Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Organic in Year of the Flood featured at August 20 field day

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August 7, 2008

GREENFIELD, Iowa -- In spite of a rough year of wet weather, organic production is expected to continue to bring economic gains for Iowa farmers.

Premium prices for certified organic grain as well as hay, grown as part of the required rotation, will continue to add to the bottom line in spite of expected yield losses this year from late re-planting, says Kathleen Delate, Iowa State University Extension organic specialist.

Delate oversees organic crops grown at the Iowa State University Neely-Kinyon Farm near Greenfield in Adair County, which hosts its annual field day on August 20. Organic production is among the topics slated for the field day, which begins at 4 p.m., followed by a light supper. Other topics include finishing beef cattle on grass, parasitic wasps for soybean aphid control and alternative forage crops for emergency feed.

Like everyone affected by heavy rains in June, Iowa’s organic producers faced numerous challenges when floodwaters receded, Delate explained.

"For an organic grower, complicating the replanting decision was the potential need to change crop rotations, which was approved in June by head of the USDA-National Organic Program in Washington, D.C. for counties declared disaster areas," she said. "Soybeans planted as late as mid-July can provide some level of yield, but ISU research shows heavy yield losses for corn planted after July 10, regardless of the variety."

Weeds have been a major challenge for late-planted or replanted organic fields this summer.

"Many organic farmers missed rotary hoeing due to wet soils and faced extensive weed pressure in the crop row," Delate said. "Cultivation was effective in burying many weeds in the row, but additional walking for weeds often was needed. In some cases, farmers also used a tractor-pulled propane gas burner to ‘flame’ weeds in the row."

Delate also directs the Long-Term Agroecological Research (LTAR) experiment at Neely-Kinyon, a project began and supported by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU. The experiment is one of the longest-running comparisons of organic and conventional crops in the United States.

Last year, organic corn yields averaged 209 bushels per acre in the longest crop rotation (corn-soybean-oats/alfalfa-alfalfa) and were greater than the conventional yield of 188 bushels per acre. Organic soybean yields equaled the conventional soybean yields at 60 bushels per acre. Over 10 years, the returns from organic production at the Neely-Kinyon farm have been double that of conventional returns, even with higher prices paid for ethanol corn.

Directions to the farm: From Greenfield, go 2 miles south on Hwy 25, then a half-mile east on 260th Street and a half-mile north on Norfolk Avenue.

This field day is sponsored by Iowa State University Extension; the Leopold Center; Practical Farmers of Iowa; Wallace Foundation for Rural Research & Development; First National Bank, Fontanelle, Greenfield, Anita, Massena and Correctionville; Union State Bank, Bridgewater and Greenfield; Exchange State Bank, Adair and Winterset; Farmers & Merchants State Bank, Orient and Winterset; First State Bank, Stuart; Rolling Hills Bank, Stuart, Casey and Menlo; Farm Credit Services of America, Red Oak; First National Bank, Creston; and Iowa State Savings Bank, Creston, Corning and Lenox.

For questions about the field day, contact the Southwest Area Extension office at (712) 769-2600. 

For more info contact:

Kathleen Delate, Iowa State University Extension organic specialist, (515) 294-7069, kdelate@iastate.edu

Laura Miller, Leopold Center Communications, (515) 294-5272, lwmiller@iastate.edu

Sally Worley, Practical Farmers of Iowa, (515) 232-5661, sally@practicalfarmers.org

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