Source: NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV submitted to NRP
SOUTHEAST ORGANIC AGRICULTURE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM- IDENTIFYING REGIONAL RESEARCH PRIORITIES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1032822
Grant No.
2024-51300-43165
Cumulative Award Amt.
$74,902.00
Proposal No.
2024-03311
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2024
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2025
Grant Year
2024
Program Code
[113.A]- Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative
Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
While national organic sales and certified acreage is growing, organic production is historically low in the Southeast (SE). SE organic producers face challenges of more intense pest pressures from warmer climates and longer growing seasons, poor soils with fertility and carbon building limitations. A lack of regional research is a critical limitation for SE growers. The goal of this proposal is to bring together regional researchers, farmer organizations and growers in a one-day Southeast Organic Agriculture Research Symposium to identify farmer-focused research priorities. This symposium has two objectives: 1) share current SE organic research together with farmer-identified challenges and 2) identify SE research priorities that increase production, economic returns and improve environmental factors. Research sharing and priority setting will focus on systems-level topics from plant breeding, pest management, soil health, and cover crops. Organized by the Carolina Farm Stewardship (CFSA) and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) at North Carolina State University (NCSU), the symposium will occur in conjunction with the NC Organic Commodity and Livestock Conference (OCLC) providing an opportunity for a large diversity of farmers to hear from research across the Southeast. Symposium participants will be invited to participate in OCLC and the Southeast Organic Agriculture Research Symposium will occur the day afterwards. An outcome of the symposium will be a conference report: Research and Extension Priorities for Advancing Southeast Organic Agriculture Production. Our aim is to increase multidisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations to support and expand SE organic agriculture and a team ready to address these.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
60%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
10224101060100%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships;

Subject Of Investigation
2410 - Cross-commodity research--multiple crops;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);
Goals / Objectives
While national organic sales and certified acreage are growing, organic production is historically low in the Southeast (SE). SE organic producers face challenges of more intense pest pressures from warmer climates and longer growing seasons, poor soils with fertility and soil carbon building limitations. A lack of organic agriculture research targeted for the SE conditions is a critical limitation for regional organic producers.The overall goals of this project are to identify the farmer-focused research and extension priorities to strengthen organic agriculture production in the Southeast (SE) and to develop an interdisciplinary and cross-institutional team ready to address those.We will accomplish this by bringing together multidisciplinary researchers across SE land-grant universities, key farmer support organizations and invited farmers across the region together for a one day Southeast Organic Agriculture Research Symposium. Organized by the Carolina Farm Stewardship (CFSA) and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) at North Carolina State University (NCSU), the symposium will occur in conjunction with the NC Organic Commodity and Livestock Conference (OCLC) providing an opportunity for a large diversity of farmers to hear from research across the Southeast.The objectives of the symposium are to:1) share current multidisciplinary research focused on organic agriculture in the Southeast (SE),2) describe barriers to SE organic agriculture production from systems-based approach spanning soil health, pest and fertility management, breeding, climate adaptation and resilience, market access, and certification challenges,3) identify and prioritize research and extension needs for strengthening and expanding organic production in the Southeast, and4) disseminate current research and extension priorities for SE organic agriculture with growers, extension agents, farmer organizations and researchers throughout the region
Project Methods
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) at NC State University together with the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) is proposing to organize a one day Southeast Organic Agriculture Research Symposium in Raleigh, NC. This forum will be in conjunction with the Organic Commodities and Livestock Conference in March 2025 that brings together hundreds of growers, researchers, extension agents, and stakeholders from across North Carolina and South Carolina each year since 2011. CEFS and CFSA have co-hosted this conference and have many years of experience organizing successful conferences, have staff support to help with meeting and travel logistics as well unique network collaborations to engage diverse organic researchers, farmers, and support organizations.This proposed symposium will provide a unique opportunity for a wider range of regional stakeholders to share their knowledge and experience in organic production challenges and research priorities for the SE. Researchers from diverse disciplines (crop science, entomology, horticulture, plant pathology, soil science, nutrition and food safety, agriculture extension, etc.) at regional universities that are leading organic agriculture research are already engaged as key collaborators and are in strong support (See Support Letters). Moreover, many of the PIs have co-authored the NC Organic Commodity Production Guide (https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/north-carolina-organic-commodities-production-guide), a resource for farmers across the region. Key farmer organizations that provide important support for organic agriculture research, extension and education in the region are already engaged in this proposal including Georgia Organics, Florida Organic Growers, and the Clemson Organic Certification Program. These organizations and selected organic growers will provide key guidance on farmer-centered research needs and effective communication strategies for farmers. Key collaborators will meet monthly prior to the symposium to finalize agenda and presentations and organize research briefs that can be shared at the symposium. The breadth of disciplines already engaged as key collaborators ranging from soil health, sustainability, plant breeding, pest management, to support organizations, will generate wide interests among stakeholders. Once funded, we will engage other regional researchers more broadly and announce the symposium through CEFS, CFSA and collaborator websites in fall 2024. It is critical that participants are working in the region to understand the challenges and research priorities unique to the SE.All symposium participants will be invited to attend the Organic Commodities and Livestock Conference (OCLC) on day one in Raleigh, NC and some will be asked to present their research at OCLC to expand grower knowledge of research across the region. Participants will gather for dinner the first day for network building. The symposium will occur on day two located in the new NC State Plant Sciences Building, a state-of-the-art space that has a large auditorium, various breakout rooms and technology for interactive discussions and live broadcasting for participants that cannot be in person. The first half will focus on research presentations that highlight holistic systems-level SE organic challenges. The afternoon will focus on discussions to ensure these groups share their ideas.

Progress 09/01/24 to 08/31/25

Outputs
Target Audience:The direct target audience for this grant was organic researchers, extension specialists, andfarmer support organizations that train and provide support, resources and training for organic certified producers and those interested in transition to organic production across the Southeastern United States (SE US). This included faculty and staff from Land Grant Universities across the SE US focused on organic agriculture research and extension across a diversity of system-level topics and disciplines such as soil health, crop breeding and agronomic production, weed ecology, nutrient and pest disease management together withtechnical and farmer training experts from various non-profit and for profitfarmer support organizations such as Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, SE Rodale program, Florida Organic Growers, Georgia Organics, and Clemson Organic Certification program. The results of our activities will also be shared with growers in the SE US, especially those that are organic certified or interested in transition to organic through a peer-reviewed publication. Changes/Problems:We had described, planned, and carried out the SE Organic Research Symposium on March 4, 2025. We did experience challenges with the university providing timely business reimbursements early on. Thus, we modified our budget to provide more funding from NC State to our farmer organization partner (Carolina Farm Stewardship Association) so they could help reimburse and arrange the travel for the many faculty and farmer support organizationsoutside to NC State University, which went much more efficiently than the university. The other change we collectively decided on was the format for the dissemination of the results of the survey, symposium, and ongoing discussions. Our original plan was to print a simple non-peer-reviewed report, but the team of faculty and farmer support organizations thought it would have a greater impact to develop this into a peer-reviewed publication. It has been challenging to organize the format and for this and ongoing meeting schedules forthe diverse experts involved. Thus, this new peer-reviewed manuscript has taken a longer time than the grant period but we hope to submit this by the end of the calendar year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have not disseminated the findings of the survey and SE Organic Research Symposium widely yet, only to those who attended the symposiumsium. We have been working collectivelyamong diverse multidisciplinary faculty and farmer support organization leaders to develop a peer-reviewed manuscript that will be submitted after the grant ends. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Under the goals of this project, we accomplished fourmain activities and outcomes described below. Identified key faculty researchers,faculty extension specialists, and farmer support organizations working in organic agriculture research and training across the Southeastern US (SE). Identified production and non-production challenges for organic agriculture production in the SE conditions from a survey of the expert group offaculty and farmer organizations identified above. Described in-depthproduction challenges and identified research priorities for expanding organic production in the SE from bringing together a select group of SE organic faculty researchersand farmer organization representatives in a one-day meeting- SE Organic Research Symposium. This took place at NCA&T University in Greensboro, NCon March 4th, 2025 organizedin collaboration with Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS). Foundations for the development of a peer-reviewed manuscript. Since March, we have a diverse subgroup of faculty and farmer organization representatives who attended the Symposium described above working remotely on a peer-review manuscript that willdescribe the priorities for SE Organic Research.

Publications