Published Feb 5, 2010
Curious farmers Ask Lots of Questions
By Teresa Opheim
PFI staff are busy preparing for our annual Cooperators’ Meeting next week. At that meeting, our farmers will decide which questions they want to explore on their farms. The questions will be as varied as our membership, which includes farmers who have the following enterprises: corn, soybeans, hay, beef, pork, fruits, vegetables, poultry, flowers–the list goes on!
At the meeting, we’ll also share results from projects just completed and in progress, such as:
Growth rates in heritage poultry breeds
Tomato grafting heritage varieties
The effect of cover crops on crop yields
Planting cover crops at last cultivation
Organic seed treatments.
The meeting involves a lot of presentations as well, including dinner speeches by PFI farmers Laura Krouse and Mike Natvig on the ecosystem services that farmers provide.
We all leave the meeting energized by all there is to learn!