Program Spotlight:

Did you know Small Farms are a big part of NWREC?

Nick Andrews

The number of small farms has increased in the north Willamette Valley over the last several years. The small farms program at NWREC is providing a wide variety of programs to serve these important producers with educational programs and applied research. Some of these programs are described below.

Statewide Resources and Conferences

The OSU Small Farms website provides extensive resources for small scale and beginning farmers: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu. You can subscribe to the quarterly newsletter Oregon Small Farm News: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/newsletter. On February 25th the small farms team is hosting the 12th annual OSU Small Farms Conference in Corvallis: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/2012SFC. It’s a great opportunity to meet people with similar interests and learn about many aspects of farming on a small scale.

Metro-area Workshops and Conferences

We offer workshops for new and experienced small scale farmers. Growing Farms: Successful Whole Farm Management Workshop Series: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/growing-farms-workshop-series will consist of a series of livestock farm tours during the summer of 2012. An online version of the Growing Farms curriculum is being developed and will be combined with face to face workshops starting in 2013. The ACRES: Agricultural Composting Resources and Education Series is a classroom and hands-on agricultural composting workshop to be held at NWREC. Participants will learn about the art and science of composting and get hands-on experience building and evaluating their own compost piles. In 2012 the workshops will be on April 6 and 13, 2012, more information is at: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/ag-compost-workshop. The North Willamette Horticulture Society annual meeting is held every January and is now in it’s 57th year. It includes an Organic Crops Section (January 10, 2012), Vegetable Section (January 11, 2012) and Berry Section (January 12, 2012). Registration information and the program agenda is at: http://oregonstate.edu/dept/NWREC/Events.php.

Applied Research Projects

The OSU Organic Fertilizer and Cover Crop Calculator: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/calculator helps farmers estimate nitrogen (N) contributions from cover crops and compare the value of different fertilizers when developing balanced fertilizer programs. You can use this tool to optimize your fertilizer programs, account for cover crop N contributions and save money on your farm. We are also working with agricultural composters, composting consultants, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Oregon Department of Agriculture to protect water quality at agricultural composting sites while promoting composting. We are conducting surveys of agricultural composters and developing a manual to identify effective ways to protect water quality at agricultural composting facilities. The project website has more information: http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/compost-and-water-quality. Please contact Nick at nick.andrews@oregonstate.edu if you would like any more information about any of these projects.