Mini-grants for farmers to evaluate approaches to manage perennial weeds
John Masiunas and Dan Anderson
University of Illinois

Farmers in Illinois and those close to Illinois’ borders are invited to participate in a mini-grant program (up to $500 per applicant) for farmers who want to try organic or sustainable methods to manage problem perennial weeds. The goal is to develop integrated management approaches and increase farmer knowledge of and skill in managing perennial weeds. Perennial weeds persist several years and spread by seed and structures such as roots, tubers and rhizomes. They are some of the most difficult challenges for many farmers. Examples of perennial weeds are Canada thistle, quackgrass, Johnsongrass and yellow nutsedge. Approaches might include cover crops, suppressive crop rotations, scouting and early removal, tillage, biological control, mowing and livestock grazing.

The application process is simple; fill out the on-line form at http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/go/ipwm. If you prefer a paper application, contact Dan Anderson at 217-333-1588 or John Masiunas, 260 ERML, 1201 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL 61801

Everyone applying for mini-grants will receive a packet of information on perennial weed identification, biology, and integrated management approaches for their control. A limited number of farmers will be chosen to participate based on their current farming system, farm location, the problem weeds and the innovativeness of their approach (John Masiunas, masiunas@uiuc.edu). The deadline for applying is June 30 or until eight farms are committed to the program. We are planning to expand to 20 on-farm projects in 2009.

An Illinois farmer who values harmony with nature and community has won a national award, The Patrick Madden Award for Sustainable Agriculture in the north central region. Henry Brockman operates an intensive, multi-generational, highly diverse and sustainable vegetable production in the Mackinaw River Valley of Woodford Co., Ill. 

This $1,000 award for farmers and ranchers who raise food or fiber in ways that are profitable, good for families and communities, and beneficial to the environment is presented by the USDA’s North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program. SARE – funded and administered by USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) – advances farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities. The North Central Region includes: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Brockman specializes in biodiversity planting more than 600 varieties of more than 100 distinct vegetable types on his Illinois farm, Henry’s Farm. Henry’s Farm’s 2007 seed order contained 550 different items.  His operation provides produce to families in the Bloomington-Peoria area with a CSA, and to families in the Chicago area with a stand at the Evanston Farmers’ Market.

The organic certification process is something that Brockman values, especially for beginning farmers. “I always encourage other farmers to become certified until they can create a market for themselves like I did. I see certification as a way to substantiate what you’re saying about your products,” said Brockman.

“I was certified for the first seven years, until 2000, with Organic Crop Improvement Association. When the USDA took over the certification process, it became a little confusing, and I dropped my certification,” explained Brockman. “After I dropped out, I didn’t get back into certification because by that point I was already established in the market as an organic farmer, and I was too busy to do all the paperwork. For me, it wasn’t that I didn’t agree with the USDA’s organic standards. It’s still on my to-do list to become certified again.”

Henry’s Farm is a busy and interactive place. Three generations of family can be found working at Henry’s Farm—from Henry’s parents, to his wife and their three children, to assorted brothers and sisters and cousins and nieces and nephews. This is in addition to farm hands, apprentices and interns. Brockman’s parents, Herman and Marlene Brockman, bought some land in the 1960s and raised their six children there, and that land was to become part of what “Henry's Farm" is today.

“I grew up on a small farm. My parents had about 50 acres, and while my father wasn’t a “farmer,” we raised all of our own organic produce and meats. In my family, it’s a given that you help each other out with the garden and the animals,” said Brockman.

Brockman’s children, ages 13, 14 and 17, are involved on the farm today, just as Brockman was when he was younger. “I think it’s important for kids to be involved in what their parents are doing—it’s good for them physically and teaches them about responsibility. It gives them an advantage out in the world; it makes it easier for them to adapt to new situations and accept responsibility.”

In Brockman’s 2006 printed piece, Organic Matters, Brockman talks about the role of biodiversity in sustainable agriculture: “The goal of my way of farming is not only to enhance the lives of the crops and those who eat them, but to enhance all life, from the lives of the insects, worms and arthropods of the vegetable field to the lives of the wildlife and domesticated life (that includes us) who inhabit the environment around the field. And on a grander scale . . . [to] enhance the very life of the planet by protecting a piece of it and by not polluting the planet’s water and air.”

Organic Matters has been included in the curriculum at Illinois Wesleyan University and at Prescott University in Prescott, Ariz., and Bon Appétit Management Co. purchased 1,500 copies for educational purposes.

Brockman’s sister, Terra Brockman, who works at Henry’s Farm, had this to say about her brother: “Henry lives each day at the intersection of the natural and the human environment, and takes very seriously his duty to the complex natural environment and to the next generation. He works each day to conserve and enhance things of immeasurable value: biodiversity, wildlife habitat, water quality, agricultural land, family farms, rural communities, local economies, local food sources, rare plant varieties, and, of course, our soil, air, water and open space.”

Brockman was surprised to hear that he had won the Madden Award, and was modest about the honor. “There are so many good farmers making a large impact out there,” said Brockman. “I certainly wasn’t expecting this at all. The truth of the matter is that any success I've had in farming and life is due just as much to the help of my extended family as it is to my own efforts.”

The $1,000 award was presented at the final plenary of SARE's 20th Anniversary New American Farm conference on March 26, 2008, in Kansas City, Mo. Three other Madden winners, each from SARE's remaining regions—Southern, Western and Northeast—also received awards at the conference.

Indiana
West Central Indiana, Tippecanoe County - Kevin Cooley
The weather is getting better. We have had more than a week of seasonal temperatures with no rain fall and the fields are drying out. Winds have been 20-plus miles per hour with some higher gusts, which have helped to speed soil drying.

We have all of our high tunnels planted with salad greens, tomatoes and some early root crops. Greenhouse areas are overflowing due to the wet and cold spring. However, we have our first planting of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts in the field. Other items planted and coming up in the fields include spinach, lettuce, arugula, beets, chard peas, kohlrabi and turnips. We have potatoes planted with the first planting ready to push through the soil within the next couple of days. We have completed our large sweet onion plantings as well as our first early potato planting. We have a small amount of green beans in the field. Other recent field work includes working some areas for the first time knocking back the winter annual weeds and speeding the drying process. We continue to make sales through our weekly on-line store; this week we offered potatoes, greens, asparagus, eggs and herb plants.

Field work planned for the next two weeks includes mowing and plowing in winter cover crop and remaining on schedule with planting of early spring vegetables. We will be working and preparing ground to establish a new strawberry plot. We will start melon and transplants in the greenhouse. With farmer’s markets starting the first of May, we will also start getting supplies and equipment together, scales certified and confirm all permits are in order for the market season.

Question
Has anyone used winter rye between rows of tomatoes or melons?  If so, do you have any suggestions for success?

South Central Indiana, Brown County - Dale Rhoads
In typical years, we are able to start preparing soil in February or early March. This year we had a month of ice and snow storms during this time period, which kept the ground either snow-covered or too wet to work, putting us behind. Then when the snow stopped, we had three weeks of rain, again keeping the soil too wet to work.

We adapted our techniques to still get early transplants in the ground. Our rye cover had been planted late and had only grown several inches. On the early transplant areas for kales, chard, dandelion, leeks, onions and then lettuces, we LP burned the rye, spread mulch and no-till transplanted. We now have all of those transplants planted and doing well, except the lettuce, which was able to be tilled twice and will not be mulched, but was setup as a sterile seedbed and will be hand-weeded. We are finishing up those transplants and are into lettuce transplants. We are harvesting salad greens and spinach from the greenhouses. We are growing basil, peppers, tomatoes and squash transplants in the greenhouse. Fruit trees have just bloomed, and we’re starting a spray program.

In the next two weeks, we will work ground for salad greens, prepare areas for basil transplants in three weeks, fruit tree sprays and prep for tomatoes, peppers, squash areas, etc.

Illinois
Northern Illinois, Kane County – David Campbell
Due to late March snows and cold weather, followed by early April rain, things are behind so far this spring. Fortunately, the warm, dry weather this past week helped greatly. Growth of hay fields is beginning to catch up quickly.

We sowed oats last Wednesday, April 16, along with seeding red clover as a cover crop. The field was dragged and rolled the following day. I hope to finish sowing my second and last field of oats today, April 22. Due to a large percentage of timber soil in this field, the field has been very slow to dry out. I will follow the drill with my drag harrow to level the ground and cover up exposed seed. Then I will follow with a roller to increase clover seed to soil contact for better germination. Both oat fields have already been fertilized with gypsum and sulfate of potash.

In the next two weeks, I plan to disk down cornstalks from last fall, and will let ground lie fallow in hopes to germinate some weed seeds before moldboard plowing this ground for soybean production. I have also been spreading gypsum on my entire farm, with the exception of my hayfields. I will fertilize hay fields with a custom blend mix containing mostly certified organic sulfate of potash.

Currently, we continue to spade in our winter rye as needed (we till strips individually according to when each will be planted). We are also doing a combination of direct seeding (lettuce and bok choi) and tray seeding (summer squash, cucumbers, basil, kohlrabi). We are transplanting our onions, leeks and scallions and are hardening off our brassicas. We have also begun to bury drip tape (our first year trying this).

Over the next two weeks, we will continue to spade under our winter cover crop and lay plastic mulch over the solanaceous and cucurbit crop beds. We will be burying more drip tape as well as begining to trellis our peas. We will mulch our onions and leeks with straw, and transplant our spring brassicas. We are also installing a new irrigation pump from an on-site catch basin and setting up the flat tube and oval tube to the fields.

Question
I have spoken to at least one other grower who also uses Vermont Compost Fort Vee as their potting mix and has had unusually leggy brassicas. I would be interested in knowing if any other vegetable growers have experienced the same issue.

Michigan
East Michigan, Arenac County - Ivan Morley
We received a lot of rain early this spring, which froze and caused a lot of damage to our winter wheat and spelt crops. I will probably work up some spelt because of it.

Currently, I am finishing up seeding my wheat and spelt with red clover. Corn and sugar beets are being planted now.

Depending on the weather, I may work up some land during the next two weeks.