EFAO Conference

The annual EFAO Conference draws farmers and supporters from across the food system for two days of intensive learning, idea-sharing, networking and celebration with good food and friends. EFAO’s first province-wide in-person conference since 2019!

Rotational Grazing KSEs

Tools for Managing Pasture Using Nature’s Model for Ecological Sustainability

November 29th, 1:30-3:00pm

How do you know if your pasture is sustainable? Well, is your sward readily grazed by stock and does it remain robust throughout the season? If you wondered if there was a typo or were tempted to google “sward,” then you might learn something new in this session! E. Ann Clark suggests managing pasture in such a way as to offer “cheap feed” to animals, meaning that she recommends diverse plantings of perennials that do not require mechanized maintenance. Ann sees the task of a grazier to be both identifying and implementing principles that sustain nature in food production and environmental management via grass-based farming. Sward genetics, fertility, and defoliation will all be discussed in this practical session for graziers.

Cover Cropping KSEs

Nitrogen Calculations for Cover Crops 

November 29th, 3:30-5:00pm

Jesse Way operates Milky Way Farm with his partner Meghan Brandenburg, where they use cover crops as part of their management of 1.5 acres of ecologically-focused veg production. Jesse and Meghan conducted a research trial (as part of EFAO’s farmer-led-research program) to better understand how cover cropping was impacting their soil health. This trial was designed to investigate tools available to all farmers for addressing the challenge of predicting the Plant Available Nitrogen (PAN) contribution of organic amendments and cover crops in agroecosystems. At this session Jesse will go into detail about how to do biomass sampling from the field, and how to make sense of the lab results using the free online calculator from Oregon State University. He will work through an example of predicting PAN, and highlight the potential to reduce reliance on lab testing as a result of creating an on-farm database with potential for collaboration with other farms.

No-Till Potatoes: A Farmer Researcher Panel

November 30th, 10:30am-12:00pm

No-till production practices for potatoes might sound like an oxymoron for this hilling-intensive crop. Or is it? Join EFAO members and farmer-researchers Matt Jones, Patti Charbaneau, Rob Read, and Ken Laing as they describe the methods they are trialing and the varieties they are working with to make organic no-till potato production a reality in Ontario. Some of these promising methods include use of spoiled hay, woodchips, compost, and planting directly into a cover crop.

Growing Small Grains in Ontario: A speaker panel (part 2)