Illinois Natural History Survey Reports

              1
I LLINOIS
NATURAL
HI STORY
S U R V E Y R e p o r t s
Autumn 2005
No. 385
I N S I D E
Creating an Emiquon
Corps of Discovery
2
On-line Identification
Tools for Leafhoppers
3
Aerial Inventories of
Waterfowl in Illinois
4
New INHS
Publication
5
Species Spotlight:
Black Vulture
6
The Naturalist's
Apprentice: Black
Vulture Word Search
7
Continued on back page
Agricultural Systems in Transition to
Organic Production: A Progress Report
What began as a dream (“if we
plant it, the research support
$$ will come”) became reality
in 2003 for researchers at the
Illinois Natural History Survey
(INHS) and University of Illinois
trying to jump-start a multi-dis-ciplinary
program on organic
farming systems. Feedback from
organic growers during an INHS-sponsored
workshop was key to
development of the farming sys-tems
strategies that form the basis
of the research. Also important
was availability of land for long-term
organic research [INHS
Reports No. 375:1,8 (2003)]. We
submitted a proposal in March,
initiated crop rotations for the re-search
at the Champaign field site
in June, collected baseline data,
and waited to hear if the proposal
would be funded. The gamble
paid off: USDA grant support for
the four-year project on organic
transition was awarded in Sep-tember
2003.
During the three-year transi-tion
from conventional to organic
production, growers must adopt
practices that increase crop diver-sity,
enhance soil biological activ-ity
and nutrient cycling, support
beneficial organisms, and rely on
cultural and biological methods
of pest management. Based on
their individual farm operations,
growers have several options to
choose from in deciding how to
transition their land for or-for
organic matter and fertility
management: a) plant inputs only
(cover crops providing all organic
inputs and nitrogen fertility), b)
plant inputs plus composts, or
c) plant inputs plus manure. Our
research objective is to determine
how these transition schemes af-fect
ecosystem components such
as weeds; soil organic matter
and nutrient availability; soil in-vertebrate
communities; and the
relationship among soil fertility,
plant health, and insect/disease
pressure.
Now at its midway point, the
project has been quite a learning
experience. We have consulted
ganic certification. The farming
systems approach of our project
compares nine transition schemes
that differ in management inten-sity
(i.e., frequency of disturbance
through tillage, increased number
of crops) and organic matter
inputs. Three treatments (farming
systems) represent different crop-ping
intensities: 1) high-intensity
transition (intensive vegetable
production), 2) intermediate-intensity
transition (organic
cash-grain), and 3) low-intensity
transition (perennial pasture mix).
Within these are three sub-treatments
(types of amendments)
representing different strategies
Research intern Juan Carlos Laso (L) and graduate student Carmen
Ugarte (R) take soil samples in the broccoli-cabbage plots at the INHS
organic research farm in Champaign. Photo by Edmond Zaborski, INHS Center for
Ecological Entomology