each year. Outcomes An unexpected outcome was expanding our focus beyond soil quality and productivity to Good Agricultural Practices (GAPS) for organic production. We used our organic vegetable systems experiment to leverage collaboration and funding for a study of the fate of natural pathogens and indicators in on farm composting, irrigation water, soil, and crops, and outreach in GAPS and FSMA (Food Safety Modernization Act) education. GAPS I (basic) and GAPS II (advanced) workshops topics included manures and composting, irrigation water, worker hygiene, and harvesting and equipment. Workshops included organic and conventional farmers. Evaluation of our GAPS workshops showed positive outcomes for both changes in knowledge and changes in action. In the first three years, 149 producers attended both workshops. GAPs recordkeeping changed for 53%, and implementation status changed for 58% since Session I. In a one-year follow-up, 76 participants completed an online survey. Reported new implementation was 34% for employee training, 36% for hygiene and facility monitoring, 27% for recordkeeping and 25% for harvest and storage sanitation practices. Ten participants had completed a GAPs assessment and 8 had completed third-party GAPs certification. We evaluated our farm walks to document knowledge and action changes. During each year from 2010 to 2012, farmers that attended farm walks managed an estimated 25,000 acres. Not all attendees are certified organic, but much of the focus is on organic practices systems. Based on the 2012 farm walk evaluations, 85% of farmer attendees reported they would apply something they learned. Across four farm walks with a focus on soil quality, 84% of attendees indicated they would implement changes in soil fertility management. At a pasture management farm walk, 67% of attendees indicated they would change livestock management. Respondents at specific farm walks indicated “great” knowledge increases in farm profitability (54%) and soil fertility (89%). Through a retrospective evaluation of all farm walk attendees through 2012 (n=228 respondents; 28% response rate) we were able to quantify specific actions taken as a result of knowledge or connections from attending a farm walk. For example, 8% started farming organically, 75% improved fertility management, 57% expanded cover cropping, 47% improved food safety, and 30% intensified pasture management. Of the farmers that responded to the retrospective survey, 52% indicated that they increased their annual income by implementing changes on their farm based on knowledge or connections made at farm walks; 75% of these indicated that the changes increased annual farm income by $1,000 or more and 30% indicated annual farm income increases of $5,000 or more. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? This project is focused on an organic vegetable crop systems experiment in Puyallup, WA, begun in 2003, with Integrated Organic Program funding beginning in 2008. The experiment was designed to compare 12 organic management systems, including 3 cover crop treatments, 2 tillage regimes, and 2 organic amendments, arranged in a split-split plot design with 4 replications. Cover crops include: 1) fall-seeded cereal rye-hairy vetch mix; 2) relay-intercropped hairy vetch or red clover planted into the cash crop; and 3) short-term pasture planted to a mix of ryegrass and clover. Tillage treatments are conventional (plow, disc, rototill as needed for major tillage) and “spader”, (rotary spader), and amendments are an N-rich, low C treatment (composted broiler litter) and a high C treatment (mixed on-farm compost). The rotational pasture was changed to a low-input (no amendment) treatment in 2006, and has been on a 2-year pasture, 1-year cash crop rotation since 2008. Poultry and sheep are seasonally raised on the pasture. Vegetable crops grown in 2008-2010 and 2012 were broccoli, winter squash, and lettuce. Winter wheat was grown in 2011 to provide a break from vegetables. We did not observe consistent crop yield effects of any treatment or system across all crops, although we did see some significant treatment differences on yield duringsome years. We grew multiple crops each year beginning in 2006, rotating the crops across the beds, and in some cases double cropping on a single bed. This resultedin a total of 26 crops harvested from 2006-2012. Yields were significantly (p< 0.05) greater in the spader plots compared with conventional tillage for 5 of the 26 crops, with no cases of higher yields in the conventionally-tilled plots. Yields were greater with broiler litter (low C) compared with mixed compost (high C) in two cases, and yields were greater with mixed compost in two cases. The greater yields with mixed compost occurred for wheat in 2011, when no amendments were added. This suggests the mixed compost had increased the ability of soil to supply N, consistent with what we observed in incubation studies. The post-harvest cover crop treatment had greater yields than relay in two of 26 cases, while the relay had greater yields than post-harvest in two cases. Higher yields following relay occurred in 2012, following wheat, when we had the most vigorous relay cover crop stand (red clover seeded into wheat). Since the rotational pasture had vegetables only two years, there were only 7 crop harvests. In two cases (both broccoli), yields were significantly lower in the pasture treatment, indicating that the low-input pasture did not supply adequate available N for a high demand crop such as broccoli. Physical soil quality and organic matter were most consistently affected by amendment, with the mixed compost (high C) treatment showing higher levels of total soil C and N, lower bulk density, and faster infiltration than the broiler litter (low C) amendment. Changes were greatest in the first years of the experiment, with differences maintained thereafter. We saw no significant differences in organic matter or physical soil quality between the post-harvest and relay cover crop systems. The rotational pasture had lower levels of C and N, slower infiltration, and higher bulk density and compaction than the annual cover crop treatments. Infiltration, bulk density, and compaction were only affected during the untilled pasture years of the rotation, and lower C and N were the result of fewer amendment additions. The only measured difference in physical soil quality observed between spader and conventional tillage was in soil compaction, with the spader-tilled soils consistently less compact than conventional. Spader tillage also produced a more uniform seedbed, although this is based on visual observations rather than measurements. Soil biological quality was affected by amendment and cover crop system. The cover crop affect appeared to be related to frequency of tillage in the different cover crop systems. Soil enzyme activity and nitrification potential were greater with the high C mixed compost amendment compared with the low C broiler litter, while nematode enrichment index was greater with broiler litter. The greater enrichment index likely indicated the response of the food web to the greater N availability in the broiler litter. The rotational pasture treatment had greater dehydrogenase activity and Collembola (during the untilled pasture phase), reflecting the sensitivity of Collembola to tillage. Activity of β-glucosidase was lowest with the relay cover crop, possibly because cover crop biomass input was lower with the relay cover crop. Cover crop incorporation resulted in temporary increases in nitrification potential and ammonia oxidizing bacteria amoA gene copy numbers. Ammonia oxidizing archaea, amoA gene copies were negatively correlated with nitrification and were insensitive to N additions of cover crops and amendments. The role of ammonia oxidizing archaea in N cycling is still unclear. Weed seedbank data was collected in 2010-2012, and we observed no significant differences in total weed seed density across any of the treatments in 2010 and 2011, but in 2012 there was a significantly lower overall seed bank density in the pasture when compared with other systems. The pasture plots were in their second year of pasture in 2012, indicating degradation of the seed bank during the pasture phase. Species-specific analysis is still in progress. Economics Enterprise budgets were constructed for each treatment using standard economic procedures. A separate spreadsheet was created for each year that provides data for each treatment and crop as well as a summary of each year’s economic outcome. At this point, results are preliminary, as some costs have not yet been incorporated into the analyses. These include drip irrigation and greenhouse expenses, including both supplies and the greenhouse structure. Detailed costs and returns budgets for each crop, treatment and year reveal impacts on profitability by treatment and crop. Examples from 2010 and 2009 follow. In 2010 for two crops of lettuce, planted in double rows, net returns over total production costs averaged nearly $55,000 per acre per year, compared to $5,000 per acre for broccoli and $12,237 per acre for squash. Net returns for lettuce were also least variable, with a coefficient of variation (CV) across treatments of just 6%, compared to 50% for broccoli and 23% for winter squash. The most profitable treatment differed substantially by crop. While the relay cover cropping, spader tillage, and high C compost was the most profitable for broccoli, this treatment was one of the least profitable treatments for winter squash. The most profitable treatment for winter squash was the pasture treatment with the spader tillage, but this was the least profitable treatment for the other two crops. Lettuce in 2010 was most profitable with the post harvest cover crop, spader tillage, and high C compost. In 2009, results by crop were quite different, with the lettuce crop losing an average of $3600 over all treatments, with a CV of 20%. Broccoli followed by spinach and radishes was most profitable, averaging $15,700 across all treatments with a CV of 6%. Winter squash had net returns averaging $13,800 and a CV of 7%, and was most profitable under post harvest cover crop, spader, and high C compost. The other crops were most profitable (least negative) with the post harvest cover crop, conventional tillage, and high C compost. Outreach and outputs arediscussed in the dissemination section below.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Collins, D., C. Cogger, A. Bary. 2012. Soil testing: A guide for farms with diverse vegetable crops. Proceeding of the 6th National Small Farms Conference. Memphis, TN.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Collins, D. C. Miles, C. Cogger, and R. Koenig. 2013. Soil fertility in organic systems - A guide for gardeners and small acreage farmers. Pacific Northwest Extension Publication PNW 646.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Collins, D.P. 2012. Soil testing: A guide for farms with diverse vegetable crops. Washington State University Extension Fact Sheet. EM050E.

Progress 08/01/11 to 07/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project is focused on an organic vegetable crop systems experiment in Puyallup, WA, begun in 2003. The experiment compares 12 organic management systems, including 3 cover crop treatments, 2 tillage regimes, and 2 organic amendments, arranged in a split-split plot design with 4 replications. Cover crops include 1) fall-seeded cereal rye-hairy vetch mix; 2) relay-intercropped hairy vetch or red clover planted into the cash crop; and 3) short-term pasture planted to a mix of ryegrass and clover. Tillage treatments are conventional (plow, disc, rototill as needed for major tillage) and "spader", (rotary spader), and amendments are an N-rich, low C treatment (composted broiler litter) and a high C treatment (mixed on-farm compost). The rotational pasture has been on a 2-year pasture, 1-year cash crop rotation since 2008, with no added amendments. Poultry and sheep are seasonally raised on the pasture. Vegetable crops grown since 2008 are broccoli, winter squash, and lettuce. Winter wheat was grown in 2011 to provide a break from vegetables. No amendments were added to the wheat crop, and yield differences among treatments reflected soil management in previous years. Plots with previous on-farm compost had significantly greater grain yields (116 bu/ac) than plots with previous chicken manure applications (101 bu/ac), consistent with greater N mineralization potential (laboratory incubation) from plots with a history of on-farm compost. Grain yields were greater in spader-tilled plots (114 bu/ac) than in plots with conventional tillage (103 bu/ac). Penetrometer results show that plots with spader tillage were consistently less compact in the 6 to 12-inch depth than plots with conventional tillage. This could cause a better rooting environment than in the conventionally tilled plots. We investigated indicator and pathogen fate under on-farm composting conditions for both the broiler litter (aerated turned pile) and on-farm compost (aerated static pile). For the turned pile, fecal coliform indicators increased in mixed samples collected during turning compared with samples collected from the undisturbed pile before turning, probably a result of mixing in material from the colder bottom of the pile. Fecal coliform levels in declined as the number of turnings increased. Generic E coli declined to below detectable levels after 1 to 2 turns. Fecal coliforms were low during composting in the first year of the aerated static pile, but increased to >3 log10 MPN at when the pile was unpacked and mixed at the end of composting. In the second year fecal coliforms remained > 3 log 10 on the pile surface throughout the composting process, and at unpacking and spreading. Pathogens (E Coli O157 and/or Salmonella) were detected after the aerated static pile and the turned pile met pathogen reduction time and temperature criteria in one of the two sampling years. Education programs included farm walks and field days, presentations at regional and national conferences, and workshops (two were bi-lingual) for direct market farmers. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Organic farmers, direct market vegetable farmers, agricultural and agency professionals PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
A one-day short course on pastured poultry production was held at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. Thirty-eight participants attended the event; 71% were farmers, 23% were interested community members, 3% were agricultural professionals. Participants viewed a pastured poultry breed trial at WSU Puyallup where Cornish Cross and Slow Cornish Cross were being compared. Fencing and cages were also viewed and discussed. A retrospective (post class) evaluation was completed by 31 participants. All of the participants (100%) increased their knowledge somewhat in at least one topic, while 77% greatly increased their knowledge in at least one topic. Topics with the highest knowledge increases included: food safety in poultry processing, maintenance of poultry, animal management, and pasture management. The vast majority (86%) planned to make at least one change on their farm as a result of the shortcourse. Evaluation respondents indicated they would increase organic marketing strategies (including using lactic acid (4 people) and acquiring or renting processing equipment (2 people)), change their pasture strategies or mobile tractors (10 people), change feed regiments (12 people), alter breed selection (13 people), and change avian health practices (10 people). Participants indicated that they would like future workshops to focus on hands-on butchering, costs/how to be profitable, economics, lambs for meat, layer production, and pork production.

Publications

• Lawson A., A.Fortuna, C.G.Cogger, A.I.Bary, T.L.Stubbs. 2012. Nitrogen contribution of rye-hairy vetch cover crop blends to organically grown sweet corn. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. doi:10.1017/S1742170512000014.

Progress 08/01/10 to 07/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project is focused on an organic vegetable crop systems experiment in Puyallup, WA. The experiment compares 12 organic management systems, including 3 cover crop treatments, 2 tillage regimes, and 2 organic amendments, arranged in a split-split plot design with 4 replications. Cover crops include 1) fall-seeded cereal rye-hairy vetch mix; 2) relay-intercropped hairy vetch planted into the cash crop; and 3) short-term pasture planted to a mix of ryegrass and clover. Tillage treatments are conventional (plow, disc, rototill as needed for major tillage) and "spader", (rotary spader), and amendments are an N-rich, low C treatment (broiler litter) and a high C treatment (mixed on-farm compost). The rotational pasture was grown on alternating year cycles from 2003-2007, but beginning in 2008, it was switched to a 2-year pasture, 1-year cash crop cycle, with no added amendments. Poultry and sheep are seasonally raised on the pasture. Vegetable crops in 2009-2010 were broccoli, winter squash, and lettuce, and winter wheat was grown in 2011 to provide a break from vegetables. This report is focused on treatment effects on novel and traditional soil biological indicators, including nitrification potentials, ammonia monooxygenase enzyme (amoA) gene copy number, ammonia oxidizing archaea, soil enzymes, phospholipid fatty acid methyl esters (PLFA), soil organic carbon (SOM), particulate organic matter (POM) and POM carbon. Inorganic N in the soil correlated with nitrification potential but not amoA gene copy numbers in ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) or ammonia oxidizing archaea. Inorganic N supply and nitrification potentials were consistently higher in treatments that received additions of N via on-farm compost. Green manure additions resulted in temporary increases in nitrification potential and AOB amoA gene copy numbers. Ammonia oxidizing archaea, amoA gene copies were negatively correlated with nitrification and were insensitive to N additions of cover crops and amendments. The role of ammonia oxidizing archaea in N cycling is still unclear. Dehydrogenase activity was highest in pasture followed by Relay and post harvest. B-glucosidase activity was the lowest in Relay. Arylamidase and phosphatase activities did not change with cropping system or tillage, but had less activity with broiler litter when compared to on-farm compost amendment. SOM was least in pasture (least amendment application). Percent POM was low in the Post Harvest treatment and POM C was least with pasture. Broiler litter resulted in soils with the lowest carbon, nitrogen, POM C, dehydrogenase, B-glucosidase and arylamidase, while other characteristics were not different between the carbon amendments. Post harvest and relay separated from the pasture treatments for PLFA analyses of community structure. The changes occurring in soil properties may lead to early identification of differences among organic management practices and allow land managers to predict the benefits of various management practices. Outreach in 2010-11 included farm walks, field days focused on food safety and cover crops, and continued programs for Hmong farmers. PARTICIPANTS: GAPs training programs continued in collaboration with Dr.Karen Killinger and collaborators at WSU and at the Washington State Department of Health and Washington State Department of Agriculture. TARGET AUDIENCES: Our main target audience is direct market organic farmers, with other audiences including other organic farmers, other small-acreage direct market farmers, students, and agency personnel. Our main audience includes farmers from Hmong and Latino communities in Washington State. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Short term evaluations were done with participants of winter and summer cover crop schools. All participants of the winter school/field day were asked to take a pre-online course covering basic cover crop information. At the end of the in-person workshop, they were surveyed on a number of different topics. Data was then entered into a database and analyzed for trends. In addition to discovering that the workshop was effective at increasing knowledge (>95%), we also learned that the use of online education can be effective for both farmers (ave: 3.59 out of 5) and non-farmers (ave: 4.25 out of 5). At the end of the summer workshop, participants were surveyed on a number of different topics. Thirty-one surveys were collected (91% participation rate). Ninety percent of participants indicated that they greatly increased their knowledge of summer cover crops during the workshop. Ninety-two percent indicated they somewhat or greatly increased their skills and ability to incorporate summer cover crops. The vast majority (93%) indicated that they were very likely to use or encourage the use of cover crops as a result of the workshop. In our 2010 CRIS report we noted that a major impact was an unanticipated one - resulting in research on the fate of naturally occurring human pathogens in organic farming systems, and the use of our site in GAPS food safety training. Follow-up surveys of practice changes from the GAPS training showed that 32% of participants adopted food safety training, 25% adopted additional harvest and storage practices to reduce the risk from food-borne pathogens, and 11% received third-party GAPs certification.

Publications

• Collins, D.P., C.G. Cogger, A.C. Kennedy, T. Forge, H.P. Collins, A.I. Bary, and R. Rossi. 2011. Farm-scale variation of soil quality indices and association with edaphic properties. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 75:580-890.
• Pritchett, K., A.C. Kennedy, and C.G. Cogger. 2011. Management effects on soil quality in organic vegetable systems in western Washington. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 75:605-615.
• Lawson, A., Fortuna, A., Cogger, C.G., & Bary, A.I. 2010. Cover crops to enhance nitrogen management in organic cropping systems. ASA annual meetings Long Beach, California.
• Fortuna A. and C.G. Cogger. 2010. The effect of organic cropping systems, fertility source and time of season on nitrification. ASA, Long Beach, CA.
• Fortuna A. and C.G. Cogger. 2010. The Biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen in annual and perennial agroecosystems, AGU, San Francisco, CA.

Progress 08/01/09 to 07/31/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project is focused on an intensive organic vegetable crop systems experiment in Puyallup, Washington. The experiment compares 12 organic management systems, including three cover crop treatments, two tillage regimes, and two organic amendment types, arranged in a split-split plot design with four replications (48 plots). Cover crop treatments include 1) a fall-seeded cereal rye-hairy vetch mix; 2) relay-intercropped hairy vetch planted into the cash crop; and 3) a short-term pasture planted to a mixture of annual ryegrass, perennial ryegrass, and red clover. Tillage treatments are conventional (plow, disc, rototill as needed for major tillage) and "spader", (rotary spader), and amendments are a nitrogen rich, low C treatment (broiler litter) and a high C treatment (mixed on-farm compost). The short-term pasture was grown on alternating year cycles from 2003-2007, but beginning in 2008-11, it was switched to a 2-year pasture, 1-year cash crop cycle, with no added amendments. Poultry were raised seasonally on the pasture in 2006, 2008, and 2009 sheep were added in 2008 and 2009. Current vegetable crops are broccoli, spinach, winter squash, and lettuce. Soil properties have been most sensitive to amendment over the course of this project, with greater soil enzyme activity (dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, and arylamidase), total and POM C, total N, infiltration, pH, and lower bulk density observed with the on-farm compost (higher carbon input). Nitrification potentials and ammonia oxidation bacteria copy number were first measured in 2009, and also showed higher levels with the on-farm compost, but only on the sampling date closest to the application. Nematode enrichment index and post-harvest soil nitrate tended to be greater with broiler litter. Among the cover crop treatments, the pasture had lower levels of C and N, slower infiltration, and higher bulk density and compaction than the annual cover crop treatments. Infiltration, bulk density, and compaction were only affected during the pasture years of the rotation, and lower C and N were the result of fewer amendment additions. Dehydrogenase activity, pH, and collembola were greater in the pasture treatment, with the collembola highly sensitive to tillage. Fewer differences were observed between spader and conventional tillage, with consistently lower compaction observed with spader tillage. Yield effects have been variable, with lower yields some years in the relay cover crop treatment, possibly a result of competition. When the pasture treatment is in vegetables, yields have been lower, as has post-harvest soil nitrate, as expected for a low-input system. Total and POM C and N and enzyme activities have increased over time, while pH has decreased. Bulk density decreased in the early years of the experiment. This experiment has provided opportunities for related research, including a study of pathogens and indicators in compost, soils, crops, and irrigation water, and an evaluation food quality in the different organic systems. Outreach in 2010 included cover crops schools, farms walks, a field day focused on food safety, and continued programs for immigrant farmers. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals. PIs and co-PIs: C. Cogger. Overall project management; lead on soil physical measurements; data analysis; lead on reports; outreach including workshops, field days, and immigrant farmer programs; assist with GAPS program. M. Ostrom. Outreach lead including immigrant farmer program, Cultivating Success, liaison with partner organizations. K. Painter. Economics lead. Developing economic database and analyses. A. Kennedy. Lead on soil enzymes, ammonia oxidizers, C and N, and PLFA; reports. A. Fortuna. Lead on nitrification potentials, ammonia oxidizers, DGGE, and incubations; reports. R. Alldredge. Statistical guidance, including development of structural equation models. A. Bary. Field work lead; soil sampling; data analysis; reports; outreach including field days, workshops, immigrant farmers and GAPS programs. D. Collins. Lead on mesofauna and substrate-induced respiration. Outreach lead including advisory panel, on-farm cooperators, and Washington Tilth. Field days, farm walks, workshops, immigrant farmer programs. J. Goldberger. Lead on preparation for evaluations. B. Cha. Liaison for Hmong and East African immigrant farmer programs. Partial financial support by grant: A. Bary. See above E. Myhre. Field work and logistics; data collection; sample handling and inventory; database management; field day preparation. A. Lawson. Graduate student focused on cover crop management and nutrient management. K. McCann. Undergraduate researcher focused on nematodes, collembolan and SIR; field work. New collaborators: C. Benedict. Extension Educator. Weed science (replacing Miller as lead); outreach including on-line training and field days focused on cover crops and weed management. K. Killinger. Food safety specialist. Food safety research and education; lead on GAPS education; liaison between food safety and organic production research and outreach. Training and professional development: Main activities included GAPS field day at WSU Puyallup systems site, GAPS workshops, cover crops schools and field days at WSU Puyallup, farm walks coordinated with Washington Tilth, Cultivating Success classes. TARGET AUDIENCES: Organic vegetable farmers, fresh market farmers, immigrant farmers, agricultural agency personnel PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Food safety has become an important part of this project, using our site as a food safety laboratory and training center, and springboard for food safety education. Funding for the food safety work comes from other sources.

Impacts
The most important impact over the last two years was an unanticipated one regarding food safety and Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) education. Research at the WSU Puyallup organic systems experiment provided new information on pathogen and indicator presence in compost, soils, crops, and irrigation water, leading to a change in irrigation, management, and harvest practices in our experiment, and the development of our site as a model for GAPs practices a center for GAPs education. We are working with WSU food safety specialists delivering GAPs training to organic and other farmers, including immigrant farmers. The training is focused on amendments, irrigation water and systems, and field and harvest practices, and has included field days, a one-day basic session, and an advanced session focused on discussion of GAPs implementation. Our experimental site has been used for a mock food safety audit field day, and will host FDA food inspectors later this fall. We have already observed increased levels of knowledge and awareness of GAPS and increased trust by farmers in discussing and addressing food safety issues. On-the-ground changes in practices will be assessed in the future.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 08/01/08 to 07/31/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: This project is focused on an intensive organic vegetable crop systems experiment in Puyallup, Washington. The experiment compares 12 organic management systems, including three cover crop treatments, two tillage regimes, and two organic amendment types, arranged in a split-split plot design with four replications (48 plots). Cover crop treatments include: 1) a fall-seeded cereal rye-hairy vetch mix; 2) relay-intercropped hairy vetch planted into the cash crop; and 3) a short-term pasture (ley) planted to a mixture of annual ryegrass, perennial ryegrass, and red clover. Tillage treatments are "conventional" (plow, disc, rototill as needed for major tillage) and "spader", (rotary spader), and amendments are a nitrogen rich, low C treatment (broiler litter) and a high C treatment (mixed on-farm compost). The short-term pasture was grown on alternating year cycles from 2003-2007, but beginning in 2008-09, it was switched to a 2-year pasture, 2-year cash crop cycle. Poultry was raised seasonally on the pasture in 2006 and 2008, and sheep were added in 2008. Vegetable crops have been broccoli, spinach, winter squash, and snap bean, with lettuce replacing snap bean in 2008. Objectives are: 1) Elucidate relationships between organic management systems, soil quality, weed pressure, and crop productivity to improve agroecosystem design and performance; 2) Analyze the potential economic costs, returns, and risks of organic vegetable production systems in the maritime Northwest; and 3) Develop and offer an innovative educational program on organic farming targeted at new, experienced, and transitioning organic farmers; immigrant farmers; and students. This report focuses on the effects of the different organic management practices on microbial biomass, nematodes and collembolans in the first phase of the project. Microbial biomass was determined with substrate-induced respiration 3 times in 2006 and 2007, nematode community analysis was performed once in 2005 and 2006 and 4 times in 2007, and collembolan diversity was determined 3 times in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Broiler litter caused a marked increase in the number of bacterial-feeding nematodes without significantly decreasing omnivorous/predacious nematodes and indices sensitive to their relative abundance (e.g. structure index). Using a slow-speed spader as an alternative to rototilling did not lead to predictable differences in microbial biomass, nematode community indices, or size of collembolan populations. Including a one-year pasture-phase in rotation caused major and significant changes to the micro and mesofauna. Bacterial-feeding nematodes declined by 66-76%, indices of ecosystem maturity and fungal dominance increased significantly, and collembolan populations increased by a factor 3.4-4.5. However, when placed back into cultivation none of these changes to the soil community persisted. Several pasture rotations will likely be necessary to evaluate long-term effects of the rotation. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: organic farmers and other small-scale intensive vegetable growers PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
We have demonstrated that different organic management systems affect soil quality in different ways in the short run and that long run changes are evolving. We expect that long-term assessment of soil quality in our experiment and on participating farms will encourage farmers of intensively managed high-value organic crops to adopt practices that provide more long term benefits to soil quality. The measurable effects of modified tillage using the spader are significant, and growers are impressed by the quality of seedbed that it can produce after a single pass. The spader appears to be most suitable for small farms and light to medium textured soils. We have provided information on cover cropping strategies through field days, workshops, and classes, and some farmers have adapted covering cropping to fit their farming systems. But we have a long way to go to get more widespread adoption in the intensive management systems typical of our region. We expect that forthcoming economic analyses will help farmers make decisions on adoption of practices.

Publications

• No publications reported this period