Browse Organic Stories - Page 4

Led by increases in forestry and livestock values, Georgia’s agricultural output increased by $484 million in 2014, making agriculture, once again, the largest industry in the state with a value of $14.1 billion. According to the most recent University of Georgia Farmgate Value Report, published earlier this month, the value of Georgia’s livestock and aquaculture industries increased by almost 36 percent from 2013.

A tiny fly is having a huge impact on American fruit farmers. Known as spotted wing drosophila, the insect is costing famers more than $700 million a year in lost produce and prevention costs.

Women own 13.6 percent of America’s active farms and their farms produce almost $13 billion worth of goods each year. Just like male farmers, they need access to business and technical information to help make their farms successful. But while many pride themselves on not needing a “women’s only” class on how to work the land or run a business, many other women simply feel more comfortable learning around other female farmers.

Organic and sustainable agriculture experts from the University of Georgia will host their fourth annual Organic Twilight Tour on Tuesday, June 23 from 6-8 p.m. at the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences' Durham Horticulture Farm, 1221 Hog Mountain Road, Watkinsville, Georgia.

The market for organic produce increases every year as does the number of farmers stepping up to meet that demand, but the number of seed companies catering this growing market is still relatively limited.

Organic vegetable farmers in the Southeast now have a successful model for planting summer cover crops with high-value, cool-season crops, thanks to a University of Georgia study. The two models use a series of crop rotations to increase yields, control insects and diseases, improve crop quality and build soil biomass.

A group of scientists from China, Taiwan and Japan traveled to south Georgia this week to share their work with University of Georgia researchers during the Seventh Annual Mini Summit on Food, Policy and the Environment. Cultural differences and thousands of miles separate the group, but they are unified in their primary concern — the safety of the world’s food supply.

Grits sprinkled over fire ant mounds, plastic bags filled with water to repel flies and high-frequency sound waves to chase away rats and mice—these are just a few non-chemical methods rumored to work as pest repellents.

A Georgia scientist is using peanut harvesting equipment to organically control weeds — particularly nutsedge.

To place the certified organic seal on their produce, farmers must follow a strict list of rules. Home gardeners who want to use organic practices can take the first steps by using methods one University of Georgia expert calls “modified organics.”