Source: KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to
ORGANIC FARMSCAPES: BALANCING SOIL BUILDING AND YEAR-ROUND FOOD, FEED AND BIOENERGY PRODUCTION IN KENTUCKYS CHANGING CLIMATE AND ECONOMY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
EVANS-ALLEN
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0231113
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2012
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2017
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
FRANKFORT,KY 40601
Performing Department
Agriculture & Environmental Science
Non Technical Summary
Despite rapid growth in consumption of organic food in the U.S., only 0.6% of the nation's farmland is certified for organic production. Demand for most organic products exceeds domestic supply, resulting in high prices and increasing imports. This creates opportunities for new and established organic farmers. Particular opportunities exist for farmers in Kentucky, and other Southeastern states, which are dominated by small farms and have tended to have fewer organic farms than other areas of the country. Taking advantage of these opportunities requires development of systems designed for Kentucky's unique and changing climate and economy. Like other southeastern states, Kentucky has experienced a trend of increasing summer droughts and warmer winters. This change increases risk associated with production of rain-fed summer annuals, while offering new opportunities for production of cold hardy winter annuals. Horticultural production of cold hardy winter annuals can be facilitated by high tunnels, which are simple polyethylene-covered structures used to extend the growing season for soil-based production systems. Kentucky's organic horticulture producers are increasingly adopting high tunnel technology, and requesting research-based and regionally-appropriate information. Compared to horticultural production, organic field crop production is rare in Kentucky, contributing to an acute shortage of locally-produced organic livestock feed. Both summer and winter annual crops can provide grains and oilseeds suitable for livestock feed, but varieties that are well adapted to organic production systems have not yet been identified. Concurrent studies are proposed to compare summer and winter production of organic horticulture and field crops. All treatments will involve diverse extended crop rotations, typical of organic production systems, with a mix of cash crops and soil-building cover crops. Field crop varieties that are well adapted to organic production will be identified through two years of winter and summer variety trials in small plots on organic land, before establishment of field-scale plots planted to a four year rotation. Summer cash crop rotations will employ winter cover crops and vice-versa. High tunnels will be used to facilitate winter production of organic horticulture crops. Treatments will be evaluated using a suite of economic, environmental, and social sustainability indicators including system profitability, pest and disease incidence, soil quality trends, water quality, fossil energy use, renewable energy inputs and outputs, biodiversity indices, labor requirements, temporal distribution of labor, and labor comfort indices, with an emphasis on identifying sustainable opportunities for small organic farmers in Kentucky. Comparisons of organic grain and oilseed production systems will include scenarios in which the crop is sold off-farm, or cycled back onto the farm as animal feed or biofuel.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
90%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2052410106050%
4011499106025%
6012410301025%
Knowledge Area
401 - Structures, Facilities, and General Purpose Farm Supplies; 601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 205 - Plant Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
1499 - Vegetables, general/other; 2410 - Cross-commodity research--multiple crops;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
Objectives: 1. Evaluate yield and performance of summer and winter grain and oilseed varieties grown on organic land in Kentucky; 2. Use sustainability indicators to compare summer, winter, and perennial cover cropping rotations in organic horticulture and field crop production; 3. Evaluate the production and marketing potential of diverse summer and winter grain and oilseed crops for small scale organic production in Kentucky; 4. Compare costs and benefits of organic grain and oilseed production for on-farm biofuel production, on-farm poultry production, and off-farm sales. Outputs: 1. Workshops, field days and factsheets on organic grain production, on-farm feed production, on-farm biofuel production, and organic produce production in high tunnels; 2. Online presentations; 3. Updates posted to blogs and eXtension.org; 4. Research publications; 5. Graduate students trained in agricultural research; 6. Research studies incorporated into new curricula for Bachelors in Agriculture, Food & Environment degree; 7. Participation in, and contributions to, regional and national organizations and conferences; 8. Research-based information for policy & decision-makers.
Project Methods
Objective 1: Variety trials will be conducted to compare yield and performance of different varieties of summer field crops (corn, sweet sorghum, sunflower, soybean) and winter field crops (barley, wheat, flax, and canola) on organic land. Four varieties of each crop will be compared. Winter crops will be seeded in mid-September, except flax, which will be seeded as early as weather permits in March. Winter crops will be harvested in May and June, at maturity. Summer crops will be planted in late May or early June and harvested in September and October, at maturity. Seed yield, average seed moisture, lodging, winter survival, plant height, forage and straw yields will be collected for each plot. Fresh sweet sorghum stocks will be pressed in a three-roller mill, and juice yields and soluble solid content will be recorded. Objective 2: Four replicate high tunnels will be constructed on the Kentucky State University campus. High tunnel beds will be dedicated to production of cool season leafy greens between September and March; warm season vegetables from March through June; and a warm season nitrogen-fixing cover crop mix in July and August. Corresponding outdoor plots will be dedicated to production of warm season between May and September; and a winter nitrogen-fixing cover crop mix between October and May. An organic grain and oilseed study will be conducted with four rotation treatments: 1) summer cash crops with winter cover crops; 2) winter cash crops with summer cover crops; or 3) continuous alfalfa, with a summer or winter cash crop in the final year only. All but the perennial cover plots will be planted to a four-year rotation including an even mix of grain and oilseed crops. In the final year of the study the two perennial cover plots will be randomly seeded to either winter or summer cash crops for a single season. Environmental sustainability will be assessed by monitoring pest and disease incidence and soil quality trends and by modeling net greenhouse gas emissions and fossil energy inputs used to maintain the system. Social sustainability indicators will be labor hours used to maintain the system, annual distribution of labor needs, and climate stress associated with labor requirements. Objective 3: System profitability will be calculated by multiplying yield by market price and subtracting fixed and variable costs for each system. Objective 4: Off-farms sales, considered in Objective 2, are just one of the potential uses for organic grain and oilseed crops. Organic farmers may choose to use the products on their own farms by blending their own livestock feed, or using the products for on-farm biofuel production. The costs of each of these on-farm uses will be demonstrated and evaluated by recording fixed and variable costs associated with blending feed for KSU's pastured poultry flock using organic grain grown on the farm, and by making ethanol for on-farm use form organic grain and sweet sorghum juice using KSU's MicroFueler distillation apparatus.

Progress 10/01/12 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The project target audience includes small-scale and limited-resource farmers, organic farmers, farmers in transition to or considering transition to organic agriculture, minority farmers, scientists, Extension agents, industry that supports organic agriculture, and the general public who are interested in the production of high value organically produced crops in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and beyond. Changes/Problems:The transition to a new PD made achieving the objectives of this project difficult. The current PD (Dr. Shawn Lucas) began employment at Kentucky State University in July 2016, midway through the final growing season of this project, at which point problems with a wet spring and weed pressure (described elsewhere) had prevented successful collection of meaningful data. Given the expiration of this project, the primary goal of the new PD was to conclude this project and develop a new organic research project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students, Marlon Bascombe and Krystal Conway, worked on this project. Mr. Bascombe, successfully defended his thesis work on this project and obtained his Masters of Science in Environmental Studies degree in 2015. Krystal Conway successfully defended her thesis and obtained her in Masters of Science in Environmental Studies degree in 2017. A new student, Ellyn Anthony, joined this project in Fall 2016 to assist in closing the project while also laying the groundwork for the new project (described in the previous section). Ms. Conway, along with other staff members, attended the 2017 Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK) meeting and staff member Tony Silvernail gave a presentation on transitioning to organic agriculture at this conference. Ms. Conway also attended and presented at the 2017 Organic Agriculture Research Symposium in Lexington KY in January 2017. Staff and students attended the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group 2017 Annual Meetings in Lexington, KY. Undergraduate students were able to use the project infrastructure, including the sorghum/hemp demonstration, to learn skills on applying basic scientific method and hypothesis testing. Two undergraduates also explored new mechanisms for remediating salt accumulation in high tunnel soils in Spring 2017. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops and field days on organic grain production were held at the KSU Research Farm, Frankfort, Kentucky. Presentations on this project were made at the Louisville Grows (an organization focused on urban agriculture, urban forestry, and environmental education in Louisville, Kentucky) monthly environmental workshop, the Organic Association of Kentucky Todd County Field Day, the Organic Association of Kentucky meetings in 2016 and 2017, and during the Kentucky State Horticulture Society Meetings. Tours of the KSU campus high tunnel site were conducted for FFA groups, student groups, veteran groups, and the general public. Presentations were given to scientists at the 2015 and 2016 American Society for Horticultural Science Meetings. A presentation was given at the 2017 Organic Farming Research Foundation Organic Agriculture Research Symposium in Lexington, KY. Presentations at the Kentucky State University Farm City Field Day and several Third Thursday Thing Sustainable Agriculture Workshop series (a monthly workshop series targeting small-scale farmers, beginning farmers and agricultural professionals) were also given at Kentucky State University's Benson Research and Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, KY. The Organic Research Program was also featured during the Third Thursday 20th Anniversary event held on July 20, 2017. The transition from this project to the new project (described in the accomplishments section) was discussed. . What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The years 2016 and 2017 were a time of transition in the work conducted within the Organic Farmscapes Project. The previous project director (PD), Dr. Michael Bomford, left Kentucky State University (KSU) in fall of 2014 to take a position at another institution. The current PD, Dr. Shawn Lucas, started at KSU in the middle of the 2016 growing season (July 1, 2016), at which point he became the PD on this project. In 2016, variety trials for corn, soybean, sweet sorghum, hemp, and sunflower were conducted on certified organic land at the KSU Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm in Frankfort, Kentucky. The spring and early summer were very wet, followed by very dry conditions from August until late October. This pattern led to competition with weeds early in the growing season followed by water stress issues later in the season. The hemp variety trial, as approved under the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Research Pilot Program, involved 3 varieties (Futura 75, Finola, and Fedora17) to be evaluated for organic grain productivity. Finola, a shorter variety generally used for grain production, seemed to suffer the most from competition with weeds, producing very little harvestable biomass. Earlier planting of hemp may allow the crop to gain an advantage over surrounding weed growth by enabling greater canopy density. The wet spring also enabled fungal disease pressure to set in on the sunflowers, rendering the crop generally unharvestable. Additionally, grazing pressure from deer negatively impacted soybean production. Due to the transition between PDs, as well as the negative impacts of the weed, deer, and weather factors, extensive data on summer grain and oilseed crops was not collected, thereby limiting our ability to meet the planned outputs from objectives 2, 3, and 4. After the summer growing season, an undergraduate student evaluated the impacts of hemp and sorghum cover crops on early fall weed germination. There were significantly fewer weed seedlings in plots where sorghum had been produced compared to those where hemp had been grown. Winter grains and cover crops were planted and are in the field at the time of this report. Given the presence of a new PD and the expiration of this project, the growing season in 2017 was used to establish groundwork for a new project investigating soil and environmental quality in integrated crop-livestock organic production systems (ultimately approved as Project number KYX-10-17-60P).

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lucas, S.T. (2016) Organic farming research at Kentucky State University. Third Thursday Thing. Frankfort, KY. August 18, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lucas, S.T, Silvernail, A. 2017. The agroecological impacts of integrating small, pastured livestock into organic grain and vegetable cropping systems. Presented at the KSU Third Thursday Thing Sustainable Workshop, Frankfort, KY. Feb. 16, 2017.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Conway-Cunningham, K. (2015) Fall Season High Tunnel Production Effects on Warm Season and Cool Season Crops with Row Covers. Masters of Science of Environmental Studies Research Thesis. Kentucky State University.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Conway-Cunningham, K., Silvernail, A., Pomper, K., Lucas, S. (2017) Fall Season High Tunnel Production Effects on Warm Season and Cool Season Crops with Row Covers. Presented at the 2017 Organic Agriculture Research Symposium, Lexington, KY, Jan. 25, 2017.


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:The project target audience includes small and limited-resource farmers, organic farmers, minority farmers, scientists, and the public in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and beyond, who are interested in the production of high value organically produced crops. Changes/Problems:This project expires in Sept. 2017. The project is currently being transitioned towards a new project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students Marlon Bascombe and Krystal Conway worked on this project until 2016. Mr. Bascombe, successfully defended his thesis work on this project and obtained his Masters of Science in Environmental Studies degree. Krystal Conway is scheduled to defend her thesis in February of 2017. A new student, Ellyn Anthony joined this project in late fall 2016 and has been learning organic management techniques as the project winds down and transitions towards a new direction. Ms. Conway, along with staff members, attended the 2016 Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK) meeting and staff member Tony Silvernail gave two presentations at this conference. Ms. Conway attended and presented at the American Society for Horticultural Science 2016 annual meeting in Atlanta, GA as well as the 2017 Organic Farming Research Foundation Organic Agriculture Research Symposium in Lexington, KY. Staff and students attended the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group 2017 Annual Meetings in Lexington, KY. Undergraduate students were able to use the project infrastructure, including the sorghum/hemp demonstration, to learn skills on applying basic scientific method and hypothesis testing. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops and field days on organic grain production were held at the KSU Research Farm, Frankfort, Kentucky. Presentations on this project were made at Louisville Grows (an organization focused on urban agriculture, urban forestry, and environmental education in Louisville, Kentucky) monthly environmental workshop, the Organic Association of Kentucky Todd County Field Day, and the Organic Association of Kentucky meeting during the Kentucky State Horticulture Society Meetings. Tours of the KSU campus high tunnel site were conducted for FFA groups and other student groups. Presentations were given to scientists at the 2015 and 2016 American Society for Horticultural Science Meetings. A presentation was given at the 2017 Organic Farming Research Foundation Organic Agriculture Research Symposium in Lexington, KY. Presentations at the Kentucky State University Farm City Field Day and several Third Thursday Thing (a monthly sustainable agriculture workshop targeting small farmers, beginning farmers and agricultural professionals) Workshop series were also given at Kentucky State University's Benson Research and Demonstration Farm, Frankfort, KY. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?This project expires in September 2017. The project is currently being transitioned towards a new project that will likely be part of a future Evans Allen proposal.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The 2016 growing season was a year of transition in the work conducted within the Organic Farmscapes Project. The previous project director (PD), Dr. Michael Bomford, left Kentucky State University in fall of 2014 to take a position at another institution. The current PD, Dr. Shawn Lucas, started at Kentucky State in July of 2016 at which point he became PD on this project. In 2016, as in 2015, variety trials for corn, soybean, sweet sorghum, hemp, and sunflower were conducted on certified organic land at the Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm at Kentucky State University (KSU), Frankfort, Kentucky. The spring and early summer were very wet, followed by very dry conditions from August until late October. This pattern led to competition with weeds early in the growing season followed by water stress issues later in the season. The hemp variety trial involved 3 varieties (Futura 75, Finola, and Fedora17). The Finola, a shorter variety generally used for grain production, seemed to suffer the most from competition with weeds, producing very little harvestable biomass. Earlier planting of hemp may allow the crop to get an advantage over surrounding weed growth by enabling greater canopy density. The wet spring also enabled fungal disease pressure to set in on the sunflowers rendering the crop generally unharvestable. Additionally, grazing pressure from deer negatively impacted soybean production. Due to the transition between PDs, as well as the negative impacts of the weed, deer, and weather factors, extensive data on summer grain and oilseed crops was not collected thereby limiting the ability to meet the planned outputs from objectives 2, 3, and 4. After the summer growing season an undergraduate student evaluated the impacts of hemp and sorghum cover crops on early fall weed germination. There were significantly fewer weed seedlings in plots where sorghum had been produced compared to those where hemp had been grown. Winter grains and cover crops were planted and are in the field at the time of this report. Given the transition to a new PD, we anticipate the grains and cover crops to be part of a new project currently under development.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Silvernail, T. (2016) Organic vegetables in high tunnels. Presented at the Third Thursday Thing Sustainable Workshop. Frankfort, KY. Feb. 18, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Silvernail, T. (2016) Organic production in high tunnels in Kentucky. Presented at the Organic Association of Kentucky Annual Meeting, Shepherdsville, KY, March 4, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Silvernail, T. (2016) Understanding the transition to organic agriculture. Presented at the Organic Association of Kentucky Annual Meeting, Shepherdsville, KY, March 5, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Slivernail, T. (2016) Overview of Organic Agriculture Research at Kentucky State University. Presentation at Farm City Field Day, Frankfort, KY. June 30, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Lucas, S.T. (2016) Organic farming research at Kentucky State University. Presented at the Third Thursday Thing Sustainable Workshop. Frankfort, KY, August 18, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Silvernail, T. Organic sorghum production and processing. Presented at the Third Thursday Thing Sustainable Workshop. Frankfort, KY, September 15, 2016.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Conway, K., Silvernail, A. & Pomper, K. (2016) The Effects of Early and Late-season Production with Row Cover Usage of Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in High Tunnels. American Society for Horticultural Science, Atlanta, GA, August 10, 2016.


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience: The project target audience includes small and limited resource farmers, organic farmers, minority farmers, scientists, and the public in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and beyond, who are interested in the production of high value organically produced crops. Changes/Problems:As stated previously, crop failures in the winter and summer trials has led to a reevaluation and subsequent change in the experimental methods. The P.D., Dr. Michael Bomford, left Kentucky State University this fall for another position and we are currently trying to hire a person to replace him on this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two graduate students Marlon Bascombe and Krystal Conway worked on this project. Staff members attended and presented at the Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK) meeting and the 2014 Kentucky Academy of Science meeting. Mr. Bascombe, successfully defended his thesis work on this project and obtained his Masters of Science in Environmental Studies degree. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Workshops and field days on organic grain production were held at the KSU Research Farm. Presentations on this project were made at Louisville Grows, the Organic Association of Kentucky Todd County Field Day, and the Organic Association of Kentucky meeting during the Kentucky State Horticulture Society Meetings. Tours of the KSU campus high tunnel site were conducted for FFA groups and other student groups. Presentations were given to scientists at the 2015 American Society for Horticultural Science Meeting. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will again implement the trial described in Objective 1 and collect data to complete objectives 2 and 3 in the coming year.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? For objective 1, summer 2015 variety trials of corn, soybean, sweet sorghum, hemp, and sunflower were conducted on organic land at the Kentucky State University (KSU) Harold R. Benson Research and Demonstration Farm. Warm and wet conditions in 2015 complicated weed control efforts and led to crop failures in all replicate plots. In a trial with hemp used as a weed smother crop, it was noted that the hemp was overcome by weed pressure more quickly than other crops. In a separate hemp trial, Futura 75 out produced Finola in terms of dry biomass and seed production. Weed pressure on the planting was high and greater weed control will be needed to increase hemp biomass and seed yields. A graduate student evaluated the persistence of any allelopathic effects of Sudex, buckwheat, and hemp grown as summer cover crops on subsequent crops of direct-seeded winter grains and tomato. Summer cover crops of Sudex, buckwheat, and hemp were grown in 2014 until frost kill. Winter grains (wheat, rye and barley) and tomato were direct-seeded into soil collected from summer cover crop plots, grass-covered plots, and bare plots every month between February and June, 2015. No allelopathic effect of summer cover crops was observed on subsequent plantings of winter grain and tomato. Allelochemicals produced by the summer cover crops may have degraded before the first soil collection. The results suggested that farmers could plant winter grain and tomato crops after summer cover crops of Sudex, buckwheat, and hemp without concern for persistence of allelopathic effects. For objectives 2 and 3, due to the crop failures in objective 1, no measurements of labor and/or fuel were recorded past July 15. Assessment of sustainability factors could not be determined and will be examined next year. Additionally, the late-winter growth of three vegetable crops (arugula, spinach, and beets), with and without rowcovers, with either municipal water or rainwater for irrigation under high tunnel production was examined. As expected, the three crops had different biomass production during the growth period. Water source did not significantly influence growth of any of the three plant species. Rowcovers provided about a 40% increase in growth of the plants evaluated, likely providing protection during several cold weather events in Kentucky. Additional experiments were conducted using shade cloth and passive venting to delay spring bolting in organic Kentucky high tunnels.

Publications

  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Bascombe, Marlon. (2015). Allelopathy Effects of Sorghum-Sudangrass (Sudex), Buckwheat and Hemp on Winter Grains and Tomato. Masters of Science of Environmental Studies Capstone Thesis. Kentucky State University.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Silvernail, T. (2014). High Tunnel Production. FFA Conference October 10, 2014.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Silvernail, T. (2015). Organic High Tunnel Production at KSU. Third Thursday Thing Sustainable Workshop. February 19, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Silvernail, T. (2015). Organic Vegetable Production in Kentucky. Louisville Grows/RAPP. March 28, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Silvernail, T. (2015). Alternative Cover Crops. OAK Field Day, Todd County. June 20, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Silvernail, Anthony, Marlon Bascombe, and Kirk Pomper. (2015). The Use of Shade Cloth and Passive Venting to Delay Spring Bolting in Organic Kentucky High Tunnels. American Society for Horticultural Science August 5, 2015.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Gott, Andrew, Krystal Conway, Michael Tierney, Anthony Silvernail,Jonathan Cambron, Sheri B. Crabtree, John Sedlacek, and Kirk William Pomper. (2015). The Effect of Rowcovers and Municipal Water for Rainwater on the Growth of Vegetable Crops in Organic High Tunnels in Kentucky. American Society for Horticultural Science August 5, 2015.


Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: The project target audience includes small and limited resource farmers, organic farmers, minority farmers, scientists, and the public in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and beyond, who are interested in the production of high value organically produced crops. Changes/Problems: As stated previously, crop failures in the winter and summer trials has lead to a reevaluation and subsequent change in the experimental methods. The barley and flax planting dates are to be changed to the spring. The fall planting was not conducive to a healthy and vibrant crop. Similar changes will also take place during the summer crop plantings by delaying the planting until the soil has warmed up to a proper temperature. A continued regime of monitoring soil nutritional status and biotic factors will also continue in 2015. Hemp was added as an additional oil seed crop in 2014 and will be again be included in trials in 2015. The P.D., Dr. Michael Bomford, left Kentucky State University this fall for another position and we are currently trying to hire a person to replace him on this project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In 2014, two graduate students Marlon Bascombe and George Seay worked on this project. Staff members attended and presented at the Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK) meeting and the 2013 Kentucky Academy of Science meeting. The sorghum begasse that was grown and pelletized in 2013 was used by graduate student Brandon May in his work with the gasifier.Mr. May, successfully defended his thesis work on this project and obtained his Masters of Science in Environmental Studies degree. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Workshops and field days on organic grain production were held at the KSU Research Farm during the summer of 2014. A factsheet with results from the 2012, 2013 and 2014 organic corn variety trial was recently developed. A webpage was also created to share these results (http://organic.kysu.edu/OrganicCornVarieties.shtml).Tours of the KSU campus high tunnel site were conducted for FFA groups, Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK), Missouri Growers, Virgin Island dignitaries, along with government representatives from Nigeria. A webpage was created to offer a virtual tour of high tunnel construction process (http://organic.kysu.edu/CampusTunnels.shtml). The page includes an embedded video explaining the vision for the campus high tunnel site once construction is complete. Preliminary temperature data from 2014 in high tunnels will be presented. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Variety trial results from 2013 will be used to establish the organic summer and winter field crop rotations in 2015. Barley will be planted in March of 2015 to negate the winter die off. The summer grains will be rotated off the site where they were in 2014 and a possible delay in planting dates till late May or early June will be employed. It is hoped that this will help negate the deleterious effects of cool wet soils that were experienced in 2014. Continued monitoring of soil nutritional status along with the monitoring of biotic factors will assist in not repeating the failures of 2014. Construction of the high tunnels which commenced in the fall of 2012 will come to completion with the installation of electricity. This will allow for usage of the tunnels at their full capacity and give AFE and MES students numerous opportunities for research and hands on experience. The high tunnel site will also complete the transition period and will be certified organic in the fall of 2015. Data from this project will be presented at Kentucky Academy of Science, Third Thursday Events, and the Southern Sustainable Agricultural Working Group.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? For objective 1, summer variety trials of corn, soybean, sweet sorghum, hemp, and sunflower were conducted on organic land at the Kentucky State University (KSU) Research and Demonstration Farm. The corn variety trial on the KSU farm was coordinated with other variety trials conducted on farms in Kentucky and neighboring states. At the KSU research farm, weather related poor germination in the corn variety trial precluded the acquisition of any data. A winter grain and oilseed variety trial was initiated, to compare different varieties of wheat, barley, flax, and canola on organic land. In January and February of 2014 an exceptionally cold weather system in Kentucky killed the barley and flax crops in the variety trials. During the summer of 2014, crop failures in 3 out of the 6 replicates were recorded. The corn, soy, sorghum, and sunflower plots had low germination rates and the plants that did germinate exhibited extreme stunting. Hemp germination rates were also low. Soil analysis of these plots showed no nutrient deficiencies or presence of detrimental biotic factors (disease or nematodes). Abiotic factors such as weather and the time of planting were considered to be the negative factors affecting this experiment. For objectives 2 and 3, due to the crop failures in objective 1, no measurements of labor and/or fuel were recorded past July 15. Assessment of sustainability factors could not be determined and will be examined next year. For objective 4, sweet sorghum bagasse was pelletized to produce fuel for on-farm electricity production using a small-scale gasifier and generator. Corn grain was analyzed for starch, oil, and protein content in order to determine potential ethanol yield and feed quality. Sunflower oil yield was measured to determine potential biodiesel yield and feed quality. However, a comparison of cost and benefits on a production level could not be made due to the crop failures experienced in 2014. Information from data collected in 2013 was presented and placed online and are accessible through the organic.kysu.edu website.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Bomford, M.K. & Pomper, K.W. (2014). Organic Hemp Research at Kentucky State University. [Abstract]. Poster Presentations ASHS Annual Conference, S77.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Schmitz, J., Silvernail, A., Bomford, M., Cambron, J., Nelson, J., & Bascombe, M. (2014). Mid-East Organic Corn Variety Trial, 2013. Kentucky State University. [Abstract]. Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Bomford, M., Cambron, J., Nelson, J., & Silvernail, A. (2014). Effects of Farm Scale on Land, Labor, and Energy Efficiency in Organic Crop Production. Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Bomford, M., Schmitz, J., & Silvernail, T. (2014). Mideast Organic Corn Variety Trial, 2013. 2014 Organic Association of Kentucky (OAK) Conference.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Bomford, M., Schmitz, J., & Silvernail, T. (2014). Mideast Organic Corn Variety Trial, 2013. 2014 Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Silvernail, A., Schmitz, J., Cambron, J., & Nelson, J. (2013). Mid-East Organic Corn Variety Trial. Kentucky Academy of Science Meeting, Morehead, KY.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Cambron, J., Bomford, M., Silvernail, A., & Nelson, J. (2013). Sweet Potatoes for Low-Input Food and Ethanol Production in Kentucky. Kentucky Academy of Science Meeting, Morehead, KY.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Bomford, M. Silvernail, A., Cambron, J., & Nelson, J. (2013). Effects of Land, Labor and Energy Efficiency on Organic Grain Production. Kentucky Academy of Science Meeting, Morehead, KY.


Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: Our outreach efforts have focused on small, limited resource, and minority farmers, female farmers, and organic farmers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Two graduate students, Marlon Bascomb and Jon Cambron, are conducting research on this project as they pursue the Master of Science in Environmental Studies degree offered by KSU. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Workshops and field days on organic grain production were held at the KSU Research Farm, and on three other working organic farms in Kentucky during the summer of 2013. A factsheet with results from the 2013 organic corn variety trial was distributed at the 'Introduction to Organic Corn' workshop held in Bowling Green KY in January; at the KSU organic 'Third Thursday Thing' workshop in February; and at the Organic Association of Kentucky conference in March. A webpage was also created to share these results (http://organic.kysu.edu/OrganicCornVarieties.shtml). Tours of the KSU campus high tunnel site were conducted in February and September. A webpage was created to offer a virtual tour of the high tunnel construction process (http://organic.kysu.edu/CampusTunnels.shtml). The page includes an embedded video explaining the vision for the campus high tunnel site once construction is complete. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Variety trial results will be used to establish the organic summer and winter field crop rotations in 2014. High tunnels were constructed on the KSU campus in 2013 in preparation for the establishment of organic summer and winter horticultural crop rotations in 2014. The collaborative organic corn variety trials will be continued in the next reporting period.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Summer variety trials of corn, soybean, sweet sorghum, and sunflower were conducted on organic land at the Kentucky State University (KSU) Research and Demonstration Farm. The corn variety trial on the KSU farm was coordinated with other variety trials conducted on 12 farms in Kentucky and neighboring states. The highest yielding organic corn varieties among the 22 varieties tested were Great Harvest 44B8, Blue River 40R73, and Doebler’s N630 & N631. The sunflower variety trial determined that the 'Daytona' and 'Sierra' varieties out-yielded the 'Perodovik' and '859CL' varieties tested on organic land. The 'M81E' variety of sweet sorghum produced more juice and more bagasse than 'Dale,' Sugardrip,' or 'Umbrella.' Juice from 'M81E' had a slightly lower sugar content than juice from the other varieties, but this variety still produced the highest sugar yield among the sweet sorghum varieties tested on organic land. Results from the soybean variety trial were inconclusive, due to severe damage from deer browsing. A winter grain and oilseed variety trial was initiated, to compare different varieties of wheat, barley, flax, and canola on organic land. Objective 3: Input costs of summer and winter horticulture and field crop production systems were recorded to allow economic analysis comparing costs and benefits of each. Objective 4: Sweet sorghum bagasse was pelletized to produce fuel for on-farm electricity production using a small-scale gasifier and generator. Corn grain was analyzed for starch, oil, and protein content in order to determine potential ethanol yield and feed quality. Sunflower oil yield was measured to determine potential biodiesel yield and feed quality.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Ward, M.J. and M.K. Bomford. 2013. Row covers moderate diurnal temperature flux in high tunnels. Acta Horticulturae 987: 59-66.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Nelson, J.L. 2013. Effects of polyethylene and hay mulch on soil properties and yield of organic heirloom tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.). Kentucky State University Masters Thesis.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Nelson, J.L., M.K. Bomford, C. Wang, J.C. Cambron, A.F. Silvernail, L. Huang and M.J. Ward. 2013. Comparison of Hay and Polyethylene Mulch Effects on Soil Properties and Organic Produce Yield and Quality. Association of 1890 Research Directors: 17th Biennial Research Symposium Program and Abstracts, p. 72.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Bomford, M.K. 2013. Weed Suppression with Cover Crops on Organic Farms. Kentucky Fruit and Vegetable Conference, Lexington, KY. Archived at http://organic.kysu.edu/CoverCropWeeds.pdf.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Bomford, M.K., J. Schmitz, A.F. Silvernail, J.C. Cambron, and J.L. Nelson. 2013. Mid-East Organic Corn Variety Trial. Introduction to Organic Corn Workshop, Bowling Green, KY. Factsheet archived at http://organic.kysu.edu/OrganicCOrnFactsheet2012.pdf.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Wyatt, B., M.K. Bomford, C. Wang, L. Huang, M.J. Ward, and A.F. Silvernail. 2013. Row Cover Weight Influences Nitrate Content of Kale Grown in Solar Greenhouses. Posters at the Capitol, Frankfort, KY. Poster archived at http://organic.kysu.edu/NitratePoster.pdf.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Bomford, M.K. 2013. Suppressive Soil. Organic Association of Kentucky Conference, Berea, KY. Archived at http://organic.kysu.edu/SuppressiveSoil.pdf.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Bomford, M.K. 2013. Extending the Season. Field to Fork Festival, Paint Lick, KY. Archived at http://organic.kysu.edu/SeasonExtension2.pdf.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Bomford, M.K. 2013. Organic Gardening, Farming, and Certification. Ohio Valley Small Farm and Garden Conference, Henderson, KY. Archived at http://organic.kysu.edu/OrganicFarmsGardensCertification.pdf.


Progress 10/01/12 to 12/31/12

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Winter cover crops were planted and seed was ordered for summer variety trials. High tunnel construction was initiated. PARTICIPANTS: Principal Investigator Michael Bomford was responsible for project planning, oversight, and outreach. Co-investigator Tony Silvernail was responsible for construction, plot maintenance, and data collection. He was assisted by Research Assistant Jon Cambron and graduate student Joni Nelson. Workshops related to the project involved farmers and extension agents. Materials generated by the project were used in undergraduate and graduate level classes taught at Kentucky State University. TARGET AUDIENCES: Organic farmers, limited-resource farmers, small-scale farmers new to organic grain and oilseed production, small-scale farmers using high tunnels for season extension. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Project elements were included in presentations made at the the Kentucky Academy of Science meeting (Richmond,KY); Kentucky State University's Small, Limited Resource, and Minority Farmers' Conference (Frankfort,KY); and a Wholesale Success workshop (Bowling Green,KY).

Publications

  • No publications reported this period