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National foundation names Washington leader among land grant institutions
What are the costs and benefits in converting a farm to organic production? How can grapes be produced more sustainably for the growing wine market? When is the best time to plant a cover crop to maximize yields in organic vegetable production?
Washington State University faculty have been recognized for their efforts to answer these and other questions in a new report by the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF). The July 2003 report places WSU among seven land-grant institutions across the country that have been most responsive to the increased demand for interdisciplinary research and extension on organic farming systems.
“It’s nice that WSU is getting credit for its ongoing efforts to meet the needs of Washington’s organic growers,” said Carol Miles, WSU Agricultural Systems Specialist.
OFRF’s report highlights 14 production research projects, 11 Extension initiatives, and several other consumer/economic research projects at WSU that advance the state of knowledge on organic issues. In addition, WSU was recognized for significant progress in providing education on organic farming, with plans to offer the nation’s first full-fledged bachelor’s degree in organic agriculture in the fall of 2004.
WSU’s new "BIOAg program” also received special notice in the report. The program, which stands for biologically intensive and organic agriculture, is housed with the university's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR). BIOAg encompasses four linked components: research, teaching, outreach, and WSU infrastructure. The last component is specifically directed at obtaining a base of organically certified and managed research land.
In the report, Washington joins Iowa, North Carolina, Ohio, Minnesota, West Virginia and New York as national leaders. Criteria for selection included:
- Farmers participate in advisory boards that set research priorities and make funding decisions.
- Research station land is being put through the three-year transition to organic certification.
- Interdisciplinary teams of researchers bring together their expertise in soil nutrient dynamics, weeds, microbial ecology, plant pathology, horticulture, agronomy, economics, marketing and other disciplines.
- An increasing number of researchers are studying the most cost-effective transition strategies to reduce the risk of going organic and documenting changes in the system as it transitions.
- Researchers pursue organic systems research once land is certified.
On a national scale, OFRF researchers found the total number of organic research acres in the U.S. land grant system has more than doubled between 2001 and 2003. But it’s not keeping pace with the growth of commercial certified organic acreage in the U.S. Organic research occupies only 0.13% of available research acreage in the land grant system (up from 0.07% in 2001), while 0.3 to 2% of U.S. farmland is certified organic, depending on crop type.
The report, “State of the States: Organic farming systems research at land grant institutions 2001-2003,” is the second edition of a report on publicly-funded organic research and education first published in 2001. See more details on WSU projects or download the full report by visiting the OFRF website at http://www.ofrf.org/publications.
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Updated
February 3, 2004
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