The calendar says January 1 is the start of the new year but I always look at March as the beginning of the year. For market gardeners the start of the growing season comes earlier than for many other farmers. From the middle of February the trays of germinating seeds sitting around my living room, the almost daily arrival of packages of seeds and the spinach sprouting in the hoophouse, are a constant reminder of the change about to come.

By Hugh Martin
OMAF, Organic Crop Production Lead

To obtain profitable yields farmers should plan to establish optimum plant populations for their crops. Low final plant populations reduce yield and allow weeds to grow into problems at harvest. Organic field crops (corn, oats, barley, wheat, rye, spelt, and beans) should be planted to achieve similar final plant populations as those for conventional corps. Suggested seedin... [Read More]

The original CSA model was a truly shared risk venture where the member families signed on and prepaid for the season, for the produce the farmer was able and choese to grow. They received what was ready each week and accepted any crop failures that happened. It helped the farmer with an up front cash flow, and a prepaid crop.

Many other slightly different models exist including ones wher the consumer member pays ups front gets some choi... [Read More]

What are the advantages of good compost?

• Reduces/eliminates pathogens
• Reduces viable weed seeds
• Reduces insect larvae (fly problems)
• Reduces odour
• Reduces volume and moisture content
• Stabilizes organic components and nutrients
• Produces a soil amendment/fertilizer[Read More]

  ---

There are many strategies that organic farmers can use to manage weeds. One of these is to use a false seedbed (also known as stale seedbed). It can be useful for many crops that are planted in mid to late spring or in the fall. Work the soil to create a seedbed-like condition in early spring (but do not plant yet). This stimulates the weed to grow. Leave the field for 5-10 days to allow weed growth and then till shallow to kill weeds. Do not w... [Read More]

Flame weeders are used by a few Ontario farmers but in general have not been popular in this area. There are both hand-held flame units and larger ones that are pulled behind the tractor. Units vary in size, and the speed of operating ranges from 4-7 km/hr.

This technique works by rupturing plant cells when the sap rapidly expands in the cells due to heating. After flaming weeds may at first look unaffected, and then ... [Read More]

By Christian Boettcher

Chris Boettcher has a sheep farm near Brussels, Ontario. He recently held a kitchen table workshop on seed saving.

by Rupert Jannasch
M.Sc., P.Ag. is a consultant for the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada.

Cover crops are invaluable for controlling weeds, preventing soil erosion and preserving soil organic matter.

Ideally, growers will vary cover crops from year to year to take advantage of different botanical characteristics such as rooting patterns, allelopathy and nitrogen fixation. Variety also helps thwart... [Read More]

Fran McQuail,
Meeting Place Organic Farm CSA

Diva cucumber. Johnny Seeds, Maine. New seedless parthenocarpic cucumber doesn’t require pollination; hence you can grow it under row cover on in screened hoophouse all season to keep those pesky striped cucumber beetles away. 9 inches long, really crisp & sweet.

As many of you are aware, it is against the law to raise and sell chicken in Ontario without quota. This is because chicken is a supply managed commodity in Canada and the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) have the right to control the sale of chicken within Ontario. Supply management was set up to protect farmers from processors and to provide farmers with a fair return on their product. Over the years, quota has become increasingly expensive and often out of re... [Read More]

The loss of small abattoirs is a concern for many of our members. The Report of the Meat Regulatory and Inspection Review by Justice Roland Haines, Farm to Fork A Strategy for Meat Safety in Ontario, is quite strong in its support for the continued existence of small, local, provincially inspected abattoirs as indicated by the following excerpt:

"In Ontario, many and medium-sized farms sell meat from their animals to local customers. The... [Read More]

At least one EFAO member has been able to obtain quota for small scale organic chicken production.

We are not including the name of this member because there is so much interest in this topic that they are getting more phone calls than they can handle, while still doing their farm work. However, EFAO has spoken to the member and the following information comes directly from them.

The farm family wanted to be able to sell a small number of chickens legally because they see t... [Read More]

Canada's position at the recent technical experts meeting of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which met in Bangkok Feb. 7-11, 2005 is earning a heap of criticism.

The intent of the convention is to protect global bio-diversity including agricultural bio-diversity. An expert working group, which advises the 150 countries which have signed on to the convention, planned to recommend that a moratorium be continued on commercialization and field trials of the ... [Read More]

We here at the Simcoe County EFAO branch have been planning an ecological farmers' market since early spring so the arrival of Dynamic Farmers' Market by Jeff Ishee, via the EFAO library, couldn't have been better timed. The book not only covered how and what to sell at a market, but also tips and advice for starting a brand new one. It was chock full of useful ideas on how to set up an attractive display that would get the attention of potential cu... [Read More]