Organic Friends' E‑zine: February 2016

The 68th UN General Assembly declared 2016 the International Year of Pulses! The International Year of Pulses aims to heighten public awareness of the nutritional benefits of pulses as part of sustainable food production aimed towards food security and nutrition.

In this issue:

• Organic Science Cluster II
  
• Practical Resources
• Scientific Results
• News & Articles of Interest
• Events

Organic Science Cluster II

Latest News & Research Results

• Cranberries seen to boost immunity in chickens
  • The Western Producer. 2016

Organic producers engaging in research and innovation

As Organic Science Cluster II (OSCII) completes the third year of activities, the Organic Federation of Canada and OACC have created a series of eight short films that present organic producers engaged in research and innovation in close cooperation with OSCII researchers. These videos, four of which are featured here, illustrate the important cooperation between researchers and producers in advancing the science of organic production to benefit organic yields and quality.

Organic apples under exclusion nets: Verger des frères

Optimal irrigation for organic cranberries

Practical Resources

Horticulture

• Short Duration Cover Crops for Vegetable Production Systems
  • Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. 2016
    

Seed Production and Plant Breeding

• Organic Seed Treatments and Coatings
  • eOrganic. 2016
    

Livestock

• Bovine Fatty Acids: From Forage to Milk Recorded Webinar
  • eOrganic. 2016
• Connections between Biodiversity and Livestock Well-being Recorded Webinar
  • eOrganic. 2016

Scientific Results

Soils and Fertility

• Cover Crop and Poultry Litter Management Influence Spatiotemporal Availability of Topsoil Nitrogen
  • Soil Science Society of America Journal (2015) 79: 1660-1673

Horticulture

• Cultivar, soil type, nitrogen source and irrigation regime as quality determinants of organically grown tomatoes
  • Scientia Horticulturae (2016) 199: 88-94
• Effect of Dry Heat, Direct Flame, and Straw Burning on Seed Germination of Weed Species Found in Lowbush Blueberry Fields
  • Weed Technology (2016) 30: 263-270
• The effect of green manure and organic amendments on potato yield, nitrogen uptake and soil mineral nitrogen
  • Biological Agriculture & Horticulture (2016) Online, ahead of print
• Organic mulches in highbush blueberries alter beetle (Coleoptera) community composition and improve functional group abundance and diversity
  • Agricultural and Forest Entomology (2016) Online, ahead of print
• Weed Management, Training, and Irrigation Practices for Organic Production of Trailing Blackberry: II. Soil and Aboveground Plant Nutrient Concentrations
  • HortScience (2016) 51: 36-50
    
• Weed Management, Training, and Irrigation Practices for Organic Production of Trailing Blackberry: III. Accumulation and Removal of Aboveground Biomass, Carbon, and Nutrients
  • HortScience (2016) 51: 51-66

Field Crops

• Evaluating the Competitive Ability of Semileafless Field Pea Cultivars
  • Weed Science (2016) 64: 137-145
• Importance of timing and repetition of stubble cultivation for post-harvest control of Elymus repens
  • Weed Research (2016) 56: 41-49

Livestock

• Incidence rate of pathogen-specific clinical mastitis on conventional and organic Canadian dairy farms
  • Journal of Dairy Science (2016) 99: 1341-1350
• Intensive vs. free-range organic beef. A preference study through consumer liking and conjoint analysis
  • Meat Science (2016) 114: 114-120
• Sainfoin seeds in organic diets for weaned piglets—utilizing the protein-rich grains of a long-known forage legume
  • Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems (2016) 31: 12-21
• Use of homeopathy in organic dairy farming in Spain
  • Homeopathy (2016) 105: 102-108

Ecology and Environment

• Interactive life cycle assessment framework to evaluate agricultural impacts and benchmark emission reduction credits from organic management
  • Journal of Cleaner Production (2016) 115: 182-190
• Land use at different spatial scales alters the functional role of web-building spiders in arthropod food webs
  • Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment (2016) 219: 152-162
• Organic agriculture in the twenty-first century
  • Nature Plants (2016) 2: 15221

Nutrition, Safety and Health of Organic Foods

• Composition differences between organic and conventional meat: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis
  • British Journal of Nutrition (2016) 115: 994-1011
• Higher PUFA and n-3 PUFA, conjugated linoleic acid, α-tocopherol and iron, but lower iodine and selenium concentrations in organic milk: a systematic literature review and meta- and redundancy analyses
  • British Journal of Nutrition (2016) 115: 1043-1060
    

Marketing and Economics

• Customer value perception of organic food: cultural differences and cross-national segments
  • British Food Journal (2016) 118: 396-411

News & Articles of Interest

• More producers switching to organics
  • The Western Producer. 2016

Events