2006 and the New Agriculture Network

Three universities --Michigan State University, Purdue University, and the University of Illinois -- have joined resources to bring seasonal advice to field crop and vegetable growers interested in organic agriculture. New information is posted twice a month during the growing season and less frequently during winter (see calendar).

Network organizers:
Dale Mutch, Joy Landis and Vicki Morrone, Michigan State University
Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant, University of Illinois
Elizabeth Maynard, Purdue University

Meet our 2006 team of organic growers

Michigan
East Michigan, Lapeer County - John and Curtis Simmons operate a certified organic farm of 720 tillable acres in Lapeer County, Michigan. They started transitioning their farm in 1993. They are active members of the Thumb chapters of Organic Farmers of Michigan and OCIA, as well as the Lapeer Co. Soil and Water Conservation District. They raise corn, soybeans, dry beans, a variety of small grains and maple syrup. They participated in an organic farmer research design team at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station in 1998 and 1999.

Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo County - Matt Wiley farms 300 acres in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. His first year of organic certification was 1999. He rotationally grazes 150 ewes and grows 100 acres of soybeans and 100 acres of spelt. He has collaborated many times in the past with MSU researchers doing rotational grazing research.

South Central Michigan, Calhoun County - Anthony and Don Cinzori farm in Ceresco, Michigan, south of Battle Creek. They have been certified organic since 1985.  They are Michigan's largest organic vegetable farm and have 35 organic acres of greens, tomatoes, green beans, green peppers, winter and summer squash.They also raise vegetable transplants and herbs in the greenhouse.  Rotational acres include 35 acres of oats and 35 acres of red clover. The Cinzori's market most of their produce in Detroit and Chicago, but also participate in several farm markets in Michigan. Anthony will join the conference calls most of the time.

Michigan's "Thumb" region - Gene Vogel of Minden City, Michigan.

Central East Michigan, Ivan Morley of Standish, Michigan.

Indiana
West Central Indiana - David Swaim is a professional crop consultant working with conservation-oriented farmers in west central Indiana and is based south of Lafayette. He also works as a technical advisor and grant writer for the Jennings County Growers Cooperative, a group of smaller-scale farmers that collaboratively market fresh produce and livestock products. Dave is manager and part owner of a 257-acre family farm adjacent to Turkey Run State Park. For more than 30 years he has been interested in transitional strategies preparing for organic field crop production. He has served as president of Indiana Sustainable Agriculture Association, the SARE-NCR Administrative Council and the National Sustainable Ag Network.

Southeast Indiana - Gary Reding is president of Langeland Farms, Inc. in Greensburg, Indiana. He farms 600 acres, of which 249 are certified organic pasture and hay used for an intensive grazing operation. He also processes organic and conventional food crops, including popcorn, dry beans, soybeans, wheat and corn.

Northeast Indiana - Dan Flotow raises vegetables, cut flowers, and bedding plants at the Country Garden and Farm Market in Roanoke, near Fort Wayne in Northeast Indiana. Produce is sold on site and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). He started about ten years ago using conventional practices, has been transitioning to organic for the last 4 to 5 years, and this year has applied for organic certification.

Rhoads Farm (farmed by Dale and Sandra Rhoads - South Central Indiana) is located near Nashville, Indiana (south of Indianapolis). The farm began in the early 1990s with the clearing of three acres of hillside scrubland. After making major soil improvements, the Rhoads began growing crops for local restaurants. Within several years this was their sole income. While the farm was always organic, the Rhoads did not certify that until 2001. That certification continues through the OEFFA/OCIA in Ohio. The major sources of income are derived from leafy greens. These include salad greens, head lettuce, kales, and dandelion. In addition, the Rhoads grow specialty tomatoes and some herbs like cilantro and basil. The farm also has a young planting of Asian pears, which are just coming into bearing age.  

Central Indiana - George Mears of Delphi.

Illinois
Northern Illinois - Dave Campbell has been involved in organic farming since 1967 when his father started farming organically. At that time, Dave began selling organic meat to a health food store. Later, he operated an organic dairy farm along with his father in Illinois and eventually in Wisconsin. Today, Dave and his wife Mary own and operate a 224-acre certified organic farm (Lily Lake Organic Farm) located in northeastern Illinois. Dave and his family moved onto the present farm in 1988. By 1991, the entire farm was certified organic. Alfalfa/grass hay was grown extensively during transition years and shortly thereafter. Presently, wheat, corn, oats, soybeans and hay are the primary crops along with small amounts of buckwheat and cover crops. He is also raising a few dairy heifers.  In addition to farming, he is currently serving as an advisory board member to the ASAP board (Agroecology/Sustainable Agriculture Program) at the University of Illinois, and as secretary/treasurer of OFARM (Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing).

Central Illinois - Dave & Amy Bishop's Prairierth Farm is a 300-acre diversified farm producing beef, poultry (broilers and layers), vegetables, alfalfa, corn, soybeans, and small grains. Forty-five acres are currently USDA certified organic with the remainder in transition. The farm is located 3 miles south of Atlanta, Illinois in Logan County. Meat, eggs, and vegetables, are marketed wholesale to accounts in Bloomington, Champaign, Springfield, and Peoria. Alfalfa hay and meal, roasted soybeans and corn are sold direct or as a complete feed milled on the farm. They are also dealers for Fertrell and other suppliers of organic feeds and fertilizers to local producers. Their soil fertility system is based on green manure crops and composted livestock manures, usually applied at about 2-3 tons per acre. They raise beef on a rotational grazing system using both permanent pasture and crop fields. Poultry is day-ranged on an annual pasture planted to annual ryegrass, dwarf Essex rape, Berseem clover, and field peas, which is rotated with vegetable production.

Southwest Central Illinois - Floyd Johnson of Shoal Creek Farm has lived on his farm northwest of Raymond all his life. He had FFA plots in 1976 and 1979 and then started renting the farm in 1979 from his parents. He worked a lot with no-till at first and liked what he saw but it fell short of his expectations. In 1992, he started sustainable farming with cover crops and aeration tools. In 1996, he started transitioning into organics. He has 500 acres certified organic now with the hilly ground in four-year rotations corn, soybeans, small grain, (oats, rye, wheat, spelt), then red clover on strip cropping. He uses120 strips with two crops in a field – “you only work half of a field at a time.” On the flatter ground, he has a three-year rotation consisting of corn, soybeans, small grains w clover. He started pastured poultry in 1996 and is raising about 4,000 per year now using movable pasture pens. He is also working on free range eggs. He direct markets from Chicago to St Louis and Macomb to Champaign. He is a church elder, a Fertrell organic feed dealer, a volunteer ambulance driver and weather spotter. He is on the board of directors for Midwest Organic Farmers Coop (MOFC) and a representative to OFARM (Organic Farmers Agency for Relationship Marketing). He is very interested in developing more efficient distribution methods of organic farm produce (meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, vegetables, and fruits) with the goal of keeping more money in farmers' pockets and improving the lifestyles of rural and urban people.

West Suburban Chicago - Steve Tiwald of Green Earth Institute in Naperville, Illinois, made a mid-life career change and now is in his fourth year as a farmer. He grows vegetables on a 60-acre farm in the western suburbs of Chicago and markets them through a CSA serving 225 families. Steve and his son, Nathan, along with interns and volunteers, cultivate 40 different vegetables and herbs on 6 acres. They maintain cover crops of alfalfa and red clover on the remainder of the farm, in anticipation of rotating the vegetable fields to other areas of the farm in future years. They use organic growing methods although they are not yet officially certified. The Green Earth Institute farm is located in suburban Naperville , 30 miles west of downtown Chicago . The farm, now surrounded by suburban houses (see photograph at http://www.greenearthinstitute.org/about.html ), is leased from The Conservation Foundation, a local not-for-profit land and watershed protection organization. The land is protected from development by a conservation easement. In 2002 Steve founded the Green Earth Institute, a not-for-profit educational organization dedicated to nutritional health and environmental sustainability. The organization leases the farmland to grow organic vegetables and provide educational programs for children and adults.

West Central Illinois - Anne Patterson of Living Earth Farm in Farmington, Illinois.