Wooster field day: Organic farming on display Aug. 27

WOOSTER, Ohio – The Organic Food and Farming Education and Research Program field day will feature an extended format Aug. 27.

Free and open to the public, the fifth annual field day will take place at several Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center research locations.

First stop. The day begins at 1 p.m. on the West Badger Farm. The farm features the program’s certified organic and transitional organic agronomic crop research.

Included will be a field crops transition experiment, compost experiments, a forage crop experiment, mechanical weed control experiments, watershed research and a weed flaming experiment.

A native prairie plant experiment can be observed as well.

“The idea is to encourage organic and other farmers to incorporate native plant diversity in farms to increase beneficial insects, pollinators and predators,” said program director Deborah Stinner.

“This helps with pest control on organic farms. (The plants) also enhance the aesthetic appearance of farms.”

Next visit. Then visitors will explore Horticulture Unit 2, which houses organic strawberry research. The location will also hold, weather permitting, an organic supper.

Mustard Seed Market and Café will cater the meal, which will feature edible fruits and seasonal, organically grown, local foods.

A $15 advanced registration is required.

Fry Farm. The final part of the day will take place on Fry Farm and Horticulture Unit 1 from 6-8:30 p.m.

Visitors will learn about the transitional organic processing tomato and cabbage experiment, disease management alternatives for organic tomatoes, and a new peri-urban vegetable transition project.

“The key idea is production of high-value crops on farmland located in or near urban areas,” Stinner said.

“It could be a way for farm families to increase profitability and stay in farming, thereby helping to preserve farmland in areas with intense development pressure.”

Funded by the USDA, the project uses plastic poly-houses to extend the production season as well as other transitional strategies.

More details. For more information and to RSVP for the dinner, call 330-202-3528 or e-mail bielek.4@osu.edu or stinner.2@osu.edu by Aug. 18.