Davis College
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West Virginia University’s Organic Research Farm will host its annual field day from 1:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 5, 2009.

Situated on 71 acres of land off Route 705 and Stewartstown Rd. in Morgantown, the farm houses studies on field crops, livestock, organic pasture management, vegetable production, weed, insect and disease management, as well as soil quality.

As part of the farm’s mission to provide best-practice recommendations for organic farmers and home gardeners, Field Day events include in-depth workshops, wagon tours of research plots and demonstrations of organic practices. New this year will be demonstrations of organic production methods for biofuel crops such as canola, sunflower, switchgrass and soybean.

The multidisciplinary team from the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences and WVU Extension is beginning its tenth year of research on organic production methods.

“Organic farming is one of the fastest growing sectors in American agriculture,” said Jim Kotcon, Associate Professor of Plant and Soil Sciences. “The WVU Organic Research Farm provides the information needed to help growers succeed in this rapidly expanding market.”

The Field Day is free and open to everyone, especially organic growers, students who want to learn about alternative food production practices; home gardeners who want to avoid pesticides; conventional growers who are considering transitioning to organic; and cooperative Extension agents or pest management advisers.

“We hope people will see the possibilities in organic agriculture and learn solutions to organic production problems,” Kotcon said. “Most importantly, we hope they have fun.”

Gates open at 1:00 p.m. with workshops beginning at 1:30. Wagon tours begin at 4:00. Dinner sponsored by the Plant and Soil Sciences Club will be served at 6:00.

Participation in the event is free, but pre-registration is appreciated. For more information or to register, contact Kotcon at (304) 293-8822 or via email. For a full schedule of Field Day events and to download a registration form, visit http://davis.blogs.wvu.edu/blog/2009/7/15/fdsched09. More information on WVU’s Organic Research Farm is available online – www.caf.wvu.edu/plsc/organic.