Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Four Farmer's Markets in Vanderburgh County

By Linda Powell
Resource Specialist

Linda Powell spent 15 years working on her vegetable and flower produce farm in western Vanderburgh county and finished a degree from USI in 2005 completing a BS in Biology with an emphasis in plant science.   Before taking the resource specialist position with Indiana State Dept of Agriculture, she spent two and a half years in Gibson county as a watershed coordinator for the district working on 319 grants for BMP installation.  Linda serves clients in South West Indiana Gibson, Posey and Vanderburgh Counties.









There are numerous farm markets and orchards in Vanderburgh County these days.   There has been tremendous growth in the availability of locally grown foods for people to enjoy.  The four markets featured here are just a few that we can show for our county.  They all produce most of the goods that they offer and they work very hard to produce good quality fresh produce.  Some are striving to increase their variety and are using equipment to extend their growing season to be able to offer  goods throughout the year.
Seton Harvest West of Evansville is an operating CSA

Seton Harvest Herb Gardens and Hoop Houses

Mayse Market on St Joseph Avenue Has Extended Season For Early Tomatoes

Mayse is a Family Operated Market

Reimans Market in Darmstadt



Reimans is Family operated

Bud’s Farm Market on the South Side

Bud Is Working to Extend His Season
For more information on farmer's markets in your area, please visit the ISDA website at www.in.gov/isda and click on "Local Foods and Agritourism". 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Red Gold Stewardship Award

 by Julie Harrold
Julie is a Resource Specialist Team Leader/CREP Leader in the north east part of Indiana. Julie's areas of Interest/Expertise include surveying; design of waterways, wetlands , structures, and working with landowners and SWCD’s. 











In 2009, the ISDA Division of Soil Conservation began working with Red Gold, Inc. to create a Conservation Stewardship Award Program for their tomato growers.   The program was established to showcase and recognize the conservation efforts taken by Red Gold Growers.  The goal of this award program is to highlight the current practices already undertaken by conservation minded-growers and to stimulate a proactive approach among all growers to evaluate their farm management practices and make improvements.
All Red Gold growers are eligible and encouraged to complete an initial application and all growers are provided an application form.  Once the initial applications are submitted, the applications are ranked based on the same criteria for every participant.  They are based on stewardship practices used to reduce soil erosion and improve soil and water quality, and practices used to reduce nutrient runoff and/or leaching and pesticide runoff and/or leaching.
At the end of May each year, the applications are due from all the growers who want to participate.  Then begins the process of reviewing and ranking those initial applications.  The top-ranking applications, typically the top 5, are chosen as finalists.  Each year in early July, I get the opportunity to visit 5 or 6 farms and visit with these producers that grow tomatoes for Red Gold.  I get to hear and see first-hand how they operate their farms and what good stewardship practices they are doing on their farms.  Through the past 5 years that ISDA has done this program with the growers, I have seen a lot of improvements in tillage practices, and in the use of more cover crops.  After I complete the farm visits, a ranking is done based on these visits and interviews. 
Tomato field

Chemical Storage Handling Facility


Filter Strip on ditch with tomato field in the background

Hay in cropping rotation
 In late July or early August, Red Gold has a field day for their growers followed by banquet serving a delicious pork chop dinner.  This year’s field day was held near Elwood, IN and featured several cover crop demonstration plots and some equipment demonstrations. 

Cover Crop plots at Field Day

At the field day, Barry Fisher from NRCS and Greg Downing from CISCO Seeds talked about cover crop benefits, types, termination, etc. and also showed soil pits in the cover crop plots.  Fred Whitford from Purdue did a presentation on tire and road safety for trucks and trailers, and insurance.  Ben Puehler from McDonnall Harvester did a presentation on tomato harvester equipment adjustments for improving tomato quality.

Barry Fisher speaking at Field Day


Fred Whitford talking to grower at Field Day

  
Following the field day, Red Gold holds an informal banquet to recognize the hard work of their growers and to talk about this years harvest and production.  The Stewardship Award is also presented at the banquet to the top two finalists.  First place receives a $1000 scholarship from Red Gold, a plaque, and one extra load of tomatoes per day during the harvest season, and second place receives a $500 scholarship from Red Gold and ½ extra load per day during harvest.  A Second Chance drawing is then held for the remaining Stewardship Award participants and includes a drawing for one extra load per day.  This year’s winners were both from Michigan.  First place went to Stanton Farms in Sherwood, Michigan and second place went to Iott Farms in Deerfield, Michigan.  
Way to go growers, and keep up the good work of being good stewards of our land!  Thank you to the growers and participants for your commitment to improve our soil, water and natural resources.



Monday, August 5, 2013

Conservation Cover: One Man’s Experience



Ed Roll is no stranger to Conservation Cover.  Not only has Ed served 25 years with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture Division of Soil Conservation as a Resource Specialist, he has also spent 30-years-and-still-counting working on his own farm.  Ed has spent that time practicing what he preaches to other land owners.  He regularly utilizes cover crops to replenish nutrients and increase soil health.









I regularly work with producers to get Conservation Cover on the land.  This process has recently been helped by utilizing Clean Water Indiana cost share funds.  I also serve as a member of the Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative (CCSI) South East Indiana Regional Hub which sponsors various educational events.
According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service website, interest in cover crops has skyrocketed over the past few years in the eastern Corn Belt.  Remarkably though, cover crops are an age-old practice for maintaining soil productivity.  They have been used for years to control erosion and improve water infiltration.   Cover crops also work to balance the biological community as well as many other environmental benefits.  (http://www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/ )
Planting a winter cover crop is a great way to improve soil health through the off-season.  While other land sits dormant, cover crops build fertility for the following year.  Cover crops can improve soil texture, boost organic matter, prevent erosion, suppress weeds, and provide food and shelter for beneficial insects.
Selecting the correct cover crop to plant is important.    It depends upon whether a producer wants to scavenge nitrogen or produce nitrogen for the next year’s row crop.  It can also depend upon the desire to conserve other nutrients and moisture.   The Midwest Cover Crops Council has a great website that can help you select cover crops to best fit your needs (www.mccc.msu.edu).
In general, there are two basic types of winter cover crops:
1) Those that grow vigorously in fall but are easily killed by cold temperatures (such as oats and radish in most areas of Indiana).   
2) Those that survive winter cold and resume growth in spring (such as clovers, winter rye and wheat).
The first kind is relatively easy to manage because they normally winter kill.  The trade-off is that you must sow these covers earlier to get adequate growth and maximum benefit before the plants are killed by the cold.  Oats and radishes are examples that should be sown by early September in the north and a couple weeks later in the south.   
The second kind of winter cover crop — those that overwinter and continue growing in spring — can be sown a bit later into fall.  This includes wheat, cereal rye or rye grass.  These crops will need to be terminated in the spring at planting time.
Seeding methods for cover crops may vary depending on the preferred seeding dates.  Some producers drill the seed or broadcast it after harvest.  Another option is to utilize aerial seeding while the primary crop is still in the field. 
My brother, Jack, and I utilize cover crops on part of our 1200 acres that we operate in southern Indiana.  We especially appreciate the benefits of erosion control, nitrogen scavenger, nitrogen producer, weed control and others.  We are careful to sow only the amount of cover crops that we know we can manage. 
Our cover crops are selected to match the next year’s crop, as well as the specific fields that will receive the greatest benefit.   Each year presents a new opportunity to try something different to see what works for us.   I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Indiana State Department of Agriculture-Division of Soil Conservation.  My work has provided me with a good knowledge and a renewed interest in cover crops.  This matches up well with my years of farming.
 In the summer of 2012, I selected a few fields that I was going to plant in corn for the 2013 growing season.  I decided that with the high cost of nitrogen I would see if I could produce some myself with the help of Crimson Clover.  I felt that clover was the best fit for my management system.  I considered aerial seeding, soil types, termination timing and cost.
I look at cover crops like a medical prescription and consider what side effects may be present.  I weigh out the “what ifs” that I need  to consider.  It’s important to remember that cover crop management is different for everyone.  You need to see what works for you.

Due to the wet spring I started no-tilling corn a couple weeks later than normal so that put  my Crimson Clover in full bloom which I believe marks the peak for producing nitrogen.  I allowed a couple of days to chemically burn down the clover and was still able to get my corn planted. 
As I continue to watch the crop progress, I have found that it was easier to terminate the Crimson Clover than I had thought.  Another benefit that I have noticed is weed suppression; I normally would have had to come back over this particular field to spray for weeds.  With the thick mat of clover, I eliminated the need for that pass.