1:30 Workshops
- Can organic growers profit from soil carbon sequestration? - Dr. Mark Sperow
- Organic and Pastured Poultry – Dr. Joe Moritz
- Interactive Weed Identification Clinic – Dr. Rakesh Chandran
2:20 Workshops
- Pasture Management – Dr. Bill Bryan
- Farmers Markets and Farm Sustainability – Dr. Cheryl Brown
- Plant Diseases, And What You Can Do About Them – Dr. Jim Kotcon
3:10 Workshops
- Organic Herd Health. – Dr. Margaret Minch (DVM)
- Building Soil Quality – Dr. Eugenia Pena-Yewtukhiw
- What's Bugging You? - Insect Pest Identification. Dr. Yong-Lak Park
4:00 Welcome: Dr. Barton Baker
4:10 Wagon tours:
Tour A. Market Garden/Vegetable Production
- Field Crop/Livestock Transition Systems. Dr. Bill Bryan
- Poultry. Dr. Joe Moritz
- Compost Rate Trial – Miscanthus and Edamame. Dr. Eugenia Pena-Yewtukhiw
All Day - Demonstrations, Displays, and Exhibits
- Nematode Pathogens & Parasites. Tiara King.
- Intestinal Roundworms in sheep. Rebecca Rush.
- Integrated Management of Pumpkin Diseases and Insects. Yong-Lak Park and Jim Kotcon.
- Biological Insect Control, How to Use Parasitic Wasps. Tiffany Fess
- Spined Soldier Bugs for Insect Pest Control. Sudan Gywaly.
- Seedling diseases. Identification and Management. Dr. Jim Kotcon
- Creep Gates and Portable Fencing. Dr. William Bryan
West Virginia University’s Organic Research Farm will host its annual field day from 1:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, July 29.
Situated on 71 acres of land off Route 705 and Stewartstown Road in Morgantown, the farm houses studies on field crops, livestock, organic pasture management, vegetable production, weed, insect and disease management, as well as soil quality.
As part of the farm’s mission to provide best-practice recommendations for organic farmers and home gardeners, Field Day events include wagon tours of research plots and demonstrations of organic practices. New this year will be a project on sheep nutrition, one on organic egg production, additional trials for sustainable biofuel crop production, and blackberry, tomato, and watermelon variety trials. Intensive workshops will be conducted on insect, disease and weed identification and management, livestock, poultry, pasture management, marketing, and much more.
The multidisciplinary team from the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design and WVU Extension is beginning its 11th year of research on organic production methods.
“Organic farming is one of the fastest growing sectors in American agriculture,” said Jim Kotcon, associate professor of Plant and Soil Sciences. “The WVU Organic Research Farm provides the information needed to help growers succeed in this rapidly expanding market.”
The Field Day is free and open to everyone, especially organic growers, students who want to learn about alternative food production practices; home gardeners who want to avoid pesticides; conventional growers who are considering transitioning to organic; and cooperative Extension agents or pest management advisers.
“We hope people will see the possibilities in organic agriculture and learn solutions to organic production problems,” Kotcon said. “Most importantly, we hope they have fun.”
Gates open at 1:00 p.m. with workshops beginning at 1:30. Wagon tours begin at 4:00. Dinner sponsored by the Plant and Soil Sciences Club will be served at 6:00.
Participation in the event is free, but pre-registration is appreciated. For more information or to register, contact Kotcon at (304) 293-8822 or jkotcon@wvu.edu. More information on WVU’s Organic Research Farm is available online – www.caf.wvu.edu/plsc/organic.
-WVU-
dw/07/20/10
CONTACT: David Welsh
304-293-2394
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