I have been a Faculty Research Assistant at Oregon State University since 2005. My experience includes managing collaborative research projects and coordinating field events between university researchers and organic farmers. My on-farm research trials have ranged from nutrient management to insect and disease interactions to variety selection and plant breeding for organic systems.
One of my other jobs is market manager for Gathering Together Farm (check out their cool blog too!) at the Portland Farmers Market.
I enjoy documenting my projects through photos (not all the photos on the site are mine) and have recently been working with video. I developed the "Learn to Make a Video with eOrganic" online course for eOrganic collaborators.
I also have signifcant interest in conducting formalized taste tests of vegetable varieties trialed in my research project.
Research
NOVIC (Northern Organic Variety Improvement Collaborative)
NOVIC brings together researchers and organic farmers in Northern US states to address their seed and plant breeding needs. The collaborative includes researchers and educators from Oregon State University, University of Wisconsin (Madison), Cornell University, Organic Seed Alliance, and the USDA. NOVIC partners with organic farmers to breed new varieties, identify the best performing existing varieties for organic agriculture, and educate farmers on organic seed production and plant variety improvement. NOVIC looks for traits conducive to fresh markets with a focus on season extension. Breeding goals include (1) an OP broccoli with traditional F1 attributes and heat-tolerance; (2) a weed-competitive, cold-tolerant ‘Nantes’ carrot; (3) a disease-resistant, heat-tolerant stringless snap pea; (4) a cold-tolerant, sugary-enhanced sweet corn; (5) a butternut squash with good storability; and (6) the "farmers' choice" crop (the Oregon "farmer choice" crops have included sweet peppers, overwintering kale and chicories, including treviso, castelfrancos and grumolos). PHOTOS and VIDEO
eOrganic
eOrganic is the organic agriculture community of practice with eXtension. The mission is to foster a research and outreach community, engage farmers and ag professionals through trainings and publications, and support research and outreach projects.
OBOT (Organic Broccoli and Onion Trials)
Variety trials for spring planted onions and broccoli were conducted using a mother-baby experimental design with the mother trials on organic ground at the OSU Lewis Brown Farm and baby trials on fresh market organic farms in western Oregon. Our objectives are to: 1) Identify onion and broccoli varieties which are available as certified organic seed, 2) Establish selection criteria for organic fresh market broccoli and onions, 3) Compare varietal performance using the criteria established in collaboration with farmers, and 4) Disseminate results to farmers, breeders, seed companies and certifying agencies. PHOTOS
Ospud (Participatory Organic Potato Project)
During this project, eleven organic farmers in Oregon and Washington collaborated with Oregon State University faculty to improve potato quality and profitability through a participatory learning process and on-farm, farmer-directed research. This project, affectionately known as Ospud, encouraged an exchange of existing integrated management knowledge & promoted farmer innovation. It was our aspiration that, in working collectively, we may learn more about the wide variety of management issues facing small organic farmers, including soils, nutrients, insects, diseases, weeds, tuber quality & profitability. The first two years of OSPUD were supported by Western SARE Grant SW05-091. In October 2008, Ospud was awarded the James and Mildred Oldfield - E.R. Jackman Team Award for collaborative research by OSU’s College of Agriculture. PHOTOS
Publications
