2020 Organic Agriculture Research Forum

The Organic Agriculture Research Forum, organized by Tuskegee University and the Organic Farming Research Foundation research forum featured oral presentations, facilitated round table discussions, and a robust joint poster session with SSAWG. It took place in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 23, 2020. The presentations were recorded.

Watch the recordings on a YouTube playlist here

Download the Proceedings here

Program

Introduction

Strengthening Organic Agriculture through Healthy Soils and Plant Breeding.

  • Alex Woodley, Assistant Professor, North Carolina State University. Soil health principles for resiliency in organic agriculture.
  • Jim Myers, Professor, Oregon State University. Lessons learned in farmer participatory plant breeding with the Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative.
  • Desmond Mortley, Professor, Tuskegee University. Participatory vegetable crop variety trials in the Southeast: Biomass yields.
  • Edmund Frost, Farmer, Common Wealth Seed Growers. Organic cucumber research and breeding for the Southeast.

Organic Management of Pests and Diseases

Impacts of Organic Agriculture on Food Safety and Human Nutrition

Consumer Preferences, Markets, and Knowledge Transfer in Organic Systems

Poster Session and Mixer

  • Fiacre Adifon, University of Abomey-Calavi. Physico-chemical parameters of determinant at the level of the Laboko and Kokoro varieties of Dioscorea rotundata in Benin
  • Hospice Akpo, University of Ibadan. Image data acquisition for estimating individual trees metrics: Closer is better
  • Joan Burke, USDA. Organic compared with conventional systems for lamb production yield differences in performance in Southeastern U.S. pastures
  • Christelle Codjia, University of Nigeria.Ecological niche modeling of the stone partridge (Ptilopachus petrosus Gmelin, 1789) in Benin republic center
  • Keniya Davis and Julian Jones, Tuskegee University. Organic pesticides influence the nutritional and physical properties of organically grown sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam)
  • Chehidi Hatem, CTAB. Public policies to facilitate the transition to organic farming (Tunisian experience)
  • Sonu Koirala BK, Tuskegee University
  • Tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) management in organic tomato production in Alabama: Performance of selected biopesticides and host preference of the insect pest
  • Carlos Alonso Maldonado Rocha, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa (UAS). Obstacles in transitioning to a certified organic production system in farmers from the central- northern region of Sinaloa Mexico
  • Caitlin Skinner, Tuskegee University. Effects of thermal pretreatment on anaerobic methane production from a belowground cocktail of cover crops
  • Andreka Wills, Tuskegee University. Storage root yield and elemental leaf concentration of three sweet potato varieties in response to organic fertilizer

The conference and scholarships are supported by Ceres Trust and the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) grant no. 2019-51300-30250 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) is a non-profit foundation that works to foster the improvement and widespread adoption of organic farming systems. OFRF cultivates organic research, education, and federal policies that bring more farmers and acreage into organic production.

Southern SAWG facilitates the development of a more sustainable food and agriculture systems across 13 states in the Southern U.S. Since 1992 they have provided high quality educational materials and training opportunities on sustainable and organic production, marketing strategies, farm management, and community food systems development. Each year the Southern SAWG Conference brings together over 1,000 farmers, researchers, educators, and others in the sustainable agriculture field to share practical tools and information and strengthen their working relationships. The 2020 Southern SAWG conference will take place in Little Rock, Arkansas on January 22-25, 2020.

Tuskegee University has initiated an organic farming program for over 10 years to educate Alabama residents on the health benefits of organic vegetables. The program has grown in recent years to include site specific organic farming research on various vegetable crop varieties and integrated pest management throughout the Southern United States to provide recommendations to organic growers. Dr. Kpomblekou-A has served as director of the program at Tuskegee University since 2016.