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Organic Research at University of Saskatchewan: Cultivating Sustainability in Agriculture

Discover groundbreaking research at the University of Saskatchewan's Dept. of Soil Science focusing on organic agriculture. Explore barriers to industry growth, marketing strategies, production research, and variety development for sustainable crop production.

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Organic Research at University of Saskatchewan: Cultivating Sustainability in Agriculture

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  1. Organic Research at the University of Saskatchewan Dr. J. Diane Knight Dept. of Soil Science

  2. Organic Industry Needs Assessment (SAF) • Barriers to Industry Growth • Marketing • Production Research & Development

  3. Barriers to Industry Growth • Lack of an internationally recognized accreditation/certification system • Lack of marketing information

  4. Organic Trade and Marketing AnalystDept. of Agricultural Economics

  5. Organic Certification/ Accreditation in Canada • USDA-National Organic Program (NOP) • Organic Marketing and Supply Chain Analysis

  6. Production Research & Development

  7. Three priority areas identified: • Managing soil fertility and quality • Crop rotations in relation to soil, weeds, insects, and diseases • Managing weeds

  8. Variety Development/Assessment

  9. Variety Trials: Durum, oats, barley, wheat Identification of crop varieties that are the highest yielding under low input conditions - Heritage varieties - Modern high input varieties - Modern low input varieties Knight & Shirtliffe

  10. Flax Evaluation of early flowering flax varieties for organic production - Flax is typically seeded late to enable control of the first weed flush with harrowing - Can result in late maturity, hence, reduced yield and seed quality Rowland et al.

  11. Oats Comparison of oat cultivars for competitive-ness with weeds • Forage varieties most competitive, demi-dwarf varieties least competitive Shirtliffe

  12. Weed Control

  13. Bacterial Controls Development of bacterial control agents for control of wild oats and green foxtail • Native bacteria isolated from Saskatchewan soils • Lines identified that display moderate control • Development of carrier system for applying inoculants to soils Boyetchco, AAFC

  14. Mechanical Weed Control • Mowing barley at 2 to 3 leaf stage for in-crop control – faster recovey of barley than weeds • Deep seeding of peas for protection against post-seeding harrowing • Comparison of harrowing implements – small plot scale and field scale (Frick) Johnson, AAFC Frick, OACC

  15. Spray Technology • Vinegar and Pine oil as organic herbicides • First indications are it is not economically nor technically feasible for most producers Wolf, AAFC

  16. Soil Fertility

  17. Soil Survey of Organic Fields • 76 fields soil sampled and analysed for macronutrients and various soil chemical and physical characteristics • Overall, soils were: • moderately to severely deficient in P, • slightly deficient in N, • optimum for K and S (some localized S deficiency) Knight

  18. Green Manuring (Plough Downs) • Evaluation of a variety of green manure crops for supplying Nitrogen and Phosphorous, and for competitiveness with weeds • Investigation of optimal seeding rates for legume green manure crops for weed control and Nitrogen supply Knight & Shirtiffe

  19. Organic Fertilizers/Ammendments • Examining ways of improving P fertility • Composted livestock manures • Fungal inoculants for solubilizing P • Green manures Knight

  20. Cropping systems • Long-term crop rotation study comparing: • High input – low diversity • High input – high diversity • Low input – low diversity (organic) • Low input – high diversity (organic) • So far weeds are still manageable, organic high diversity system – among most economically viable Brandt, AAFC

  21. Summary • Addressing issues identified by organic producers as important • Cooperation between organic producers, U. of S. researchers, provincial and federal research institutes

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