Fact Sheets

On-Farm Fertigation Trials in Kansas City-Area Organic High Tunnels

Five certified organic farms in the Kansas City area did one-year comparisons of the use of compost, fertigation and foliar feeding on high tunnel tomatoes, with respect to quantity and quality of yields.

Moving Nursery Producers Toward Sustainable Practices Fact Sheets

These fact sheets discuss alternative containers, marketing and crop selection, alternatives to synthetic herbicides and integrated pest management in commercial nursery plant production.

Cover Crops and No-Till Management for Organic Systems

This Rodale Institute fact sheet reviews the use of cover crops and no-till in organic systems, including selection, establishment and mechanical termination of cover crops; crop rotations; and energy and production budgets.

Tomato Grafting for Disease Resistance and Increased Productivity

Researchers around the world have demonstrated that grafting—the fusing of a scion (young shoot) onto a resistant rootstock—can protect plants against a variety of soil-borne fungal, bacterial, viral and nematode diseases invarious climates and conditions.

Reduced Tillage and Cover Cropping Systems for Organic Vegetable Production

This information sheet captures research by Virginia Tech and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming to develop cover crop-based, reduced-tillage systems for organic vegetable production.

Organic Insect Management in Sweet Corn

This fact sheet discusses an integrated strategy for controlling three caterpillar species—corn earworm, European corn borer and fall armyworm—using methods that meet current organic certification standards. Any grower interested in methods that are safe for the applicator and the environment may be interested in this approach.

Production and Marketing of Beach Plum, a Heritage Fruit Crop

Beach plum (Prunus maritima Marsh) is one of several shrubby plums native to North America. The jams produced from this fruit command premium prices at farm stands and specialty markets, even in comparison with jam made from other locally grown fruit. However, the wild-collected supply of fruit does not meet this niche market’s demand.

Polyculture and Reservoir Ranching

The purpose of this fact sheet is to describe two production systems, polyculture and reservoir ranching, that show promise of becoming popular methods for increasing fish production and profits in inland waters compared to a traditional monoculture system.

Cultural Practices for Root-Knot and Root-Lesion Nematode Suppression in Vegetable Crop Rotations

This publication discusses the use of non-host crops, sorghum sudangrass and castor bean grown as cover crops, RKN-resistant crops, and the application of poultry litter (PL) and PL compost to manage RKN and root-lesion nematode.

In-House Composting in High-Rise, Caged Layer Facilities

This fact sheet describes research on composting manure inside of the buildings housing laying hens. Research showed that the addition of a carbon source coupled with frequent aeration of compost in a layer house produced temperatures high enough to inhibit fly reproduction in the material, and odor problems are diminished.