Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - 2:25 PM
149-10

Building a Research Base for Organic Dairy in New England.

Timothy Griffin, University of Maine, USDA-ARS-NEPSWL, Orono, ME 04469-5753, Richard Kersbergen, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, 992 Waterville Road, Belfast, ME 04915, Heather Darby, University of Vermont Extension, 278 S. Main St., St. Albans, VT 05478, Sidney Bosworth, University of Vermont, Hills Building, 105 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, VT 05405, and Charles Schwab, University of New Hampshire, 30 O'Kane Road, Durham, NH 03824.

Northern New England has been a leader in the certification of organic dairy farms.   Feed is the single largest expense for these farms in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire, and producer groups have consistently identified feed production and quality, and pasture management as major research needs.  Universities, USDA-ARS, and producers have initiated a number of research and outreach projects since 2004 with a common goal: to develop a research base that meets the needs of producers in the region.  Grant funding to conduct this research has come from several sources.  The USDA Organic Research and Education Initiative has funded a 4-yr product evaluating feed and forage production systems, and also includes feeding trials at both the University of Maine (UM) and University of New Hampshire (UNH).  The USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE) has funded additional field experimentation on production and use of small grain crops in a collaboration between UM, University of Vermont, and USDA-ARS.  Both of these projects have significant on-farm components, and researchable questions are formulated directly by producers.  The USDA-ARS New England Plant Soil and Water Lab, in Orono, Maine, is conducting both lab and field research on nutrient cycling and utilization on organic dairies.  All projects include economic analyses of production practices and systems.  This multi-state effort is rapidly expanding the research base for organic dairy producers in New England.

Back to Symposium--Building Sustainable Ecosystems Through Organic Agricultural Research and Practice: II
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Back to The ASA-CSSA-SSSA International Annual Meetings (November 4-8, 2007)