Achieving High Quality Brassica Crops on Diversified Vegetable Farms

View the project final report

• 2005 annual report
• 2006 annual report

Commodities

• Vegetables: broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower, greens (leafy), radishes (culinary), rutabagas, turnips, brussel sprouts

Practices

• Crop Production: cover crops, crop rotation, fertigation, foliar feeding, intercropping, irrigation, multiple cropping, nutrient cycling, application rate management
• Education and Training: demonstration, farmer to farmer, mentoring, networking, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research, workshop
• Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns, marketing management, farm-to-institution, agricultural finance, market study, whole farm planning
• Natural Resources/Environment: indicators
• Pest Management: chemical control, cultural control, economic threshold, field monitoring/scouting, flame, integrated pest management, physical control, prevention, row covers (for pests), weed ecology
• Production Systems: organic agriculture
• Soil Management: soil analysis, nutrient mineralization, soil chemistry, organic matter, soil quality/health

Abstract: Of nine farmers who participate in the project for three years, and 300 farmers who learn about sustainable crop and pest management practices for Brassicas, 29 will adopt one or more practices which result in higher crop quality during more of their target production season. These 29 farmers will achieve at least one of the following, based upon their own self-determined goals: higher yield per acre of marketable crop, reduced losses from pest damage or other causes, extended season for successful production, reduced use of high-risk pesticides, effective use of low-risk pesticides, access to new markets or better sales to existing markets, more efficient integration of all practices in their unique production system, or higher net return per unit of area.

We will establish a core group of 9 farmers, 7 consultants (in disease, insect, nutrient, and water management, business planning, organic production, and marketing) and 2 technicians who will work together throughout the project. We will seek a group of farmers diverse in their production methods, markets, growing philosophy, and backgrounds, and united in their desire to improve the quality, yield or length of production season in their Brassica crops. After an intensive winter meeting of this core group, the growers will choose practices to try and goals by which to evaluate their progress over the next 2 growing seasons. Production questions identified by the growers about new management options will be studied in replicated experiments on research farms. Growers will evaluate management options through direct comparison of new to old practices or by comparison to previous years. Practical strategies for managing the key pest, flea beetle, will include more effective use of cultural practices such as row covers and crop rotation, and application of reduced-risk insecticides. Outreach programs including field days on core farms and a Brassica School will reach a wider circle of growers in the Northeast, who will also try new practices. Evaluation will be achieved through records kept by the core participants and follow-up surveys completed by those who attend meetings.

1. Of nine farmers who participate in the project for three years, and 300 farmers who learn about sustainable crop and pest management practices for Brassicas, 29 will adopt one or more practices which result in higher crop quality during more of their target production season.

2. These 29 farmers will achieve at least one of the following, based upon their own self-determined goals: higher yield per acre of marketable crop, reduced losses from pest damage or other causes, extended season for successful production, reduced use of high-risk pesticides, effective use of low-risk pesticides, access to new markets or better sales to existing markets, more efficient integration of all practices in their unique production system, or higher net return per unit of area.