Got Nitrate Leaching? The right cover crop mixture can help
By Charlie White, Tianna DuPont, Dave Hartman, Mena Hautau, and Jason Kaye
In the humid Northeast, keeping nitrogen where crops need it is a challenge. During heaving rains nitrate leaches below the root zone and can become an environmental pollutant in groundwater, rivers and estuaries. One of the ways that organic farmers can protect against nitrate leaching is by growing a winter cover crop. Winter cover crops reduce nitrate leaching by taking up nitrate left in the soil profile at the end of the growing season and holding it in the cover crop biomass over winter. When the cover crop is killed the next spring, the nitrogen the cover crop took up into its plant material is recycled into soil organic matter and becomes available to feed future crops in the rotation.
Click here for the full story.
Farmers, Researchers Collaborate to Seek New Organic Farming Methods at Spiral Path Field Day
By Lee Rinehart
For organics to be successful and distinguish itself amidst the various ways agriculture is practiced, including the many food label claims that have arisen lately, we as organic farmers need to use the best cutting edge science and incorporate it into the ecological methodology that is the hallmark of organic farming. These words express Mike Brownback’s philosophy of agriculture and point to a long-term vision where collaborations between researchers and organic farmers yield substantive innovations in organic farming. This philosophy was at the heart of the September 4th Spiral Path Farm Field Day in Loysville, PA.
To read more about the field day and insights gleaned, click here.
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Thanks to our E-news Sponsors!
 
To advertise/sponsor, contact april@paorganic.org or visit the advertising page of our website.
News & Updates
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Our New E-News!!!
Tada! Welcome to PCO's first Monthly E-newsletter! We are shifting from our weekly E-marketplace to our new Monthly E-News. We still have all the great components of our weekly E-marketplace but with more! Each issue will feature two educational articles on topics ranging from nitrate leaching and grazing techniques to consumer trends and marketing.
Each issue will also contain the newest classified ads with a live link to our NEW online classifieds where you can post and search our classified 24 hours a day, for free! We'll also continue sharing office and policy updates, important announcements, as well as a few featured events with a live link to our Event Calendar.
The two final new features to PCO's Monthly E-News are the "Thank you to our Sponsors" and "Member Updates" sections. Check 'em out! We hope you like it.
FDA releases significant updates to four proposed rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act
The rules will be officially published in the Federal Register on September 29, at which time the public comment period will begin. The comment period will last for 75 days, and there will be a mid-December deadline for submitting comments.
Key changes to the proposed rules include:
Produce Safety: updates to water-quality and testing requirements, as well as to provisions on manure use
Preventive Controls for Human Food: updates to proposed requirements for product testing, environmental monitoring and supplier controls; as well as changes to requirements for farms that pack or hold food from other farms
Preventive Controls for Animal Food: updates to proposed requirements for product testing, environmental monitoring and supplier controls; as well as changes to requirements for human food facilities providing a byproduct to animal food
Foreign Supplier Verification Programs: updates to propose a more comprehensive evaluation of food and supplier risks, and a more flexible approach to determining supplier verification activities.
For more information, visit http://www.fda.gov/fsma.
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Events
Oct. 3, 10am-noon
Cover Cropping Schemes and Tillage Equipment Meeting
Provident Farm
Liberty, PA
For more info, contact Dave Hartman at 570-784-6660 ext. 12 or dwh2@psu.edu. To register, call 800- 851-9710 or email bat12@psu.edu.
Oct. 9, 1-3pm
PCO Adopt A Highway
Centre Hall
Join PCO staff and volunteers to clean up and care for the 2-mile section of highway on Route 144 East (between Old Fort and Route 322)! For more information or to volunteer, please contact the PCO office at (814) 422-0251.
Oct. 13-15
IFOAM Organic World Congress and General Assembly
Istanbul, Turkey
owc2014.org
October 23
Scaling Up: Increase Efficiency. Increase Product Quality and Safety. Add Farm to Institution Sales.
The Seed Farm
Emmaus, PA
Learn about the potential for sales to colleges and hospitals and delve into improving produce quality and safety with a discussion led by farmers and extension. For more info and for event reservations visit theseedfarm.org or call (610) 391-9583 ext. 16. There is no fee to attend, but this event will fill so register to reserve your lunch! REGISTERED attendees will receive a Scaling Up Handbook.
For a full listing of events, visit the PCO online calendar.
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Classifieds
For sale Organic Corn and combine run wheat and rye seed. Contact: Dan Deturk. Cell:610-972-2864. Berks County.
30 x 72 gothic-style high tunnel with for sale near Carlisle. You can take it down anytime after November 22. Comes with black locust baseboards, polycarbonate endwalls, and one unused layer of plastic big enough to cover. $4000 or make an offer. Call Dave, 631-682-5517. Cumberland County.
Painterland Farms have Organic Dry Hay, Bailage, Straw, and Shell Corn for sale. Contact John Painter @ 814-367-5238, cell: 570-419-1775. Delivery available call for details. Located in Tioga County.
Organic Hay, Straw, Grain, Corn Silage for sale. Hay prices based on forage tests, Dairy to dry cow grades. Oats, Corn, Soybeans at harvest. Delivery available. Provident Farms 570-772-6095. Tioga County.
To see the complete classifieds listings or to post an ad, click here.
To Advertise
If you would like to place an ad on our Organic Marketplace online classifieds, click here. Each monthly E-News will feature the most recent 2-5 ads.
All advertising is subject to PCO’s approval. PCO reserves the right to reject or cancel any advertising for any reason at any time. PCO neither investigates nor endorses the products or claims made by advertisers. Buyers should request verification of organic certification by a USDA-accredited certification agent.
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Member News
A warm welcome to our September new members:
Action Pak
Andrew Zook
Arthur Arcadian
Benuel Lapp
Brad Helm
Brownstone Mushroom Farm
Bruce Penland
Chris S. Yoder
Christian S. Beiler
David Weaver
David M. Lapp
Durrel Horst
Ed Evans
Eli Miller
Fscone
Gideon S. Esh
Harlan Martin
Harold Kreider
House of Bricks
Ivan Peachey
Janet Schaufler
Jay Vigdor
Jeff Foust
Jerald Gingerich
John Anstine
La Pasta
Leroy Cubbage
Linda Kurzmiller
Loretta Briede
Lou Sheetz
Matthew Sensenig
Matthew B. Stoltzfus
Mike & Barb Dietrich
Norman & Lucinda Nolt
Paul Fisher
Peter Siwik
Ryan Simpson
SafePac
Stevie Fisher
Sweet Origins
Willard Showalter
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