|
|
Several of our pages require Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don't already have this free software installed on your system, click here to link to their site and download your own copy.
As an organization working for an ecologically sound regional food supply, we work on many fronts simultaneously. Our greatest tool is information, but we have a huge educational task ahead of us. There are hundreds of federal and state agricultural agents as well as conventional farmers who do not understand basic organic agricultural methods. Nor are we done defending organic practices. Despite the beautiful organic produce that can be found in many stores and farms, some people continue to disparage the viability of organic farming for sustainable agricultural production. While yield and quality are usually competitive with conventional agricultural products, we still need a great deal of basic and applied research to explain why some practices work and to improve on others. Lastly, people need to understand the connection between healthy soils, the healthy foods they produce and healthy people.
Click on the project listed below:
2007 Projects Update ~~~ 2007 Organic Field Days
|
2008 Conference Program (pdf) |
||||
|
2007 Conference Program (pdf) |
2003 Conference Program (pdf) |
|||
|
2006 Conference Program (pdf) |
2002 Conference Program (pdf) |
|||
|
2005 Conference Program (pdf) |
2001 Conference Program (pdf) |
|||
|
2004 Conference Program (pdf) |
2000 Conference Program (pdf) |
|||
ANNUAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE Back to top
Every year, NOFA-NY members gather to share experiences, learn from each other and from speakers with expertise in the many different areas needed by the well-rounded farmer and consumer. For example, farmers have reported on their experience with clay used in suspension as a spray (and physical pest barrier) for apples in NYS. This product has the potential to tremendously expand the production of organic apples here, as well as reduce the number of toxic pesticides currently used on conventional apples. Researchers, new and experienced farmers and concerned consumers all find topics of interest at this two-day educational event.
ORGANIC
SEED PARTNERSHIP:
Opportunities
for Farmers & Gardeners to Strengthen our Seed Supply Back
to top
Begun in spring 2005, the Organic Seed Partnership (OSP) is a three-year, nationwide project dedicated to developing improved vegetable varieties for organic systems. Building on work done by the Public Seed Initiative, the OSP wants to expand farmer participation in breeding for varieties adapted to organic conditions. Another goal is to improve capacity for production of high-quality, organically certified seed. NOFA-NY is a major participant in the project in the Northeast in cooperation with Cornell University and the Plant Genetic Resources Unit (USDA-ARS) at Geneva, NY. Other institutions in the partnership include New Mexico State University, Oregon State University, Alcorn State University (Mississippi), West Virginia State University, and University of California at Davis.
The OSP is looking for cooperators! The project provides organic farmers and gardeners with opportunities to
-
Choose from a diverse array of new and established vegetable varieties to evaluate for performance under organic management
-
Provide input, through surveys and listening sessions, on how vegetable varieties should be improved to best serve the organic community
-
Participate in breeding projects to create new varieties that are highly adapted to their growing conditions
-
Attend workshops, field days, and training sessions that provide practical information on variety evaluation, breeding techniques, seed saving, and commercial seed production and processing.
Farmers and gardeners with interest in any of the above activities or who want further information should contact Elizabeth Dyck (organicseed@nofany.org, 607-895-6913.) Additional information on the OSP is available at the project website noted above.
The Organic Seed Partnership is funded through the USDA Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (Award No. 2004-51300-02229).
PUBLIC SEED INITIATIVE Back to top
Working with Cornell seed breeders, the USDA's seed bank staff in Geneva, NY, the Farmer Cooperative Genome Project and farmers throughout the Northeast, NOFA-NY developed a vegetable breeding and seed production training program that will enable farmers to improve organic productivity, profitability and the viability of agriculture in the Northeast. This project has both short and long-term potential, as farmers work with other professionals to break out of the box of limited seed supplies now offered by the few seed companies still in business after the wave of consolidations in the 1990's. First, dovetailing with regional seed companies, we sought to engage our most knowledgeable growers in on-farm seed breeding of varieties that work in Northeast organic systems. Second, we trained growers to become seed producers. Third, we worked with breeders at Cornell to get new, disease-resistant open-pollinated varieties they have developed out in the field and into regional catalogs, since major seed companies have dropped vertually all open-pollinated varieties. Fourth, we connected the public with participants in an network involved in on-farm demonstrations, visiting days and working groups.
Farmers need seed stock that works for their climate, soils and markets. Northeast growers are now dependent on a much narrower range of seeds produced for corporate farming set-ups and average national growing conditions. This situation has dramatically reduced farmer's options and the potential productivity of the Northeast, as well as reduced the overall security of the food system. (Dependence on a narrow range of varieties means that when one variety becomes susceptible to disease, a national crop failure can result, instead of a local or regional crop failure.) Breeding varieties that flourish under organic conditions is a key component of improving the success of organic farming systems throughout the country.
NORTHEAST ORGANIC NETWORK (NEON) Back to top
NOFA-NY, organic farmers and research scientists from several states and Cornell University worked together researching the connections between specific organic practices and to develop new, practical decision making tools for farmers. This unique interdisciplinary study of successful organic farmers in the Northeast sought to better understand how organic soil fertility practices, weed management, crop rotations and pest pressure are related in organic systems. This project was funded by a USDA grant, the first time NOFA-NY had ever received funding from the federal government for a project.
Copyright © 2008 Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York, Inc. All rights reserved.