Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:This work aims to improve weed management outcomes for diversified organic vegetable farmers, generally small- to mid-scale producers, and organic grain farmers. While this is the primary stakeholder group, our research is focused on principles and practices that are broadly applicable. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project resulted in three graduate degrees, supporting the Ph.D. work of Drs. Birthisel and Brown, and the M.S. program for Ms. McCollough. In additon, two to three undergraduate students participated in field, greenhouse and laboratory research each year. Students working on this project at present include: Ruthie Sexton, M.S. Climate Change Understanding and Adaptation Tools for Small and Beginning Farmers. Co-advised with Dr. Adam Daigneault. Started September 2018. Johnny Sanchez, M.S. Improving Physical Weed Control on Small-scale Farms. Started January 2019. Rebecca Champagne, Ph.D. Improving Efficacy and Selectivity of Stacked Cultivation Tools. Started January 2019. Jordan Parks, M.S. Optimizing Settings of Physical Weed Control Tools. Started September 2020. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?While our project results have been featured at many field day events and farmer meetings, these recentinvited presentations demonstate the scope of our efforts to commiunicate with stakeholders. · Innovations in seedbank and seedling management for improved weed control. Western Colorado Food and Farm Forum, Montrose, CO (1/25/2020). National · Ginakes, P, E Gallandt, D Brainard, R Champagne, J Sanchez, R Clements, D Priddy. Mechanical Weed Management for Diversified Vegetable Farms: Research Update. Maine Agricultural Trades Show, Augusta, ME (1/14/2020). State · Advances in physical weed control. New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference, Manchester, NH (12/11/2019). Regional · Seedling, seed and system-level strategies to improve organic weed management. Albert Lee Seed Annual Conference, Albert Lee, MN (11/22/2019). National · Weed management in organic grains: Competition, harrowing and hoeing. American Society of Agronomy National Conference, San Antonio, TX (11/9/2019). National What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
System and component research addressing objectives outlined below, and related projects that were supported by competitive grant funding, resulted in thirteen peer-reviewed publications, graduate degrees for one M.S. and two Ph.D. students, in addition to many invited and volunteered presentations to professional and farmer stakeholder groups. Our collaborative efforts to characterize weed emergence periodicity demonstrated species-specific dynamics for important annual weeds, information that will both guide future management using stale seedbeds, while helping to parameterize regionally relevant population dynamics models. We compared weed management strategies used by small-scale farmers was novel in characterizing the multiple performance criteria of seed-, seedling- and mulch-focused weed management strategies. This work demonstrated that comprehensive seedbank management, generally considered a costly and long-term strategy, can have short-term benefits of improved yield and net returns, unexpected results that may encourage farmers to more carefully consider this approach to weed management. Our work on "stacking" physical weeding tools showed synergistic effects of two or more tools on weed control efficacy. This novel and unexpected result has prompted an extensive new research initiative focused on improving mean efficacy and reducing variability of physical weed control tools. Tarping and solarization were evaluated as strategies to reduce the germinable weed seedbank. Both were generally effective practices, although effects were variable. Assays of the soil microbial communities showed that solarization effects were transient, with microbial activity rebounding to pre-treatment conditions in the weeks following treatment. Working in organic cereals, we found that weed control could be improved by inter-row hoeing, a physical weed control practice that is more aggressive than the standard practice of tine-harrowing. Furthermore, sowing in bands instead of conventional rows, combined with inter-band hoeing and harrowing offered improved weed control, but with variable effects on crop yield.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Sanchez, J. and E.R. Gallandt (2020). Functionality and efficacy of Franklin Robotics TertillTM robotic weeder. Weed Technology. Published online, August 24, 2020.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
McCollough, M.R., Gallandt, E.R., Darby, H.M., and T. Molloy (2020). Band-sowing with Hoeing in Organic Grains: I. Comparisons with Alternative Weed Management Practices in Spring Barley. Weed Science 68:285-293.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
McCollough, M.R., Gallandt, E.R., and T. Molloy (2020). Band-sowing with Hoeing in Organic Grains: II. Evidence of Improved Weed Management in Spring Wheat, Oats, Field Peas, and Flax. Weed Science 68:294-300.
|
Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We mentored one high school student over this period, guiding him on a series of experiments characterizing the weed control and crop injury with a robotic weeder, the "Tertill." Undergraduate student Brad Smith received funding for a project titled "Characterizing root-anchorage forces in selected weeds and crops." University of Maine Center for Undergraduate Research FY17 Sustainability Research Grants ($1,100; 11/1/2018 through 5/1/2019). Graduate students participated in two field day events and attended a full-day research team meeting for a new OAREI project collaboration with Michigan State University. Lastly, post-doctoral researcher Dr. Peyton Ginakes and PI Gallandt attended the Gathering for Open Agricultural Technology and USDA ARS Hackathon at the Beltsville Ag Research Center, April 4 and 5, 2019. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Abstracts Birthisel, S.K., and E. Gallandt. Looking for 'Rare' weeds of agronomic concern in a changing climate. Weed Science Society of America Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2/13/2019, Abstract 350). Gallandt, E. and L. Pedrosa. Artificial and surrogate weeds for physical weed control research. Weed Science Society of America Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2/13/2019, Abstract 338). Invited presentations Seedling and seedbank management practices for improved weed control. New Mexico Organic Agriculture Conference, Albuquerque, NM (2/15/2019). National Mechanical weed control: Principles and innovations. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) 2018 Farmer to Farmer Conference, Northport, ME (11/4/2018). State What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are continuing efforts to develop artificial weeds and standardize methods for routine physical weed control assays. Controlled environment testing will be conducted in a greenhouse soil bin over the winter months. Optimal tool settings will be evaluated in 2020 field experiments using green bean and beet as test crops. A cropping system experiment started in 2019 will continue, examining stacked cultivation tools (i.e., two or more tools deployed simultaneously) vs. a single tool reference, in a factorial combination with weed seedbank management practices. We intend to expand our outreach efforts by building a weed management curriculum for organic farmers and test the use of an online master class to better engage and educate motivated stakeholders.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We are repeating our study of band-sowing with inter-band hoeing in barley. Results from the 2018 field season were promising, demonstrating improved weed control in band-sowing with hoeing and harrowing as well as a new hoed and harrowed narrow row treatment, relative to a reference treatment that was only tine harrowed. On-farm trials near St. Agatha in Aroostook County demonstrated that conventionally sown cereals could be hoed using a camera-guidance system. A newly funded Northeast Integrated Pest Management Grant led by Dr. Mallory supported purchase of a larger heavy-duty cultivator to expand our on-farm testing of inter-row hoeing in organic grains. Basic research efforts to develop an artificial weed for use in high-throughput assays of cultivation tools indicate that wire and silicon or rubber "roots" can be constructed to achieve anchorage force profiles similar to our condiment mustard "surrogate" weeds. A newly funded USDA NIFA Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative project titled "Integrating advanced cultural and mechanical strategies for improved weed management in organic vegetables" launched on September 1, 2018. Working with Dr. Dan Brainard at Michigan State University, this $1.9 million project is supporting basic and applied physical weed control research for small-, medium- and large-scale organic vegetable farmers.
Publications
|
Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18
Outputs
Target Audience:Our work is focused on improving weed management outcomes for diversified organic vegetable and grain farmers in northern New England. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We trained two high school students and 4 undergraduate students during this reporting period, in addition to two graduate students. Students present their reserach results at field days and professional meetings. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Professional Meetings: Abstracts McCollough, M. and E. Gallandt. Band sowing and cultivation for weed management in organic grains. Weed Science Society of America Annual Meeting, Arlington, VA (1/30/2018, Abstract 163). Birthisel, S.K. and E. Gallandt. WEEDucator: A digital tool for organic weed management education. Weed Science Society of America Annual Meeting, Arlington, VA (1/30/2018, Abstract 234). Invited Presentations University of Maine Black Bear Food Guild and UMaine Greens. University of Maine Professional Employees Advisory Council Lunch-n-Learn Program (4/24/2018). UMaine Successful weed management: Theory and practice. Our Farms, Our Future National Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Conference, St. Louis, MO (4/3/2018). National Gallandt, E.R. and B. Brown. Stacking tools for improved weed control. New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference, Manchester, NH (12/13/2017). Regional Sustainable agriculture. Meeting of dietetic preceptors, University of Maine (11/17/2017). State Multiple stresses and the case for ecologically based weed management. ASA/CSA/SSSA Annual Meeting. Symposium - Future of Weed Science: Thinking Beyond Herbicides in the Agricultural Landscape, Tampa, FL (10/23/2017). National Weed ecology and management (a short course for UFMT graduate students). Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Sinop, MT, Brazil (7/10-12/2017). International University of Maine Program in Agriculture. Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Sinop, MT, Brazil (7/17/2017). International Volunteered Presentations Gallandt, E.R. Ecologically based weed management: Targeting the weed seedbank. College of the Atlantic Agroecology Class guest lecture (10/13/2017). McCollough, M.R. and Gallandt E.R. Altering Crop Spatial Distribution and Physical Weed Control Strategies to Improve Weed Management in Cereal Crops Extension presentation at Forage and Crop Research Facility Agricultural Field Day, University of Maine Rogers Farm, Old Town, ME. (7/6/17). McCollough, M.R. and Gallandt, E.R. Weed Management in Organic Cereal Crops. Course lecture presented in Special Seminars in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME. (4/12/18). McCollough, M.R. and Gallandt, E.R. Improved Weed Management Tactics for Organic Grain Growers. Course lecture presented in Special Seminars in Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME. (9/21/17). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We maintain a very active outreach effort, participate in professional society annual meetings, and publish our work in peer-reviewed journals. We will continue these activities.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Band-sowing with inter-band hoeing was evaluated as an innovative weed management strategy for organic grains, offering improved crop-weed competition within bands, and improved physical weed control efficacy in between bands. Results with barley were inconclusive due to late cultivation in one year, and highly effective tine harrowing offering exceptional weed control in the second year. However, a related field study including spring wheat, oat, flax, and field pea indicated that band-sowing with inter-band hoeing and tine harrowing offered improved weed control relative to standard reference management practices. On-farm testing of an inter-row hoe with a camera-guidance system found that extremely heavy weed pressure on some organic farms may prevent successful operation as crop rows were obscured by weeds. Evidence of synergy in physical weed control is novel, with important practical applications, while opening the door to a large array of basic, mechanistic research questions.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Gallandt, E.R., D. Brainard, and B. Brown. (2018). Developments in physical weed control. In Zimdahl (ed) Integrated Weed Management for Sustainable Agriculture. Pages 261-283. ISBN: 978-1-78676-164-4
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Brown, B. and E.R. Gallandt (2018). Evidence of synergy with ⿿stacked intra-row cultivation tools. Weed Research. 58:284-291.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Brown, B. A.K. Hoshide and E.R. Gallandt (2018). An economic comparison of weed management systems used in small-scale organic vegetable production. Organic Agriculture https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-018-0206-1, 11 pgs.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Brown, B. and E.R. Gallandt (2018). A systems comparison of contrasting organic weed management strategies. Weed Science 66:109-120.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Brown, B., and E. Gallandt (2017). To each their own: Case studies of four successful, small-scale organic vegetable farmers with distinct weed management strategies. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 1-7. doi:10.1017/S1742170517000576
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Birthisel, S.K, Gallandt, E.R, and Souza Cunha, A.E. Solarization and Tarping for Weed Management on Organic Vegetable Farms in the Northeast USA. eOrganic (05/10/2018).
|
Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17
Outputs
Target Audience:Both conventional and organic vegetable growers benefit from our research improving alternative in-season weed management strategies. Most of our outreach efforts have been focused in the northeast U.S. but since this research has nationwide applicability, it has been presented through meetings and publications at a national scale as well. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Graduate students in my research group are active in attending and presenting their research results in local, regional as well as national venues. Furthermore, they work to improve their presentation skills in the classroom, offering guest lectures, or in the case of Sonja Birthisel, full responsibility for one of our undergraduate introductory courses. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As listed previously, we are active participants in local and state field day presentations to farmers, we regularly post early results or farmer-friendly summaries of our work online (gallandt.wordpress.com) and will be revising our UMaine website over the winter. Frequent invited lectures at state, regional and national venues is evidence of a high level of stakeholder interest in our research. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue our reserach related to stacking cultivation tools, in both row crops and cereals, and will seek funding to conduct additional mechanistic research on physical weed control. Our climate change and weed management efforts will focus on new outreach efforts, with revision of the WEEDucator educational softwear developed by Sonja Birthisel.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Bryan Brown completed his Ph.D. program which included work related to Objectives 1 and 2; he secured a position working with the New York Integrated Pest Management Program in Geneva, and is making good progress in publishing his research in peer-reviewed journals, while contributing as a co-author to two book chapters. His innovative field experiments demonstrated two important and novel results that will benefit small- to mid-scale organic farmers, possibly others, in both the short and long terms. First, mulch-based and zero-weed-seed-rain management were both superior to cultivation-based weed management in terms of efficacy and short-term profitability in his onion test crop. Second, detailed studiy of intra-row physical weed control tools demonstrated consistently improved efficacy when two or more tools were "stacked" or combined to operate in series. Of particular note were his results that provided evidence of synergistic tool combinations that improved efficacy of weed control over ranges of weed size, tractor speed, and soil moisture. Our work on improved weed control in organic grains has made good progress, mostly resulting from Margaret McCollough's M.S. research. She completed her second and final field season this past summer, comparing reference systems to wide-row plus hoeing, and a novel band-sowing system with inter-band hoeing. These alternative systems may offer more effective and reliable weed control in situations of extreme annual weed pressure and/or areas where perennial weeds are a problem. Research related to Objective 3 has focused on both applied management stragegies, e.g., solarization, as well as educational materials for beginning farmers. Sonja Birthisel, as part of her Ph.D. dissertation, developed a proof-of-concept interactive weed management softerware "game" that encourages users to explore efficacy of individual and combinations of ecologically based weed management tactics.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Brown, B., & Gallandt, E. (2017). A Systems Comparison of Contrasting Organic Weed Management Strategies. Weed Science, 1-12. doi:10.1017/wsc.2017.34
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Cordeau, S., Smith, R.G., Gallandt, E.R., Brown, B., Salon, P., DiTommaso, A. & Ryan, M.R. (2017). Timing of tillage as a driver of weed community structure. Weed Science. 65(4):504-514. (July/August Issue 2017).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Cordeau, S., Smith, R.G., Gallandt, E.R., Brown, B., Salon, P., DiTommaso, A. & Ryan, M.R. (2017). How do weed species differ in their response to the timing of tillage? A study of 61 species across the Northeastern United States. Annals of Applied Biology. doi:10.1111/aab.12377
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Cordeau, S., Smith, R.G., Gallandt, E.R., Brown, B., Salon, P., DiTommaso, A. & Ryan, M.R. (2017). Disentangling the effects of tillage timing and weather on weed community assembly. Agriculture. doi:10.3390/agriculture7080066
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Smith, R.G., Birthisel, S.K., Bosworth, S.C., Brown, B., Davis, T.M., Gallandt, E.R., Hazelrigg, A., Venturini, E. & Warren, N.D. (2017). Environmental correlates with germinable weed seed banks on organic farms across northern New England. Weed Science. doi.org/10.1017/wsc.2017.40
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Brown, Bryan, "A Comparison of Seed- and Seedling-Focused Ecologically Based Weed Management Strategies" (2017). Electronic eses and Dissertations. 2646.
h p://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/etd/2646
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
20117
Citation:
Brown, B. & Gallandt, E.R. (2017, February 8). Stacking intra-row cultivation tools for increased efficacy: Evidence of synergy. Science Society of America Annual Meeting. Tucson, AZ.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Birthisel, S.K. & Gallandt, E.R. (2017, February). Solarization in the Northeast: Effective weed control with transient effects on soil microbes. Weed Science Society of Americas Annual Meeting. Tucson, AZ.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Birthisel, S.K. & Gallandt, E.R. (2016, April). Soil solarization for weed management in a changing climate. Maine Climate and Agriculture Network Symposium. Orono, ME.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Ecologically based weed management: Targeting the weed seedbank. 2017 Long Island Agriculture Forum, Sustainable Ag and Vegetable Session, Riverhead, NY (1/12/2017). National
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Innovations in physical weed control. 2017 Long Island Agriculture Forum, Sustainable Ag and Vegetable Session, Riverhead, NY (1/12/2017). National
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Ecological weed management in organic vegetables. Gallandt, E.R., S. Birthisel and B. Brown. Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO, Grand Rapids, MI (12/8/2016). National
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Weed control in organic grains. Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN) 2016 Conference & Trade Show, Moncton, NB, Canada (11/30/2016). International
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Weed adaptation to climate change. Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN) 2016 Conference & Trade Show, Moncton, NB, Canada (11/30/2016). International
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Mulching and weed management. Gallandt, E.R. S. Birthisel and B. Brown. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) 2016 Farmer to Farmer Conference, Northport, ME (11/6/2016). State
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Stacking cultivation tools. Gallandt, E.R. and B. Brown. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) 2016 Farmer to Farmer Conference, Northport, ME (11/5/2016). State
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Mechanical weed control for small scale operations. North Country Fruit & Vegetable Seminar and Trade Show, Whitefield, NH (10/26/2016). Regional
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
McCollough, M.R. (2017, July). Camera-guidance systems: Applications for precise cultivation of field crops. Forage and Crop Research Facility Agricultural Field Day, University of Maine Rogers Farm. Old Town, ME
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
McCollough, M.R. & Gallandt, E.R. (2017, July). Altering crop spatial distribution and physical weed control strategies to improve weed management in cereal crops. Forage and Crop Research Facility Agricultural Field Day, University of Maine Rogers Farm. Old Town, ME.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
McCollough, M.R. & Gallandt, E.R. (2017, March). Improved weed management strategies for organic grain growers in New England. Maine Grain Conference. Littleton, ME.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Brown, B. & Gallandt, E.R. (2017, February 16). Non-chemical weed management in a changing climate. Maine Climate and Agriculture Network Graduate Student Mini-Symposium. Orono, ME.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Birthisel, S.K. (2017, February 16). Agronomic weeds and climate change: Scouting for potential invaders. Maine Climate and Agriculture Network Graduate Student Mini-Symposium. Orono, ME.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Brown, B. & Gallandt, E.R. (2016, November 6). Tradeoffs between controlling weed seedlings, preventing weed seeds, and mulching. MOFGA Farmer to Farmer Conference. Northport, ME.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Birthisel, S.K. (2016, November). A decision-aid to improve the economic sustainability of Maine organic farms through improved weed management. Lightning talk presented at Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions Seminar. Orono, ME
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
McCollough, M.R. & Gallandt, E.R. (2016, October). Innovative weed management tactics in field crops. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Tour, University of Maine Rogers Farm. Old Town, ME.
|
Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:Outreach efforts related to applied dimensions of this project focused on organic vegetable and grain farmers, while more basic research information targets the disciplines of weed science, sustainable agriculture and agroecology. Weeds remain a challenging production problem for organic farmers who rely heavily on physical weed control which often provides poor and variable efficacy. Our efforts to better understand physical weed control, improve mean efficacy and reduce variablity, and evaluate best physical weed control practices with preventative (i.e., mulching) and longer-term management strategice (i.e., seedbank management), will help a broad group of organic farmers. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has provided opportunities for graduate students and employees to gain experience in research techniques as well as interpretation and dissemination of their results. We continue to participate in the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), which has allowed two high school students to participate in our research and likely be published. Additional training is provided to the farming community through our presentations and outreach materials. McCollough, M.R., and Pickoff, M. (2016, July). Joan Alfond Scholarship recipients for conference attendance. Maine Grain Alliance Kneading Conference, Skowhegan, ME (7/27 through 7/29/2016). Gallandt, E.R., Brown, B., Birthisel, S., McCollough, M. (2016, November). In attendance. Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Farmer to Farmer Conference, Northport, ME (11/4 through 11/6/2016). Gallandt, E.R., Mallory, E., Malloy, T., McCollough, M.R., Pickoff, M. (2016, November). In attendance. Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network Conference and Tradeshow, and post-conference organic field crops PEI tour, Moncton, NB, Canada (11/28 through 12/2/2016). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Invited Presentations Birthisel, S.K. and E.R. Gallandt. Soil Solarization for Weed Management in a Changing Climate. UMaine Climate Change and Agriculture Symposium (4/5/2016). UMaine Brown, B. Weed control in organic onion. Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention. Hershey, Pennsylvania (02/02/2016). Regional Brown, B. Physical weed control developments at the University of Maine. Slow Tools Conference. Terrytown, New York (12/05/2015). Regional Las innovaciones en el control de malezas física. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, INIA, Quilamapu, Chillán, Chile (6/2/2016). International Mulching and weed management. New England Vegetable and Fruit Conference, Manchester, NH (12/16/2015). Regional Volunteered Presentations Birthisel, S.K. and E.R. Gallandt. Solarization for improved stale seedbed preparation in the Northeast. Poster presented at the Weed Science Society of America annual meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico (2/8/2016 through 2/11/2016). Birthisel, S.K. Managing Weeds with Soil Solarization & Occultation. Beginning farmers and Purdue Cooperative Extension personnel, Old Town, ME (8/15/2016). Birthisel, S.K. Mechanistic Differences between Soil Solarization and Occultation for Weed Control. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition field trip, Old Town, ME (8/9/2016). Birthisel, S.K. Organic Weed Management in a Changing Climate. FoodCorps Graduate Research Symposium Webinar (5/18/2016). Birthisel, S.K. Soil Solarization and Occultation for Weed Management. UMaine Sustainable Agriculture Field Day, Old Town, ME (6/30/2016). Brown, B. Alternative weed research results to aid small farms. Purdue Extension Farm Tour. University of Maine Rogers Farm. Old Town, Maine (09/15/2016). Brown, B. Demonstration of a HAK intra-row cultivator. University of Maine Rogers Farm Field Day. Old Town, Maine (06/30/2016). Brown, B. Demonstration of weed control tools. MOFGA Farm Training. Albion, Maine (06/16/2016). Brown, B. New results from an innovative intra-row cultivator. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 2016 Meeting. University of Maine Rogers Farm. Old Town, Maine (08/02/2016). Brown, B. Overview of a reduced tillage intra-row cultivator. University of Maine Highmoor Farm. Monmouth, Maine (07/12/2016). Brown, B. and E.R. Gallandt. Improve soil quality, decrease costs, or reduce the weed Seedbank? Insights from a systems comparison of prominent organic weed management strategies. Weed Science Society of America Annual Meeting. San Juan, Puerto Rice (02/09/2016). National Gallandt, E.R. The local food system. KON, Food Science and Human Nutrition Honor Society, Orono, ME (9/21/2016). McCollough, M.R. Innovative weed management tactics for organic grain growers in the Northeast. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, University of Maine Rogers Farm, Old Town, Maine (9/15/16). McCollough, M.R. Opportunities for improving weed management in organic cereals with band sowing and inter-row hoeing. Purdue University Beginning Farmers and Ranchers, and Cooperative Extension tour of the Northeast, University of Maine Rogers Farm, Old Town, Maine (8/9/16). McCollough, M.R. Weed management in organic cereals. University of Maine Rogers Farm Forage and Crop Sustainable Agriculture Research Field Day, Old Town, Maine (7/7/2016). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Field research related to "stacked" cultivation will continue in higher residue soil conditions. Our evaluation of band-sowing and inter-band cultivation will continue, with additional experiments evaluating hoeing in organic grains on-farm, both with human- and camer-guided inter-row or inter-band hoes. We are developing a simulation model that will permit farmers to evaluate these multiple stresses to explore the dynamics of a "Many Little Hammers" weed management strategy.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Much progress has been made in improving seedling- as well as seed-focused weed management strategies. We performed a systems comparison of several distinct strategies that has given farmers a clearer sense of the economic and ecological tradeoffs involved with each strategy. We have also made significant gains in mechanical weed control, specifically intra-row cultivation efficacy, enhanced preparation of a stale seedbed using soil solarizaton and occultation. Several peer-reviewed publications are in review related to these activities; several internally funded grants are supporting the work, and extramural requests are pending as noted below. Grants received: Birthisel, S.K. and E.R. Gallandt. Development of a prototype weed management model and associated decision-aid. Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions Sustainability Research Grant ($15,000; 4/5/2016 through 6/30/2017). Birthisel, S.K. and E.R. Gallandt.Soil solarization for enhanced weed control in vegetables.Maine Agricultural Center ($5,000; 4/6/2015 through 9/30/2016). McCollough, M.R. Travel to attend Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network Conference & Tradeshow, in addition to post-conference organic field crops PEI tour. University of Maine Graduate School, Fall 2016 Graduate Student Government Grant. ($252; 11/28 through 12/2/2016) Grants submitted: Gallandt, E.R., A. Abedi, M. Tekeste, and D. Brainard. Deconstructing The "Art" Of Physical Weed Control: Mechanistic Analyses of Implements, Weeds, Crops, and Soil Conditions Agriculture and Food Research Initiative: Foundational Program. National Institute of Food and Agriculture ($485,802; UMaine, $310,802; submitted 7/21/2016). McCollough, M. and E.R. Gallandt. Optimizing the Band Sowing Cropping Strategy for Organic Grains: Seeding Rates, Band Width, and Inter-band Spacing. USDA Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (Total requested: $12,380; submitted 5/10/2016). Birthisel, S.K. and E.R. Gallandt. Soil Solarization for Improved Weed Control in Organic Onion and Carrot. USDA Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (Total requested: $14,999; submitted 5/10/2016). Niles, M.T., J. Faulkner, E. Gallandt, S. Hurley, E. Mendez and T. Jackson. Developing climate adaptation resources for new farms that consider their perceptions and needs. USDA NIFA Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (Total requested: $567,028; UMaine: $266,023; submitted 8/25/2016). Gallandt, E.R., M. Peterson and L. Sharma. Mechanistic evaluation and development of innovative weed control tools. University of Maine 2016 Research Reinvestment Funds Seed Grant Program ($98,416; submitted 3/21/2016).
Publications
|
|