Organic Friends' E‑zine: December 2014

The Director and staff of the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada would like to wish you and yours every happiness this holiday season and throughout the coming year.

In this issue:

• Practical Resources
• Scientific Results
• Organic in Canada
• Courses
• Student, Job and Apprentice Opportunities
• Events

Organic Science Cluster II

• All Organic Science Cluster II Theme and Activity information is now also available in French.
  

Practical Resources

Soils and Fertility

• The Science of Soil Health Video Series by USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service
  • Trailer
  • Getting a Handle on Mineralizable N in Soils
  • Changing the Way We Think About Soil Microbes
  • What Happens When You Till?
  • Cover Crops and Moisture
  • Simulating Rainfall on Pastures
  • Understanding the Value of Legumes and Nitrogen-Fixing Microbes
  • Using Cover Crops to Soak up Nutrients for the Next Crop
  • Nightcrawlers and Soil Water Flow
  • Fighting Plant Disease with Microbes
  • Without Carrot or Stick
  • Soil Feeds Plants and Vice Versa
  • Compaction
• Wet Fall + Compaction = Next Year's Roots?
  • Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. 2014
    

Horticulture

• Apple Diseases Identification Sheet
  • ATTRA. 2014
    
• Diversity by Design: Using Trap Crops to Control the Cruciferous Flea Beetle Recorded Webinar
  • eOrganic. 2014

Field Crops

• Dehulling Ancient Grains Recorded Webinar
  • eOrganic. 2014
    

Crop Rotation

• Cover Crop Decision Tool for Eastern Canada
  • Pesticide Risk Reduction Program. 2014
    

Pest Management

• Sustainable Weed Management for Small and Medium-Scale Farms
  • ATTRA. 2014
• The final frontier: Non-chemical, intrarow, weed control for annual crops with a focus on mini-ridgers
  • BHU Future Farming Centre. 2014

Livestock

• Considerations for Out-Wintering the Organic Dairy Herd Recorded Webinar
  
  • eOrganic. 2014
• Eating quality of meat from organic beef based on crossbred animals
  • Organic Eprints. 2014

Scientific Results

Soils and Fertility

• Compost for Management of Weed Seeds, Pathogen, and Early Blight on Brassicas in Organic Farmer Fields
  • Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems (2014) 39: 3-18
• Short-term effects of plant litter on the dynamics, amount, and stoichiometry of soil enzyme activity in agroecosystems
  • European Journal of Soil Biology (2014) 65: 23-29
• Soil microbial responses to winter legume cover crop management during organic transition
  • European Journal of Soil Biology (2014) 65: 15-22
• Soil Micro-Organisms as influenced by Farming Systems and Management Practices
  • Organic Eprints. 2014

Horticulture

• Antifungal effects of compost tea microorganisms on tomato pathogens
  • Biological Control (2014) 80: 63-69
• Crop pests eaten by bats in organic pecan orchards
  • Crop Protection (2015) 67: 66-71

Field Crops

• Red clover increases micronutrient concentrations in forage mixtures
  • Field Crops Research (2014) 169: 99-106
• The Potential Use and Benefits of Reduced till in Organic Agriculture Systems
  • Organic Eprints. 2014
    

Crop Rotation

• Effects of intercropping on yield, weed incidence, forage quality and soil residual N in organically grown forage maize (Zea mays L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.)
  • Field Crops Research (2014) 169: 21-29

Livestock

• The effect of feed demand on greenhouse gas emissions and farm profitability for organic and conventional dairy farms
  • Journal of Dairy Science (2014) 97: 7564-7574
• Evaluation of the sustainability of contrasted pig farming systems:
  • The procedure, the evaluated systems and the evaluation tools
    • Animal (2014) 8: 2011-2015
  • Breeding programmes
    • Animal (2014) 8: 2016-2026
  • Evaluating environmental impacts of contrasting pig farming systems with life cycle assessment
    • Animal (2014) 8: 2027-2037
  • Development of a market conformity tool for pork products based on technological quality traits
    • Animal (2014) 8: 2038-2046
  • Economy
    • Animal (2014) 8: 2047-2057
  • Integrated evaluation
    • Animal (2014) 8: 2058-2068
• Management Practices and Their Potential Influence on Johne’s Disease Transmission on Canadian Organic Dairy Farms—A Conceptual Analysis
  • Sustainability (2014) 6: 8237-8261
• Meat quality and health implications of organic and conventional beef production
  • Meat Science (2015) 100: 306-318
• A systematic review and meta-analysis of factors associated with anthelmintic resistance in sheep
  • Preventative Veterinary Medicine (2014) 117: 388-402
• Proceedings of the IFOAM Animal Husbandry Alliance Preconference and Workshop – Organic Husbandry across the world: Towards an action plan for development and strengthening of organic animal husbandry

Ecology and Environment

• Effect of temperature and precipitation on nitrate leaching from organic cereal cropping systems in Denmark
  • European Journal of Agronomy (2015) 62: 55-64
• Environmental impacts of organic and conventional agricultural products - Are the differences captured by life cycle assessment?
  • Journal of Environmental Management (2015) 149: 193-208
• Nitrate leaching from organic and conventional arable crop farms in the Seine Basin (France)
  • Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems (2014) 100: 285-299
• Organic farming and heterogeneous landscapes positively affect different measures of plant diversity
  • Journal of Applied Ecology (2015) 51: 1544-1553

Nutrition, Safety and Health of Organic Foods

• Differentiation of organic and non-organic winter wheat cultivars from a controlled field trial by crystallization patterns
  • Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (2015) 95: 53-58
• Sensory Analyses and Nutritional Qualities of Hand-Made Breads with Organic Grown Wheat Bread Populations
  • Food and Nutrition Sciences (2014) 5: 1860-1874

Post-harvest Handling, Storage and Processing

• Application of Quality Function Deployment for the development of an organic product
  • Food Quality and Preference (2015) 40: 180-190

Social Science

• Happy Growers! Relationship quality in the German organic apply chain
  • International Food and Agribusiness Management Review (2014) 17: 205-233
    
• Ideological Challenges to Changing Strategic Orientation in Commodity Agriculture
  • Journal of Marketing (2014) 78: 103-119
• To certify or not to certify? Separating the organic production and certification decisions
  • Food Policy (2014) 49: 429-436

Marketing and Economics

• Governmental and private certification labels for organic food: Consumer attitudes and preferences in Germany
  • Food Policy (2014) 49: 437-448

Organic in Canada

• Latest proposed answers to questions regarding the National Standards for Organic Agriculture [PDF - 392 kB]. Comment period open to December 23, 2014
  
  • Standards Interpretation Committee. 2014

Courses

Certificate of Specialization in Organic Agriculture - Online Courses Offered in the Winter 2015 Semester:

• Key Indicators of Agroecosystem Sustainability
• Organic Field Crop Management
• Organic Livestock Production
• Weed Control in Organic Agriculture

Other organic and related courses:

• Online Sustainable Local Food Courses at St. Lawrence College
• See the Education pages on the OACC website for links to additional programs.
  

Student, Job and Apprentice Opportunities

• Assistant/Associate Professor Organic Horticulture, Dalhousie University
  
• The Guelph Organic Conference Eco-Scholar program is back!
• Organic Alberta Agriculture Outreach Coordinator
• Organic Alberta Executive Office Manager

Events