Granatstein, D.

David Granatstein

Tracking the Organic Sector in Washington State

The organic agriculture sector in Washington achieved an estimated $776 million in farm-gate sales in 2019. Regular, accurate statistical data on this sector are not available from the standard government sources, thus WSU has been compiling data continuously since 2004. Growers, processors, consultants, businesses and others in the organic sector need solid data upon which […]

Breaking bindweed: Can plant growth regulators disrupt apical dominance, deplete a persistent bud bank, and improve the control of perennial weed species in specialty crops?

Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) is notoriously difficult to manage in specialty crop systems, particularly those under organic production. Perennial species possess the abundant nutrient reserves necessary to facilitate plant regrowth from underground, vegetative, and dormant buds following physical or chemical control measures. Research conducted in other species has identified the signature genes involved in regulating […]

Combined Soils and High Residue Farming Workshop and Summary Publication

An increasing number of Columbia Basin farmers and crop consultants are interested in building soil quality and high residue farming in irrigated cropping systems (2015 survey results).  Since 2007, we have held several successful Building Soils for Better Crops workshops, as well as a series of high residue farming workshops starting in 2004. Both efforts […]

Monitoring Uptake of Legume N by Apple Trees Using Nitrogen Isotope Discrimination

Intercropped legumes can supply nitrogen to fruit trees and reduce the need for purchased nitrogen fertilizer, potentially reducing costs and environmental footprint. The project evaluated nitrogen isotope techniques (comparing the 15N and 14N signal from the legume N versus other sources) to monitor the degree of uptake by apple trees of legume N grown in […]

Economic Costs and Benefits of Soil Improvement Practices

The proposed study will address the priority topic area of biologically-intensive and organic approaches to sustainable management of soil quality, particularly focusing on the economic valuation of soil improvement practices. To do this, we will combine information from producer focus groups, a literature search, and field measurements to estimate the benefits and costs of soil […]

Development of Washington Organic Producer-Level Database on Crop Yields, Sales Value, and Price

The continued growth in the organic food market presents many Washington growers with the difficult decision of whether to switch from conventional production. While a cost and return estimate (enterprise budget) is a fundamental tool for the considering a new enterprise, information beyond a net return estimate for the “typical” producer is more crucial for […]

Combined Soil Quality Workshops for Irrigated Ag

Columbia Basin farmers and the people that supply and support them are very interested in how to build soil quality (a BioAg priority area) in irrigated cropping systems. The WSU irrigated ag email system has 433 subscribers to the soil quality/health topic area, more than all but one of the 42 available topics. We have […]

Growing nitrogen in the organic orchard

Two on-farm trials were established in 2008 to test different approaches to growing nitrogen within an orchard. The trial at Warren Morgan Orchard (WMO) compared four perennial legume species (ladino white clover, alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, kura clover) direct seeded into the existing alley vegetation with or without suppression. All species were successfully established, with better […]