February 2020 - 28

ORGANIC
California Organic Institute bolstered with gift
By Pamela Kan-Rice
University of California
The University of California
system's first-ever institute for organic
research and education will be
established in the UC's Agriculture
and Natural Resources division (UC
ANR) with a $500,000 endowment
gift from Clif Bar & Company and
$500,000 in matching funds from UC
President Janet Napolitano.
According to a news release, the
California Organic Institute will
accelerate the development and
adoption of effective tools and
practices for organic farmers and
those transitioning to organic by
building on the capabilities of UC
ANR's Cooperative Extension and
Sustainable Agriculture Research and
Education Program.
Although organic is the fastest
growing sector of the food economy,
funding for research has lagged far
behind support for conventional
agriculture. Farmers interested in
transitioning to organic or improving
performance of their organic systems
often lack the guidance they need to
succeed.
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July 2019 | Volume 53 |
Issue 7
Joyce Van Eck of the Boyce Thompson Institute is researching ways to make ground cherries and goldenberries easier to grow commercially. Photo: Mike Carroll/Boyce Thompson Institute
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Talking to researchers and companies
about their genetically-engineered projects
for specialty crops is a little bit like a trip to
a grower's dream world.
Imagine ground cherries that stay on the
plant until harvest, potatoes that are more
nutritious and disease-resistant, apples that
genetically dodge browning aſter slicing,
industrial hemp varieties fine-tuned for
growers and microbes that help protect
crops from diseases and pests.
These projects are in various stages of
completion - and their place in the market
in some cases hasn't yet been determined.
Public attitudes - and those of growers
- on genetically modified organisms
(GMOs) and organisms engineered with
next-generation technologies are not yet
universally accepted.
Genetically-engineered specialty crops
will find a niche of some kind in future
markets. Researchers and industry leaders
say it's up to growers and consumers to
decide how they're used.
Grower confidence
The amount of confidence growers put
in genome editing varies widely. Joyce
Van Eck of the Boyce Thompson Institute
at Cornell University is overjoyed to
have a few organic
growers open to
accepting
disease-resistant
plants from her
genetics research,
which includes
CRISPR-edited potatoes, goldenberries
and ground cherries.
High-Tech Tools
2019
See GENETICS, page 5
Side and row markers available
" Hydraulic planetary drives on all four wheels, driven
by a hydrostat, provide traction in snow or mud. "
The California Organic Institute will accelerate the development and adoption of effective tools and practices for organic growers and
those transitioning to organic farming. Photo: University of California
" California's organic farmers
already benefit from UC ANR's
pest management, irrigation and
crop production research, and this
partnership with Clif Bar will give UC
more capacity to focus on challenges
Tree Planter
specific to organic farming, " said
Glenda Humiston, UC vice president
of agriculture and natural resources.
" UC Cooperative Extension
advisors work directly with farmers
throughout the state so new organic
farming techniques can be applied
quickly. "
The California Organic Institute
is Clif Bar's third organic research
endowment and the first in its
home state of California, where the
Self Propelled Work Platform
Survey: U-pick strawberries take top dollar
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Pick your price.
Farm marketers across the country
this spring again participated in a
Vegetable Growers News survey of
what they charge for commodities and
food items.
More than 180 marketers from 34
states voted multiple-choice-style,
picking the price in the survey that was
closest to the price at their market.
For an example of how this works,
take that standby of summer, U-pick
strawberries.
Fiſty-four percent of marketers chose
$3 per pound, the highest price reported
by participants last year for that
category. Strawberries must be selling
well - there were only the few items in
the survey where the high price got the
most votes.
Search through the chart on Page 7
to compare notes with your colleagues
across the country.
The product, the process and the
region's clientele all play a role in
pricing. An organic, pick-your-own
SweeTango apple will sell for more
in the suburbs of New York City
than a bagged Granny Smith will in
Wenatchee, Washington. That's why, this
year, again VGN asked people how they
went about picking their prices.
Making markup
For most farm market managers,
prices are the product of much looking
about: Checking out competing
See MARKETS, page 6

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February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2020