Research Library
EFAO’s research library is an open access resource where you can find all of EFAO’s research protocols, reports and publications, and other on-farm research guides.
In a Nutshell
- Orford yielded the highest among the three varieties in the trial.
- Bullet had the highest test weight among the three varieties, although its yield was the most variable.
- The addition of N in a side-by- side unreplicated trial showed a promising return on investment among all three varieties but more work and replication is needed to verify and reinforce these findings.
NB: This report was updated January 2023.
Becky’s goal was to see if it was possible to establish land for cut flower production on existing perennial pastures using no-till methods.
In a Nutshell
- Poor germination across her replicated trial comparing cover crop mulch, deep compost mulch and tillage (control) resulted in no appreciable results to note.
- Becky had good luck growing sunflowers in two demonstration plots that she tarped for 12 months and 2 months.
- Becky recommends using tarps for 2-12 months ahead of planting into perennial pasture.
The growers’ objective was to document the best short season northern grain amaranth variety for production across different farms throughout southern Ontario during the 2021 growing season.
In a Nutshell
- Golden Giant, Opopeo, and Atitlan Dorado all performed well and were overall favourites among the growers.
- The Grain Amaranth from Richters Herbs was the growers least preferred variety and didn’t perform as well as the other varieties but ranked top in flavour for growers.
- Despite this, growers are interested in adapting this variety because of its good flavour, early flowering, and wide genetics which they hope means they can work with the population to create an ideal variety for their farm.
- Growers’ enjoyed learning about grain amaranth production and its story but more work is needed to determine if production at the small and mid-sized scale is feasible with the harvesting and processing labour time.
In a Nutshell
- Jeff found no difference in onion yield (weight) between the tillage treatments.
- Seeing no adverse effects from using only shallow tillage gives Jeff confidence to try more minimum tillage for bed preparation in the future.
- Yankee variety outperformed Norstar by an average of 20% more by weight.
In 2021, Dean assessed 6 varieties of quinoa under organic management practices. The goal was to choose the best suited variety for future large-scale production and direct market sales to local consumers.
In a Nutshell
- Quinoa is a slow growing, non-competitive plant that can be a finicky crop to produce!
- It’s hard to differentiate between closely related weeds such as lamb’s quarters during the first 8 weeks of production.
- In a direct seeded quinoa crop, traditional large scale organic weeding practices were challenging, and the use of a rotary hoe was deemed impractical.
- Buffy and Brightest Brilliant Rainbow were the best performers in this trial under 2021 conditions.
In a Nutshell
- He tested nine varieties, three of which were bred for organic management.
- He grew unreplicated strips of six of the varieties and, with excess seed, two strips each of three varieties.
- Michael observed relatively uniform growth and development among varieties, and yield was excellent in the trial and across the farm.
- Pioneer 9998, 9608, and 0157 had the highest yields (two replicates each), but P0157 also had high harvest moisture.
- Moving forward, Michael will continue to grow and compare Pioneer 9998 and 9608.
Based on observations from the 2020 growing season, Kristine wanted to test the efficacy of intercropping cauliflower with onions in their market garden.
In a Nutshell
- Kristine found that the green stem variety performed better than the white stem and Romanesco varieties.
- Kristine found no significant difference in yields or plant health between cauliflower planted alone (control) and cauliflower intercropped with onions (treatment) in either the spring or fall plantings.
This study aimed to find out whether adding biochar to an engineered green roof soil blend would ameliorate the soil in order to successfully grow spray-free vegetables at similar yields to the Farm’s older plots with more productive soil.
In a Nutshell
- Farmers found that vegetables grew well in both the control and biochar- amended plots when compared to crops that grew poorly in the originally installed engineered soil.
- However, biochar amendment did not significantly improve crop quality, yield, or soil health during the first year of application.
To find a system for growing consistent lettuce in the heat of the summer in eastern Ontario, Luke and Dana compared different methods of altering the microclimate for lettuce including black landscape fabric (control); white landscape fabric, and white landscape fabric with shade cloth.
In a Nutshell
- Luke and Dana did not have the statistical power to detect differences in lettuce yield among treatments.
- From their observations, they will grow more mid-summer lettuce to help increase quantity available; and they will grow it on white landscape fabric to help with quality.
- They will continue to use black fabric during the spring and fall.
- They also plan to continue to experiment with shade cloth for 1-2 weeks post transplant during peak heat.
Growers in northwestern Ontario wanted to identify which varieties of spinach are well-suited for seed production in their area.
In a Nutshell
- Matador and Popeye were among the growers’ favourite varieties, ranking high in most categories.
- Spinach planted in later fall (frost seeded) did not survive to produce seed in this trial.
- From unreplicated data, early fall plantings overwintered successfully and show a trend towards higher seed production.
- Giant Winter was the growers’ least favorite variety and was ranked lowest in almost every category.
The growers’ objective was to document the best green head lettuce for summer production across different farms throughout southern Ontario during the 2021 season.
In a Nutshell
- Nevada was the top variety with respect to vigor, flavour, longest harvest, disease hardiness, and germination in this trial.
- Muir was a runner-up to Nevada, but did have some germination issues and did not size up as well.
- Concept and Encino were the growers’ least favorite varieties this year.
- Overall, these results are consistent with the 2020 lettuce variety trial.
Suite à leur essai de brocoli sans labour en 2020 avec des cultures de couverture, Ryan et Isabelle ont testé du brocoli sans labour avec du tissu couvre-sol en 2021.
En Bref
- Le brocoli cultivé en utilisant le traitement sans labour du tissu couvre-sol avait un rendement inférieur et nécessitait plus de maind’œuvre.
- Malgré la faible performance du brocoli sans labour utilisant des paillis, Ryan et Isabelle croient toujours que le brocoli d’automne dans le nord-est de l’Ontario peut être cultivé avec succès dans un système sans labour, et essaieront probablement le brocoli sans labour sans système de paillis (culture de couverture ou tissu) en 2022.
As a follow-up to Brent and Gillian’s tarp trial last year, these growers evaluated the difference among tarp, landscape fabric and clear plastic for greens production.
Key Findings
- Occultation worked consistently for weed and residue management. Between tarp and landscape fabric, landscape fabric is much easier to manage.
- Clear plastic was not effective during shoulder seasons, when temperatures aren’t warm enough.
- The soil covers did not affect crop yield differently.
- Soil moisture retention was better with occultation, and soil moisture was highest under landscape fabric.
- Depending on farm and time of year, soil temperature peaked under all covers and uncovered soil, suggesting that occultation does not increase soil temperatures to a point that negatively affects soil biology.
Abstract
Assessment tools are needed to evaluate the effect of farming practices on soil health, as there is increas- ing interest from growers to improve the health of their soils. However, there is limited information on the effi- cacy of different soil health indicators on commercial farms and perhaps less so on organic farms. To assess efficacy, three organic growers in cooperation with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario’s Farmer-Led Research Program tested management sensitivity, measurement repeatability, and consistency of interpretation of different soil health indicators. On each farm, we compared permanganate-oxidizable carbon (active carbon), organic matter, wet aggregate stability, phospholipid fatty acid analysis, Haney soil health test, and Haney nutrient test on one field of grower-perceived high productivity, one field of grower-perceived low productivity, and one reference site (undisturbed, permanent cover). Our results were consistent with previous research that showed grower perception of productivity and soil health associated with management-sensitive soil health indicators. Of the indicators tested, active carbon was the only indicator that was sensitive, repeatable, and consis- tent across the three farms, and soil organic matter was highly repeatable and consistent to detect differences greater than 0.5% organic matter. This study highlights differences among soil health indicators on commercial farms, and it concludes that active carbon and organic matter were the most useful soil health indicators for these organic farms. Participating growers intend to use results to benchmark current soil status and to help guide land management decisions towards improved soil health.
Keywords
soil health, active carbon, organic matter, farmer-led research, organic farming.
Basalt rock dust is a remineralizer that is used in other parts of the world but there is limited information on its effectiveness to supply crops with nutrients in neutral and alkaline soils. To test the efficacy of basalt as a mineralizer for grain, Shelley and Tony grew Heritage Amber Spring Wheat in replicated plots with and without basalt amendments.
Key Findings
- Basalt rock dust had no detectable effect on Heritage Amber Spring Wheat yield, and benefits may take years to detect.
- There were also no other observable differences in growth, seed quality or disease resistance between treatment and control.
- It was a bad year for wheat production but, overall, Heritage Amber Spring Wheat – a landrace variety – performed well against lodging and Fusarium.
The fall slot for lettuce is challenging because lettuce has to handle both the heat and dryness of summer and the cold and wet of fall. To compare different varieties for fall growing, these farmers – in consultation with Johnny’s, High Mowing and Fedco seed companies – selected 11 lettuce varieties of interest. Each grower chose a subset and everyone committed to planting two replicates of each variety in their last two plantings of lettuce.
Key Findings
- Magenta, a red/green batavian, and Ruby Star, a red leaf, were the top performers with respect to overall vigor, flavour and germination.
- Adriana was the growers’ least favourite.
Perennial cover crops have many ecological benefits. However, they may compete with the crop or not provide sufficient weed control.
Key Findings
- After 3 years at Pat’s and 2 years at Ivan’s, comfrey had no effect on fruit production or saskatoon and currant health.
- Comfrey was a vigorous living mulch without causing detectable negative affects on fruit production.
This trial was multi-year. Earlier reports and protocols can be found using the links below.
Earlier reports
Earlier protocols
Spring cereals are integral to diverse rotations; however, it is often hard to get them planted early enough. One strategy to get into the field early is to no-till plant into cover crop residue, which provides soil cover in the winter and generally helps improve soil health. To investigate this approach, Ken no-till planted oats and barley into replicated plots of four different cover crops and plots that received fall tillage.
Key Findings
- Grain yield and relative net return were highest when no-till planted into daikon radish.
- Weed control was best with daikon radish and the fall tillage control.
- There was no soil erosion in the cover crop plots, and moderate rill erosion in the fall tillage plots.
Grafting is a proven way to incorporate disease resistance into tomato transplants. However adoption of this practice to high tunnel production is relatively new, so these four growers were curious about the economic viability of grafting tomatoes for production in high tunnels in southern Ontario.
Key Findings
- Grafted tomatoes had greater total marketable yield regardless of scion variety.
- Grafted tomatoes had greater overall plant health.
- Grafted tomatoes had higher net returns on average but the degree of economic benefit varied by farm.
- Yield advantage for grafting likely depends on scion variety and scion and rootstock compatibility.
- The amount of forage consumed was the same, irrespective of standard or ultra high density grazing.
- Tony found no difference in pasture recovery between standard and ultra high density grazing.
- Tony will graze these areas in a similar way next year to see if a second year of a “hit and boost” has benefits.