2023 New York Certified Organic (NYCO) field crops meeting

New York Certified Organic (NYCO) Meeting Agenda – April 4, 2023 

FREE event with no pre-registration. But bring a dish to pass for lunch. We’ll have cups, plates, etc. but feel free to bring your own. This event will have a field crop focus.

9 a.m.—Greetings and Coffee

9:30 a.m.—Update on IPM for Organic Field Crops.  Ken Wise, New York State IPM, Cornell University

Ken will focus on organic IPM methods for controlling insect pests and diseases of corn, wheat, alfalfa, and soybeans. He will also share insights from his work using dung beetles as biocontrol for face flies.

10 a.m. Carmen Fernholz, A-Frame Farm, OFARM, Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative

Carmen will discuss his experience starting A-Frame Farm, his agronomic philosophy, his work with the Forever Green Initiative crops being developed by the University of Minnesota, and his work with cooperatives established to build a market for these crops, such as Kernza. 

11 a.m.—Reduced Tillage Farmer Panel Discussion 

Farmers will discuss recent efforts to reduce tillage on their farms. Panelists will include Luke Gianforte (Gianforte Farm, Cazenovia, NY), Stuart Farr (Hudson Valley Hops and Grains, Ancram, NY), and Chris Pelzer (Sustainable Cropping Systems Lab, Cornell University) and will be moderated by Kristen Loria (Sustainable Cropping Systems Lab, Cornell University).

Noon—Potluck Lunch 

1 p.m.—Open Discussion of Agronomic Problems and Potential Fixes

2 p.m.—Adjourn

NYCO winter meetings have grown from a gathering of six organic grain producers in the Martens Farms farmhouse kitchen in 1992 to filling the auditorium at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva. The NYCO planning committee also includes Emily Reiss, Ph.D. Clarence, N.Y. and Luke Gianforte of Gianforte Farm, Cazenovia, N.Y.

To send a message to the group, email it to bryan.brown [at] cornell.edu and he will send out yours and any other messages once a week. 

Please tell others to subscribe by emailing NYCO-group-L-request [at] cornell.edu with "join" as the subject and no text in the body of the email.

Unsubscribe by emailing NYCO-group-L-request [at] cornell.edu with "leave" as the subject and no text in the body of the email.