WOOSTER, Ohio — Smooth your switch to organic farming through a new book from Ohio State University.
A Transition Guide to Certified Organic Crop Management, published by the Organic Food and Farming Education and Research (OFFER) Program, part of the university’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, details in its 74 pages the rules and realities of organic farming — specifically, of grains, fruits and vegetables.
“It’s the only manual of its kind in Ohio,” said program coordinator Deb Stinner, “and there are very few like it anywhere else in the United States. It helps make the federal guidelines for organic crop production understandable and is filled with both practical and scientific information about things farmers can do to meet these guidelines.”
Topics
Among the topics:
“Anyone thinking about or seriously interested in transitioning to certified organic crop production, both agronomic and horticultural crops, should consider reading this,” Stinner said.
The author, Margaret Huelsman, prepared the guide with the help of experts from the research program, Ohio State’s Agroecosystems Management Program and the grassroots Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association.
Huelsman, who now lives in Indiana, previously was program manager of Ohio State’s Integrated Pest Management Program and a postdoctoral researcher.
Get one
To get a copy — $15 each, with checks made payable to OSU/OFFER — write to OFFER Program, 201 Thorne Hall, OSU/OARDC, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691.
To find out more, call 330-202-3528.
Organics can command higher prices
USDA, through its National Organic Program, requires organic farmers and food handlers to meet a uniform organic standard. The program makes certification mandatory for operations with organic sales over $5,000.
Organic crops often, though not always, sell at higher prices than conventional crops do.
The New Farm Organic Price Report, for example, listed these prices for the week of April 23:
