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Proceedings of the 2020 Organic Agriculture Research Forum

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Proceedings of the 2020 Organic Agriculture Research Forum Proceedings of the 2020 Organic Agriculture Research Forum Presented by the Organic Farming Research Foundation and Tuskegee University in partnership with the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group January 23, 2020 Little Rock, AR The Proceedings include abstracts submitted by presenters for oral and poster sessions, and additional notes taken during the oral presentations by OFRF Research Associate Mark Schonbeck. The Organic Agriculture Research Forum was supported by the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) grant no. 2019-51300-30250 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Organic Farming Research Foundation and Tuskegee University also give special thanks to the Ceres Trust for their scholarship support. View more reports at https://ofrf.org.reports. 1 Table of Contents Keynote Address Status of organic farming research in the Southeast (Kpomblekou-A) 4 Strengthening Organic Agriculture through Healthy Soils and Plant Breeding 5 Soil health principles for resiliency in organic agriculture (Woodley) 5 Lesson learned in farmer participatory plant breeding with the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (Myers) 6 Participatory vegetable crop trials in the Southeast: Biomass yields (Mortley) 8 Organic cucumber research and breeding in the Southeast (Frost) 9 Organic Management of Pests and Diseases 11 Organic pesticide trials in the Southeast: How to manage pests in the Southeast (Quarcoo) 11 Organic solutions to control citrus greening disease and its vector, the Asian citrus psyllid (Sciligo) 13 Impacts of Organic Agriculture on Food Safety and Human Nutrition 15 Nutritional quality of selected organic vegetables: A review (Bovell-Benjamin) 15 Implementing conservation practices while improving produce safety and quality (Woods) 16 Compositional differences in organic and conventional alternatives: Nutrients and bioactive compounds (Aryee) 18 Attributes of organically grown squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) (Jones) 19 Leafy green quinoa: A potential nutrient-rich new vegetable for organic farming (Pathan) 20 Consumer Preferences, Markets, and Knowledge Transfer in Organic Systems 21 Consumers hedonic liking of organic squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) (Davis) 21 Market development for organic squash, tomatoes, and southern peas in the Southeastern United States (Nunoo) 22 Consumer perspectives on fruit bagging: A small grower horticultural practice for southern organic tree orchards (Kule) 23 Innovative approaches to transferring knowledge to beginning and transitioning farmers and ranchers (Miller) 24 Posters: Organic Crop Production, Soil Health, and Pest Management 26 Physico-chemical parameters of determinant at the level of the Laboko and Kokoro varieties of Dioscorea rotundata in Benin (Adifon) 26 Storage root yield and elemental leaf concentration of three sweet potato varieties in response to organic fertilizer (Wills) 26 Effects of thermal pretreatment on anaerobic methane production from a belowground cocktail of cover crops (Skinner) 27 Tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) management in organic tomato production in Alabama: Performance of selected biopesticides and host preference of the insect pest (Koirala) 28 Organic pesticides influence the nutritional and physical properties of organically grown sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam) (Davis & Jones) 28 2 Posters: Organic Livestock Production 29 Organic compared with conventional systems for lamb production yield differences in performance in Southeastern U.S. pastures (Burke) 29 Posters: Organic Certification, Organic Transition, and Public Policy 30 Obstacles in transitioning to a certified organic production system in farmers from the central-northern region of Sinaloa Mexico (Maldonado Rocha) 30 Public policies to facilitate the transition to organic farming (Tunisian experience) (Hatem) 30 Posters: Forestry, Wildlife Conservation, and Global Change 32 Image data acquisition for estimating individual trees metrics: Closer is better (Akpo) 32 Ecological niche modeling of the stone partridge (Ptilopachus petrosus Gmelin, 1789) in Benin republic center (Codjia) 32 3 Keynote Address Status of organic farming research in the Southeast Kokoasse Kpomblekou-A, Professor, Tuskegee University Abstract The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) divides the United States into four regions: Northeast SARE, North Central SARE, Western SARE, and Southern SARE. The Southern Region includes: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Virginia. The region has several large land-grant universities with influence beyond the region and want to play a significant role in the well-being of the population. There is an urgent need for the people of the South to increase their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. With the exception of Florida (26.4%), Virginia (27.2%), and North Carolina (29.4%), obesity prevalence in the South is over 30% and ranks number 1 in obesity and diabetes. Mississippi and Virginia reported over 35% of their population, as obese. The current trend nationwide is a decrease in consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, due partly to an increase in consumption of processed foods. In addition, in the South, most consumers do not know the benefits of organic foods yet the market trends for organic food production and consumption is increasing everywhere but the South. The U.S. organic sales reached $52.5 billion in 2018 and represented 6.3% over the previous year. The organic food sales on the other hand reached $47.9 billion with 5.9% increase over 2017. Producers and market participants in the South should, take therefore advantage of the production and marketing of organic fruits and vegetables in order to increase producers’ and market participants’ income. The Southeast United States has favorable rainfall for agriculture and has a suitable climate for food production. The abundant rainfall and long growing seasons of the Southeast, though favorable for crop production, present some unique challenges to organic production. In the South, environmental conditions are favorable for rapid mineralization of organic crop residues, disease outbreaks, weed competition, and insect proliferation. Thus, for a successful organic farming enterprise, a special attention to agro-ecosystem research is required. Such a research must address pest and disease control, soil/soil health, and appropriate crop varieties for the South to include incorporation of cover crops into rotations, improved and sustainable utilization of animal manures to eliminate the need for inorganic agro-chemicals, and development of IPM techniques for important common vegetable crops. These activities fit well into the land-grant mission of instruction, research, and service. To conduct this research work, however, land-grant institutions in the South must attract federal dollars to develop research programs that address production and consumption needs of constituents in the South. During the past decade (2009 – 2019), the Organic Research and Education Initiative Program funded 183 proposals throughout the four SARE regions; out of this number, only 33 were funded in the Southern SARE region and the vast majority of the proposals dealt with pest issues. In 2009, only two proposals tallying 1.2 million were funded in the Southern SARE region whereas six and eight proposals tallying $7.5 and $7.9 million were 4 funded in the north central and the northeastern regions, respectively, during the same period. The same trend persisted through 2014 with two proposals funded for a total of $1.5 million for the Southern SARE and seven proposals funded at $9.6 million for the North Central SARE region. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, the Southern SARE region was very competitive in attracting federal research dollars, but in 2019 only two proposals totaling $2.1 million were funded in the Southern SARE region, whereas nine were funded in the North Central SARE region for nearly $12 million. Moreover, state-level support for organic agriculture in the South is not strong compared with state support in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, California, Iowa, and Vermont where states have a strong commitment to organics and offer countless services such as education trainings, informal advice to organic growers, technical assistance, conferences, organic advisory committees, and language access. To strengthen organic farming activities in the South, we must attract more federal research dollars, educate consumers and producers, show commitment to organic farming, enact policies that encourage organic transition, increase state research support for universities, and offer technical trainings for county officers and form specialized organic county personnel to guide organic growers. Additional Notes: Southern region soils tend to have lower inherent fertility than soils in cooler climates. During the discussion following the presentation, it was noted that the Specialty Crop Block Grant awards in the Southern region include few projects that pertain to organic systems. Strengthening Organic Agriculture through Healthy Soils and Plant Breeding Soil health principles for resiliency in organic
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