Achieving High Quality Brassica Crops on Diversified Vegetable Farms

Achieving High Quality Brassica Crops on Diversified Vegetable Farms

Summary

The core of the project is a group of nine vegetable farmers who set goals for how they would like to improve brassica quality in their unique production system. They are working with project staff, consultants and each other to achieve this by changing their cultural and pest management practices over two growing seasons. They are being supported by consultants in areas of variety selection, nutrient and water management, business planning and record keeping, pest management, and marketing as well as by technical staff who visit their farms to assist them implementing and evaluating changes. Researchable questions regarding heat tolerant as well as late season broccoli varieties and cabbage maggot scouting methods are being addressed in several replicated field experiments in CT and MA. Outreach to a wider circle of farmers is being accomplished through multiple channels; including farm tours, winter educational programs, newsletters, and publications (both electronic and printed).
The core group came together with consultants and staff on February 28, 2006 for a meeting which provided intensive information exchange. Here they evaluated their progress toward the goals they had set for themselves, received feedback and new ideas from consultants and their fellow growers, and revised their plans for the coming season. We also established goals for applied research projects for that season. This was followed up by contacts and farm visits with consultants and project staff, coordinated by technicians in MA and CT. Growers receive a stipend of $400 per year to use as they wish in support of their goals. Farm tours at various times of the season enabled the core group to see firsthand the unique approach of other farms and discuss issues face to face, as well as engaging a wider circle of farmers. In addition, our core group farmers hosted meetings at their own farms to showcase their progress and share their ideas and experiences with the wider agricultural community.
The final core grower meeting took place on December 11, 2006. Here the growers shared their experiences with this project, provided feedback to us and to each other, and laid their plans for how they would take what they learned and move forward with it on their own. We also began planning a formal ‘Brassica School’ which will be held in the late winter of 2007 and provide a public format for our growers to share the information and experience they acquired through participation in this project. We will also be bringing in speakers on topics that our growers felt would be important to the wider community of brassica growers.

Objectives/Performance Targets

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.

With field days, farm tours, presentation, meetings, and workshops we have presented information about sustainable crop and pest management practices for brassicas directly to 238 growers and ag. professionals. Surveys collected at several of those meetings indicate that the majority of attendees have learned something they intend to try on their own farms.

Through newsletter articles and fact sheets, we have indirectly provided information to over 300 growers additional growers. On August 4, 2006 one of our growers was featured in a front page article in the Springfield Hampshire Gazette focusing on his work with this project. The Gazette is the leading newspaper in the area, with a subscription base in the tens of thousands. Combined with the 510 direct contacts and 593 indirect contacts from 2005, this project has so far provided direct information to over 1600 agricultural professionals and growers. Including the wider audience reached by last years Boston Globe article and the 2006 Hampshire Gazette feature, we have brought the work being done with local brassica production to the attention of over half a million people across the New England area.

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.

Based on data collected at our final group meeting our nine core growers feel have achieved at least one of the goals listed above. Information about the success of growers from the wider circle of people informed by this project is being gathered over the winter.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Core Group:

1.Fall 2005/winter 2006. One core farmer hosts on-farm meeting. Nine farmers attend two-day meeting, review results from farms & research trials with each other and advisors, plan for 2006 season. Three give talks at winter grower meetings.

Our annual core group winter meeting for the 2006 season was held on February 28, 2006. Most of our growers elected to host on-farms meetings during the growing season to be able to display their brassicas in production.

2.Participants change practices and evaluate results. Two growers host on-farm meetings.

All of our participating growers implemented changes in accordance with the plans set at the February winter meeting. Six growers hosted meetings on their farms during the 2006 growing season.

3.One day meeting to share results. 8 growers report achieving their goals.

Our final one day winter meeting was held on December 11, 2006. All of the growers felt that they had met their goals.

Wider Circle:

1.One hundred fifty additional growers learn about innovative management strategies at farm tour, winter grower meetings (including Brassica School), & in newsletters & publications.

As noted in the milestones section, in 2006 over 500 growers learned about the innovations presented by this grant. The Brassica School is scheduled for March 6, 2007.

2.Fifty growers try a new practice in Brassica production.

Based on initial survey results from our summer meetings, the majority of the 238 growers with which we made direct contact in 2006 are trying a new practice as a result of what they learned at the meetings.

3.Seventy growers respond to survey and 21 report achieving higher quality and yield in Brassicas.

In early 2007, a formal survey is being sent to all of the attendees of previous meetings to asses the number of growers who achieved higher quality and yield in brassicas as a result of this project.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Out of our core growers,

Amy Kilppenstien is moving toward more late-season crops, and will continue to experiment with this after this grant expires. She has also revised her record keeping to increase her understanding of which crops turn the best profit, and has made several major shifts in her production based on this new information. With help from us, she is creating a spreadsheet to track costs/profit for individual crops that will be powerful and flexible enough to be useful to other growers. When this is completed it will be made freely available to the community.

Nou Yang has learned more about fertility and pest management. He has had direct help interpreting his soil test results and implementing their recommendations, and experienced increased yield as a result.

Jennie Hausmann took a hiatus from farming, but was replaced by Jamie Barret as the manager of Appleton Farms. Jamie continued with the project in her place, experimenting with different broccoli spacings and methods of Brussels sprout production. The information he gained from these experiments has informed his production methods, increased his per acre yield for these crops, and been useful to other growers.

Sam Hammer has added winter greens production to his operation, allowing him to expand the ‘winter share’ he offers through his CSA.

Edwin Matuszko has done extensive work developing a market for his ‘baby cabbages’, which increased his sales of this product and landed him on the front page of our largest local newspaper.

Kathy Caruso experimented with new broccoli varieties and spacings, some of which have been incorporated into her production.

Walter Griest has developed an innovative system for simplifying the management of row cover in a raised bed system, and is sharing the design of his unique system with anyone who is interested.

Ricky Baruc has achieved better kale and collard production through improved scouting practices and use of organic controls, and is experimenting with season extension techniques to expand his greens production into the winter.

Dave Dumaresq has successful added a late summer broccoli crop through variety selection, and is now looking into varieties that will extend his season into the winter and help him to keep his farm stand open until thanksgiving.

Our growers are all committed to continuing with the changes and refinements that they have made in the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons. Several of them are looking into further opportunities to experiment with methods for improving their brassica production.

Through on-farm meetings, talks, and publications, these accomplishments and the work that went into them have been shared with a wide array of growers and agricultural professionals. Many of them are incorporating what they learned from our core growers into their own production systems.

In addition to the work done by our growers, we repeated the heat tolerant broccoli variety trials that were initially performed in 2005. At the behest of our growers we also implemented a cold tolerant broccoli trial to select varieties that would reliably extend the harvest window for this crop to the end of November.

We have reached a huge number of people through the meetings and publicity that this project has received, and are looking forward to a good turnout for the Brassica School this winter.

Collaborators: