OSPUD! Participatory Organic Potato Project. 12 farmers (next slide) Alex Stone, Dan Sullivan, Paul Jepson (PIs) Lane Selman (coordinator)

Transcription

1 OSPUD! Participatory Organic Potato Project 12 farmers (next slide) Alex Stone, Dan Sullivan, Paul Jepson (PIs) Lane Selman (coordinator) Mario Ambrosino (post-doc entomology) John McQueen (grad student soil fertility) Isabel Vales and Solomon Yilma (potato breeding program) Al Mosley (retired potato specialist) Gwendolyn Ellen (participatory process)

2 NW Farmer to Farmer Exchange

3 Projects inspired by F2FX Weed Em and Reap DVD series Part 1: tools (cultivation, mulching, flaming) Part 2: systems strategies (high residue no till and living mulch systems) Participatory potato project

4 OSPUD Farms Gathering Together Farm Persephone Farm 47 th Ave. Farm Sauvie Island Organics Springhill Farm Fields Farm (Bend, OR east side) Foundhorn Gardens Fry Family Farm Wintergreen Farm Blue Fox Farm Ralph s Greenhouse (WA) - wholesale Nash s Organic Produce (WA)

5 Objectives: Pilot a participatory approach to learning and adaptation of novel farming systems strategies Evaluate nutrient and pest management strategies Extend project findings to a larger audience of farmers

6 Questions that (continue to) shape this project: How can farmers and researchers better understand how diversified organic vegetable cropping systems function? How can farmers and researchers problem- solve at a systems level? Can we create some kind of workbook to help farmers with this kind of problem-solving? How can we document what we learn and share with other farmers and researchers?

7 Why potatoes? We are interested in integrated decision making when dealing with multiple issues (nutrients, pests, water management) in a rotational and landscape setting Potatoes are the gift that keeps on giving. In lit, chronically under-yielding in organic vs conventional comparisons Farmers know less about growing them than many other crops Insect, disease, nutrient, water management problems

8 Process: group IDs issues Winter meeting one: Pre-meeting: farmer survey: how do you grow potatoes and what are your problems? Collected ugly tubers and ID d problems At meeting: ugly tuber quiz distribution of project binders (incl. grower survey of potato production practices and problems) project and budget outline hands-on ugly tuber ID with Al Mosley walk though potato production process and identification of problem areas nutrient management presentation ugly tuber re-quiz Major outcome: participatory problem area prioritization

9 Process: group sets agenda Winter meeting two Presentations on possible strategies for management of problem areas Discussion of various scenarios/budgets Farmers signed up for projects Hi (3) or lo (9) intensity nutrient and pest sampling No additional fertilization experiment (6) Late blight resistant potato variety trial (5) Potato cropping system description (5)

10 What are we doing in growing season one? N management Insect pest diagnosis and management Disease diagnosis and management

11 N management Dan Sullivan and John McQueen, Soil Science We want to match N supply to crop N demand We are working with the farmers to develop an N management decision-making process Key decision times: preplant tuber initiation The SARE project is helping put the pieces of the N puzzle together.

12 Timing and amount of N uptake by a potato crop Nicola: a medium-early early yellow variety Weekly: Sample nine plants (approximately 9 ft row) Three subsamples (3 ft row): determined dry weight (biomass) and N concentration (OSU Central Analytical Laboratory) Calculated N uptake = Biomass (lb DM) x N (% of DM) x plots per acre

13 Potato nitrogen uptake Nicola, OSU Veg Farm, 2005 Crop N uptake (lb/acre) Tops Tubers Tops + tubers Days after planting (June 3)

14 Incubation in lab to determine N mineralization potential 100 NItrate-N (mg kg -1 ) organic farms 2006 organic farms Days at 22 o C

15 Insect pest management Mario Ambrosino and Paul Jepson, OSU IPPC Nick Andrews, OSU Small Farms Lane Selman, coordinator Wireworm Tuber flea beetle

16 Insect pest management (cont d year one goals) Refine and develop sampling methods and diagnostics for adults, larva (wireworms only) and tuber damage. Elaborate a basic phenology model for key species. Determine scope for basic prevention and mitigation tactics. Develop diagnosis/management fact sheets with IPM guidelines for organic producers. Develop mechanistic hypotheses for year 2.

17 Late blight management Alex Stone, Horticulture Isabel Vales and Solomon Yilma, potato breeding program Scout fields for LB and other diseases to determine which diseases are important and in which regions Trouble-shoot to identify contributing factors on farms with LB Assist farmers in adopting control strategies (management of culls and volunteers, field layout, irrigation management, copper)

18 BlightMOP project: EU

19 Foliar blight: : England 2001 Foliar blight (%) UK Cara Nicola Claret Donella Lady Balfour Princess Sarpo Mira Eve Balfour Julian day August September October from Leifert et al

20 On farm non-replicated non- inoculated variety trials 5 farms evaluating cultivars for yield, quality, flavor, and market potential One on-farm trial with LB epidemic In this trial, Defender and Jacqueline Lee appear to have good LB resistance and flavor Island Sunshine was less resistant and flavorful than Jacqueline Lee No comparative yield or quality data yet

21 Jacqueline Lee

22 Defender, after on-farm LB epidemic A University of Idaho release

23 Potato breeding program inoculated, replicated field trial All OSU specialty potato germplasm Cultivars described as LB resistant in Moose Tubers catalog Jacqueline Lee, Island Sunshine, Defender Conducted by Isabel Vales and Solomon Yilma Funded by OSU Ag Research Foundation grant In addition, we will screen the OSU germplasm for tuber insect resistance

24 Process: Second year winter meetings First meeting Debrief Discuss data and farmer experiences Adaptive nutrient management workshop Second meeting Survey participant knowledge and understanding Plan second season work Evaluate project process and outcomes

25 Projected products: Website (ospud.org( ospud.org) Workshops Adaptive nutrient management, 2007 (ospud( participants only) Adaptive potato management, 2008 (taught by ospud farmers, for other farmers) Extension publications Using participatory methods for tackling cropping systems problems Adaptive organic potato management in the western PNW (workbook?) LB resistant fresh market potato cultivars for western PNW Journal articles (ultimately) N dynamics and management in western PNW organic potato production Tuber flea beetle phenology

26 OSPUD.org Many thanks to Western Region SARE for funding this project!