Indiana SARE Plan of Work 2023-24

16 Extension Educators were trained and equipped  to use as Junior Master Gardener curriculum 

Promoted, participated in, and financially supported the Black Loam conferences (meaning rich soil and focusing on BIPOC farmers to grow the community and learn about resources available to them and their farms) across Indiana to share SARE resources with the participants. Across 5 cites in a couple of months in Spring 2023, 225 participants came to learn and network. 

Promoted, participated in, and financially supported the Small Farm Conference in Hendricks County, in March 2023. also, hosted CANI training with Janelle White to share about Diversity Equity Inclusion and our language. 189 people attended the conference and about 30 ag professionals and farmer leaders attended the CANI training. 

Promoted and financially supported ABC's of Organic Ag Workshop Bloomington, IN August 2023 where a teacher from Columbia came to teach 42 students (ag professionals and farmer leaders) about bokashi composting. One of the students is a Master Gardener who is using bokashi to try to remedy a salinity issue in demonstration garden beds. This Master Gardner shared in a educational meeting to 30 other master gardeners and will continue to share knowledge with others. She wrote this with bold that will help her in her Master Gardener volunteering, "

The first note I took at the conference, “The ABC’s of Organic Agriculture”, at Sobremesa Farm in Bloomington, was one by world-renowned presenter, Jairo Restrepo: “The basis of organic agriculture is soil.” He went on to say that soil is life, so we must give back to the soil which provides for us. 

As Restrepo said, “The more minerals that are in the soil, the more biodiversity the soil has.” He explained that minerals can be present in the soil, but these must interact sufficiently with other minerals. This interaction occurs (in great part) through the aid of microbes, hence the importance of biodiversity for the health of the soil and for the health of any plant that is growing in it. With this premise established, Restrepo encouraged conference attendees to separate “agriculture” from “agribusiness.”

Restrepo used the Japanese composting method, “Bokashi”, in his soil preparations, such as compost that is specific to the problems of a growing crop, or in recipes for liquid biofertilizers (“teas”.) Bokashi is a form of composting that utilizes fermentation to speed up the process of a traditional compost. Restrepo demonstrated how to make, from scratch, the essential ingredients used in the Bokashi fermentation process and he added the Bokashi elements to his various compost recipes.

Though Restrepo focused on creating compost used in farming, any of his recipes could be used in a larger garden, as many recipes were crop-specific. The teas were often targeted at getting rid of specific pests, so those could be used in a garden as well. Though many of the members of the Hancock County Master Gardeners Association are not organic farmers, they could gain an appreciation of the Bokashi method by utilizing a few of Restepo’s compost recipes in their gardens.

In addition to sharing a few of these recipes, I could reiterate to the members the importance of soil testing. As Restrepo informed, “a soil can be rich in organic matter but still lack essential microbes.” Restrepo suggested taking three soil samples: one at 50 cm, one at 25 cm, and one along the top edge of the testing site. These three samples will better reveal the “history” of the soil. The more information that one can gain about the soil, the better prepared one will be to create a compost specific to the soil’s and the plant’s needs. He suggested sending the soil samples to a lab that will not only identify the minerals present or lacking but that will give a microbial analysis as well (such as Earthfort.)

Restrepo also led a workshop that taught attendees how to conduct a chromatographic analysis of the soil. I could share the basic concept of this type of visual analysis and offer a couple of book titles for learning more about it. Basically, the three areas of color on the results sheet indicate the elements (and aeration), the microorganisms, and the enzymes present or lacking in the soil. As Restrepo said, “To discuss agriculture, we need to understand chemistry.”

Though Restrepo did not address the Bokashi method of turning kitchen scraps into compost, the farming compost principles share the same basic premise: Chelates, which are not available in soil, can be made available via the fermentation process. These chelates are important to the soil’s mineral compatibility. 

While at the conference, I met an organic farmer who uses the kitchen scrap method on his farm. I recorded a brief interview with him and I could share this “testimonial” with the membership. Through my own research and practice, I can inform the membership about how to practice the Bokashi method of kitchen scrap composting. 

I learned a great deal from the conference speaker who is a master of chemistry! As a Professor of Agriculture from the University of Kentucky said, “Organic farming in the US is on a spectrum. Jairo Restrepo is on the deep, profound end of the spectrum.”

We are working with the Wallace Center to create a food systems leadership retreat in fall 2024. The Indiana Department of Health will likely be increasing the investment from SARE, so we are excited to have a good budget to do it right. We are meeting with leadership again in February to go through how they might support us and what the retreat would look like.

110 Ag Professionals trained in Diversified Food and Farming systems - May 2023, a tour to a Food Stop and a farm food stop in Bloomington Indiana. October 2023, Indianapolis Urban Farmers tour with discussing land access. 

3 ag professionals trained at Midwest Mechanical Weed Control field day in Wooster, Ohio Sept 2023

Dry Bean Variety Trial Year 2 

Dry Bean Research Summary 2023  – Exploring Large Grains on the Small Farm

By Ashley Adair, Extension Organic Agriculture Specialist

Introduction (from 2022 summary)

Many farmers, especially beginning farmers, plan their farms around producing a variety of perishable products that sell well, like tomatoes, peppers, and leafy greens. As farmers gain more experience and build their markets, they may begin to wonder what other crops they can add to their crop rotation. Storage crops can be part of that plan, allowing them to extend their sale season and provide additional value to their customers. Storage crops might include winter squash, onions, and pumpkins. Another storage crop to consider is grain: flint corn, popcorn, wheat, or even dry edible beans, which are the focus of this project.

Stepping into the world of grain might seem daunting at first. The farmer might assume they need a lot of land, a combine harvester, large tractors, and complex planting equipment to ensure success. This project aims to dispel preconceived notions about grain production on a smaller scale and explore ways to make small scale grain production viable for the small scale grower. This project also seeks to discover which heirloom dry bean varieties are suitable for production in Indiana.

What are dry edible beans? (from 2022 summary) Dry edible beans, or simply dry beans, are a food grade storage grain crop. Dry edible beans come from the same type of plant that many fresh edible beans (i.e. green beans, or fresh shell beans) come from, Phaseolus vulgaris. There are many varieties of beans available, and some varieties can be grown either for fresh or dry. They are most commonly grown as a food grade crop, and provide many nutritional benefits to those who consume them. That being said, they can also be incorporated into animal feed, but are more lucrative in the food grade market, selling for as much as $60 per hundredweight (cwt) in the certified organic marketplace. Compare this to certified organic soybeans, which have sold for $35-40 per bushel in 2022, and require a growing season as many as 20 days longer to mature.

Dry beans are a shorter-season crop, usually taking 80-90 days from planting to harvest. They prefer well-drained soil and are generally poor competitors with weeds. In organic management, dry beans require vigilance and much attention focused on mechanical weed control. Foxtails and other grasses are public enemy number one for this crop, but any weed will be problematic for growing these successfully. On the other hand, dry beans are a legume and can provide for much of their own nitrogen needs, even in soils that have relatively low organic matter, like the sandy soils where they prefer to grow. Dry beans are most commonly grown in the north-central states of the US, as well as Ontario, Canada. The number one producer of dry beans in the US is North Dakota, followed by Michigan, Nebraska, and Idaho. While these states are different from each other in terms of climate and weather patterns, they share some combination of suitable soil types, rainfall amounts, grain handling infrastructure, and shortened growing seasons that make growing dry beans (versus soybeans) a viable option for the commercial grain grower.

Many of the commercially available dry beans at the grocery store are limited to a handful of specific varieties. Commonly available to consumers are pinto beans, black beans, great northern beans, and kidney beans. But there are a huge number of dry bean varieties available to the small scale grower and market gardener that can’t readily be found at the grocery store. These varieties often are locally adapted to where they were bred, rather than bred for adaptability to a large geographic area or mechanized harvest. In addition to local adaptability, each dry bean has specific flavor, culinary characteristics, and cultural history that can help enrich the farmer’s and consumer’s kitchens while providing essential nutrients, such as fiber, protein, and several minerals, to the human diet.

Project description and design (2023): A dry edible bean variety trial was installed at the Purdue Student Farm (West Lafayette, IN) and Pinney Purdue Agricultural Center (Wanatah, IN). Each site was planted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) (see figs 1 and 2).

One of the largest differences between the two sites is soil type. The PSF features a silty clay loam, and Pinney PAC features a sandy loam. Other differences include cropping history and weather conditions. The PSF has been an organically managed (not certified), diversified vegetable farm since 2016, whereas the research plot used at Pinney PAC has been left unused and untreated for several years prior to the installation of this trial – which means a large weed seed bank. The trial was designed as a randomized complete block trial, meaning each “column” of the trial will feature all four varieties, randomly arranged. This type of design is common in agricultural research and helps to account for variability in the field where the trial is planted. Varieties used in this trial include the following:

• Black Coco – a type of black bean (determinate bush-type)
• Calypso – a type of black bean (determinate bush-type)
• Jacob’s Cattle – a type of kidney bean (determinate bush-type)
• Tiger’s Eye – a type of cranberry bean (indeterminate upright-type)

Varieties were selected based on several characteristics, including time to maturity, cultural relevance to the Midwest, common cooking preparations, and growth habit.

Figure 3. Plot layout at PSF in 2023. This plot layout reflects actual planting, which due to a miscalculation, resulted in 5 reps of CALYP and only 3 reps of BCOCO.

Materials and Methods

Each variety was planted using an Earthway seeder fitted with a pea plate in a double row at each site in 2022, each with about 18 inches of spacing between rows. Each block was 12.5 feet in and beans were seeded approx. 2” apart using a Jang JP-1 seeder fitted with a bean plate. Both sites were irrigated as needed using plastic drip tape in 2022, to the equivalent of about 1 inch of rain per week. At PSF, beans were grown on shaped beds about 4 inches high. Hand labor was used to weed the beds. In 2022, each trial was side-dressed when bean plants had fully unfurled their second set of true leaves using an OMRI-listed pelletized poultry manure to the equivalent of 40 lbs. N per acre using an Earthway seeder fitted with a pea plate. In 2023, no bed-tops were made, 4 single rows 12.5 ft. long per block were planted, only overhead irrigation was used at PSF, and neither trial was side dressed, assuming enough N credit from the previous fall’s cover crop planting of about 40 lbs N/acre. Weeding was done by hand with hand tools and a wheel hoe fitted with an 8 inch blade.

            In 2022: At PSF, the trial was planted on 6-3-22. Pinney was planted on 6-10-22, and due to inadequate irrigation, had to be replanted on 6-24-22. PSF was harvested over the course of several days beginning 9-6-22. Pinney was harvested on 9-20-22 and 9-22-22. Harvest can take place as soon as dry bean pods are about 85% yellow and 15% brown, or when beans split in two when smashed with a hammer.

            In 2023: At PSF, the trial was planted on 5/25. At PPAC, the trial was planted on 6/8.

            Dry beans must be threshed and winnowed in order to prepare them for weighing and sale. For the purposes of developing recommendations and materials for demonstration, two threshing methods were used in 2022. Manual threshing was completed by flailing bean plants against the inside of a 55-gallon food grade plastic drum. Mechanical threshing was done using a Swanson Machine Co. portable gas powered plot thresher (see figs. 3 and 4). In 2023, all beans were threshed mechanically with the Swanson unit.

Figure 4. Manually threshing whole dry bean biomass using a 55-gallon drum.

Figure 5. Swanson Machine Co. portable plot thresher being fed whole dry bean biomass.

Each method presented advantages and disadvantages, namely time commitment (hand threshing took as much as 10 times longer) and expense devoted to purchasing and maintaining a machine (threshing machines can cost upwards of a few thousand dollars).

            Whether threshed mechanically or manually, all dry beans still needed to be winnowed. Winnowing takes place by either using mesh screens or moving air to separate dry biomass from the beans themselves. In this case, moving air was the method used, to help simulate conditions and equipment available to a small-scale grower. A garage fan and solid-bottomed harvest bins were used. Video footage was procured from this process in order to instruct prospective growers further (available upon request). Fig. 5 shows part of this process.

Figure 6. Winnowing Calypso variety using a garage fan and harvest bins. Chaff is separated from beans while pouring biomass material from one bin into the other. Process is repeated until beans are reasonably free of chaff.

After harvest, the Purdue Student Farm site was flail mowed and power harrowed using a BCS walk-behind tractor and corresponding attachments. A cover crop mix including cereal rye and hairy vetch was seeded at the Purdue Student Farm. The Pinney PAC site was disced under. Cover crops are planned for the area beginning in March 2023.

Preliminary Results

Dry beans were weighed by replicate in grams after threshing and winnowing was complete. Preliminary results for 2022 and 2023 are shown below. Variances were not pooled across sites. Unfortunately, in 2023, the field site at Pinney was lost due to overwhelming weed pressure, so only the PSF field site was harvested in 2023.

Figure 7. Comparison of average mass (g) produced by each variety in each replicate at PSF (gray) and PPAC (gold) in 2022.

Figure 8. Comparison of individual replicates of varieties at the Purdue Student Farm in 2023.

Figure 9. Preliminary analysis of variety performance pooled across both field sites in both years.

These data combined with anecdotal experience in the field can yield some insight for grower recommendations. In 2022, one of the major differences in performance between the two field sites was the performance of Calypso. Calypso performed poorly at the Purdue Student Farm and performed much better at Pinney in 2022. This may signal a strong response to well-drained soil conditions at Pinney versus poorly drained conditions and weed pressure at the Purdue Student Farm. The data show that, generally, Jacob’s Cattle is the best performer across both field sites. All other varieties performed similarly to each other.

2022 Deliverables

In 2022, the dry edible bean trial was involved in the following:

• Featured as a field stop at the Pinney Purdue Vegetable Field Day on 8/9/2022
• Utilized as a teaching opportunity in the lab section of the Small Farms Experience course (SFS 210), taking place at the Purdue Student Farm, in September 2022
• Purdue Vegetable Season Pass (community supported agriculture) participants (86 families) received about 1 pound of dry edible beans in their final share for the 2022 season. Feedback on the use of the beans will be collected in the Student Farm’s annual survey of CSA participants.

2023 Deliverables

In 2023, the dry edible bean trial was involved in the following:

• Results of the 2022 project were featured in the “Dry Beans – A Large Grain for the Small Farm?” presentation at the Indiana Small Farm Conference, 3/2/2023
• Featured as a field stop at the Small Farm Education Field Day on 7/27/23
• Utilized as a teaching opportunity in the lab section of the Small Farms Experience course (SFS 210), taking place at the Purdue Student Farm, in September 2023. Students learned to use the Swanson threshing unit.

Future Plans

This trial will be repeated at both PSF and Pinney PAC in 2023. This will be the second and final year of the project, yielding 2 site years of data for analysis.

Future deliverables include, but are not limited to, the following:

• “Dry edible beans for the small scale producer” factsheet
• “Calibrating and using a push seeder to side dress crops on the small farm” extension publication
• Equipment demonstration videos
  • BCS power harrow
  • BCS flail mower
  • Swanson plot thresher
  • Manual threshing and winnowing of dry beans

Acknowledgements

First, I want to thank NC-SARE for providing the funding needed to conduct this variety trial and allow for exploration of a crop not traditionally grown in Indiana.

Secondly, I want to think Dr. Liz Maynard, Clinical Engagement Professor of Horticulture, for her advice and collaboration. Her experience growing dry beans during her graduate studies and her willingness to share in the labor needs of this project were indispensable.

Others I would like to thank include the Purdue Student Farm, including Chris Adair, Farm Manager, and Joe Tilstra and Alfonso Rosselli, former student production interns, for their assistance in installing and maintaining this project. Alfonso assisted in planting and installing irrigation at both field sites in 2022, as well as field maintenance. Joe assisted in planting at PSF in 2023. Chris and his farm crew made sure that the crop was protected from wildlife using a deer fence and helped weed and schedule irrigation for the beds in 2022. In 2023, the entire farm was enclosed by a deer fence so wildlife predation was less of an issue. I would also like to thank Dr. Petrus Langenhoven, Horticulture and Hydroponics Crops Specialist at Purdue, for his advice and the use of his field equipment during the growing season.

Lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Steve Hallett, Professor of Horticulture, for inviting me to teach his Small Farms Experience course about dry edible beans and variety trials, and instruct students during lab time about harvesting, threshing, and winnowing dry beans in 2022.

What follows is several more photos from the project and its deliverables.

Figure 14. Variation in appearance of Tiger’s Eye bean from several individual plants and pods from the 2022 season.

Figure 16. Testing the irrigation setup at planting at PPAC, 6/13/23.

Figure 17. Aerial view of dry edible bean trial at PPAC showing weed pressure and spotty emergence, 7/10/23.

Figure 18. Rains late in the growing season resulted in a flush of weeds as the canopy was dying back in the dry beans at PSF, 8/11/23.

Figure 19. The Swanson threshing unit was towed to PSF in 2023 to thresh the trial’s beans immediately after harvest. In 2022, plants dried down for about a month before threshing operations could be completed, resulting in beans dry enough to shatter.

Hosted a Cover Crop Field Day with Extension Educators, Ag Professionals, and business folks in March 2023 with 37 attending. 

24 Indiana Conservation Partnership ag professionals trained at the Pollinator Field Day August 2023, pollinator health can improve pollination of various crops. 

2 Permaculture workshops in Northwest Indiana (Dece 2022 and November 2023_ with 50 ag professionals and farmer leaders learning various concepts including a Black Walnut workshop on harvesting and using the nuts. Many people are interested in agroforestry and using trees in their diversified farms. 

A Purdue Extension educator/specialist attended the Organic Field Day for training.

Organic Small Grains Field Day Feb 2023 had 56 ag professionals and farmer leaders attend. 

Mini-grant to OFARM professional development and strategic planning for 11 ag professionals and farmer leaders. 

Small Farm Field Day July 2023 Purdue University 189 ag professionals and farmers trained on hands-on demonstrations. 

Travel scholarship for an ENR Extension Educator to get training on drone thermography to share with other educators. 

• 15 ag professionals and specialists visited an Intensive on-farm workshop no-till farm in Portland Maine where they learned no-till intensive urban. One participant wrote, "It was truly an invaluable learning opportunity for me in which a lot of gaps in knowledge were filled on how to successfully implement soil health and ecological principles on a small farm.  I will undoubtedly use this knowledge going forward in my work with urban and small-scale farmers across the state.  Equally important, I was able to authentically connect with Purdue staff who are working towards the same goal of providing sound and applicable information to our community of growers in Indiana.  We identified multiple ways in which we can work together."This training in Maine was a core professional development topic in an Urban Soil Health Update meeting (with nearly 50 ag professionals attending) and a "Get the Dirt" Urban Soil Conference in September where approximately 100 ag professionals and farmers heard Daniel Mays and interacted on zoom.   
• Intro to Soil Health Workshops - Fundamentals of Soil Health Training April - June 2023 had 38 ag professionals trained. Participant shared,"Our county's annual PARP (Dec 2023) highlighted soil health, and was really well received! I was able to implement some of the training I'd received through SARE-related events, so thank you!"
• Soil Health and Sustainability for Midwestern Field Staff - 8 people trained in this hands-on workshop. Also the Soil Health Signature Program train the trainer, trained 15 Ag Extension Educators in December 2023 
• NWF Grow More Training (Conservation Communication) 4 trainings across the state  with 61 ANR Extension Educators and other ag professionals trained. One participant wrote," Grow More training was very insightful, would love to see programs like that. "
• 3 ANR Extension Educators attended a grazing conference in Winchester, IN where they learned about soil health practices in grazing. 
• 90 Soil Water Conservation Indiana staff trained in webinars throughout the summer months on professional development. 
• 90 Soil Water conservation Staff attended the annual Fall Professional Development training. SARE had a grant talk and some grants were written because of that training. 
• NRCS beginner training in soil health November 2023 Ft. Wayne with 52 NRCS personnel
• Natural Resource Forestry Training to Extension Educators - 21 educators were trained. 
• Urban Ag Field Day training July 2023 Ft Wayne, Ag professionals and farmers trained with Urban Soil Health Program. 

• Land Access and Land Conservation in Indiana – Community of Practice Kick-Off Event with 42 participants across Indiana and different fields that 'touch agriculture" 
• Community of Practice Monthly Meetings (virtual) where they learn about land use and what is happening in other states. One participant writes, "The composition of the group is terrific because there is expertise from so many different areas. Also, the outside speakers and resources have done a nice job of presenting interesting solutions from other states."  And, a planner writes, "As a planner, I'm always checking what we are discussing against my local zoning ordinance to see how it is handled. We are super ag-friendly and intend to stay that way, even on small lots. However, I can understand how folks looking to expand or get started have a very difficult way to go, especially if they are trying to make farming their full-time profession."       

Working on planning this training.