|
Promoting Health Through Organic Agriculture as a Leading Sustainable Organization
|
|
 |
|
Market Report
What's Growing On |
|
|
|
|
|
It's conference season and we are having a great time reconnecting with all the wonderful people involved in the organic trade!
What a winter whirlwind of fun, education, networking and most importantly, good food & company! Remember to take breaks for your body & brain to recharge as well during the marathon.
tonya Quinn haworth
We love feedback! Let us know what you like or
|
|
 Weekly Produce Report
When you work with fresh produce, you learn to be comfortable with the uncertain. The freeze event of a few weeks ago in parts of California and Mexico is no exception. Good news on that front is that we're slowly emerging from its impact after two weeks of relatively limited availability in multiple key categories. Most notable of these was the bunched greens category, already in high demand with New Year's resolutions in full force. Look for pricing and availability to return to seasonal norms in the next week to 10 days with weather expected to be on the mild side. Overall, the focus should truly be on the citrus category in most produce departments. The category is peaking, with literally dozens of varieties available. Whether your customer base is seeking just the basics or a dizzying array of diversity, there is something for everyone. If you go the route of carrying a high amount of variety, the keys are clear signage and lots of active sampling. Enjoy!
|
 Organicology conference registration comes with three, delicious meals each day. We've put together an amazing menu replete with organic ingredients and various varietals that will appeal to the epicurean in you. Download the daily meal schedule here. This year we will be featuring many Slow Food Ark of Taste items in the Saturday night dinner, along with new varieties from the Heirlooms of Tomorrow project. Pictured here working with the Hilton kitchen staff is Lane Selman, the Organicology Kitchen Liaison, who has developed a delicious meal plan this year.
Slow Food's Ark of Taste is an international catalog of foods that are threatened by industrial standardization, the regulations of large-scale distribution and environmental damage. To qualify for entry into the Ark of Taste program food products must be:
- Outstanding in terms of taste with local traditions and uses
- At risk biologically or as culinary traditions
- Culturally or historically significant
- Produced in limited quantities
Saturday's evening meal will feature these Pacific Northwest foods from the US Ark of Taste:
- Line-caught Marbled Chinook salmon-Jeremy Brown, Bellingham, WA
- Alaskan Birch syrup-Kahiltna Birchworks, Palmer, AK
- Lower Salmon River squash-Tom Lively, Eugene, OR
- Inchelium Red garlic-Cloudview Farm, Ephrata, WA
- Gilfeather turnip-Sauvie Island Organics, Portland, OR
- Ozette potato-Ralph's Greenhouse, Mount Vernon, WA
Lower Salmon River Squash grown for the Ark of Taste Dinner
by Tom Lively in Eugene, OR
Black Republican Cherries  Friday registrants are invited to celebrate the "Black Republican" cherry, a Slow Food Ark of Taste product. These cherries were grown organically from Tamiyasu Orchards in Hood River, OR, and Peak Forest Fruit in Banks, OR; since last July, the berries have been preserving in a shrub created by Chef Timothy Wastell from Firehouse Restaurant in Portland, OR. It will be served with organic whiskey from Koval Distillery. Shrub is a colonial-day drink using a concentrated syrup made from fruit, vinegar, and sugar that is traditionally mixed with water - a refreshing drink that is simultaneously tart and sweet. Look for a voucher in your registration bag!
Heirlooms of Tomorrow
For the first time, we have expanded this Pacific Northwest-themed dinner to include the impressive organic breeding work being accomplished in the region, which we refer to as 'Heirlooms of Tomorrow.'
Products used in Saturday's dinner include:
- Quinoa, Squash and Kale from Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed
- Kale and Cabbage from Nash Huber of Nash's Organic Produce
- Barley from Pat Hayes of Oregon State University
- Abundant Bloomsdale Spinach and Sweet Corn from Organic Seed Alliance
- Mild Habanero Peppers from Jim Myers of Oregon State University
- Squash from Carol Deppe of Fertile Valley Seeds
The Port Townsend Food Co-op helped support the Organic Seed Alliance and their Abundant Bloomsdale Spinach seed.
Coffee time!  Returning once again to freshen up our mornings and energize our days will be Café Mam! Each day they will provide organic coffee & tea and will serve espresso drinks during meals. Café Mam (say `mom`) is grown by fair-trade cooperatives of native Mayan farmers living in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico. It is 100% organic, fair trade certified, shade-grown, high altitude arabica coffee. Don't forget! If you haven't already - REGISTER for Organicology! The window of opportunity is closing. Intensives are filling up fast and we're reaching maximum capacity. If you're still considering a tradeshow booth, the deadline is January 23rd-this FRIDAY! Learn more about exhibiting here See you there! Organicology 2015 is going to be amazing-already over 900 people have signed up! We're looking forward to celebrating with each of you. Thank you to all our sponsors, exhibitors, volunteers and food donors who make this conference truly unique and truly organic. Follow the fun on facebook, twitter and Instagram.
If you're headed to the show, use #organicology2015 or tag us @Organicology and share your LOVE!
https://www.facebook.com/Organicology?ref=hl
https://twitter.com/Organicologists
http://instagram.com/organicology
|
On the Road with OGC 
We had an exciting morning at OGC's Eugene facility last week!
Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio met with OGC representatives in order to discuss the positive economic and environmental impacts of OGC and the larger organic trade, and the impacts of policy on organics.
Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio with Lynn Coody and Eugene staff
 OGC staff attended the Grand Opening of Market of Choice in Beaverton
 Produce department at the new Market of Choice in Beaverton includes at least 50% organic produce, great displays and a fresh orange juice machine!
   EcoFarm pre-conference farm tour at Hidden Springs' 16 acre organic Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyard - one of 4 organic farms visited in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties OGC Sales Rep Ben Cutler
 OGC Chief Financial Officer Scott Bowamn
 OGC Executive Assistant Jeanette Hoss
|
|
¿!trivia?!
Keep playing for your chance to win!
From Last Week:
With intensive training sessions, workshops, world class keynote speakers, amazing entertainment and networking, what sustainable agriculture/organic trade conference taking place February 4-7 is the best in the Northwest?
How does trivia work?
Each week we tuck a juicy bit of organic knowledge into our produce report. Everyone who answers will be entered into our monthly drawing. Then, the first week of every month we'll pick a winner and announce it here in the Market Report. The monthly winner will get to choose between an OGC t-shirt, apron or hat. Reply with your answer by Wednesday after receiving your Market Report to be entered in the drawing.
Send your answers to: trivia@organicgrown.com
We encourage everyone to join in the fun--the more the merrier!
|
|
|
|
|
Flowers Replace Insecticides in Lettuce Production
 Photo of Eric Brennan provided courtesy of Darryl WongResearch generated by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in the heart of America's Salad Bowl is showing how lettuce growers can control pests without the use of insecticides, by allowing a few flowering plants to grow among the salad greens.
Organic farmers have long known that planting sweet alyssum throughout a lettuce field effectively controls aphids, a major pest of salad crops. Sweet alyssum attracts beneficial insects including hoverflies, whose larvae each chomp down as many as 150 aphids per day.
The trade-off for this type of chemical-free pest control used to be the loss of up to 5 percent of yield, due to lettuce being displaced by the alyssum plants.
But thanks to a technique of "additive intercropping," developed by USDA researcher Dr. Eric Brennan, growers can now plant enough alyssum for pest control without displacing any lettuce, or reducing crop yield. A well-respected crop researcher, Dr. Brennan is a former OFRF grant recipient.
"I see additive intercropping as a sustainable, win-win approach for dealing with major insect pests," Brennan said. "Farmers can provide the beneficial insects with the resources they need to control aphids, without giving up any valuable lettuce-growing area."
Brennan's planting guidelines were developed over a period of nine years, on certified organic research plots, while producing romaine lettuce on a commercial scale. Additive intercropping involves planting one or two alyssum plants per every 50 lettuce plants. The alyssum are planted between regularly-spaced lettuce starts, where they thrive without crowding the lettuce, or reducing its size.
Hoverfly adults feed on alyssum's nectar and pollen, while the larvae feed on aphids and other insects.
Lettuce is the most economically important crop grown in the Salinas Valley, with annual production values of $1.2 billion in 2013. Aphids are a constant threat to the crop, and are difficult to control, because they often hide in the cozy, protected interior of the lettuce head.
Conventional lettuce farms typically fight aphids with systemic pesticides, which are taken up by the plant and kill the insect when it sucks the plant's juices. Systemics can reach sucking pests in areas of the plant where sprays do not reach. Growers can also plant lettuce varieties that resist certain aphid species.
Sweet alyssum, a common garden plant of Mediterranean origin, is particularly useful as an insectary plant in the Salinas area because it flowers year-round in California's mild Central Coast region. Lettuces also grow year-round here, with prime farmland producing multiple plantings, and commanding some of the highest rents in agriculture.
Brennan's research results are free and available online. He has also produced a lively, interactive 18-minute video that describes his research, shows various experimental planting patterns, and includes graphic footage of a hoverfly larva sucking down a fat aphid.
 | |
EFFICIENT Intercropping for Biological CONTROL of APHIDS in Transplanted Organic Lettuce
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
