Organic practices that work for conventional farmers

I had a quick chat this afternoon with Mark Overbye who farms near Lake Alma in southern Saskatchewan. Mark had phoned a couple of months ago offering to write an article on his experiences converting pick up trucks from gas to diesel. I tried to hook up with him around that time, but didn't get through. I found his phone number today while cleaning my desk so I called him again. He was in the shop tinkering with his combine during a rain delay. He had harvest a quarter of peas and a quarter of Kamute durum before it started to rain four days ago.

Mark agreed to write the article for Grainews sometime over the next couple of months. (Probably after harvest.)

We then got talking about his farm. He has 1,500 acres in organic production plus 180 cows. I asked if he was interesting in writing articles about organic practices that could be useful for conventional farmers. One idea is green manure, given the price of fertilizer. Other ideas could deal with tips to  keep down weed populations. Herbicides are an important tool for conventional farmers, but maybe Mark and other organic farmers have effective management practices — over and above cultivation — that you could use in tandem with herbicides. We'll see.

If you have any ideas that you'd like to share or questions you might have for Mark or other organic growers, please send me an e-mail.