Organic Research at the USDA, Agricultural Research Service is Taking Root

Abstract The U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) began to coordinate its effort in organic agricultural research in 2000 by initiating a survey to determine the nature and extent of organic research being conducted by agency scientists. The survey revealed that approximately 9% of scientists within the agency were interested in organic agriculture but that less than 4% had actually participated in research in certified or certifiable organic production systems. With few exceptions, scientists conducted research on working or transitioning organic farms. Regardless of whether the research was conducted on farm or on research-station-managed land, farmer participation varied greatly. The USDA/ARS is in the process of coordinating the national organic research effort and has invited organic growers and other professionals to participate in the planning process in order to ensure that organic research at the agency continues to be rooted in its interactions with organic stakeholders.

[1]  R. Ford Denison,et al.  Yield increases during the organic transition: improving soil quality or increasing experience? , 2004 .

[2]  Fusuo Zhang,et al.  Crop yields, soil fertility and phosphorus fractions in response to long-term fertilization under the rice monoculture system on a calcareous soil , 2004 .

[3]  D. Gibbon.  Systems thinking, interdisciplinarity and farmer participation: essential ingredients in working for more sustainable organic farming systems , 2002 .

[4]  E. DuPuis.  Civic Markets: Alternative Value Chain Governance as Civic Engagement , 2006, Crop Management.

[5]  W. Lockeretz.  Establishing the proper role for on-farm research , 1987 .

[6]  D. B. Friedman,et al.  An interdisciplinary, experiment station-based participatory comparison of alternative crop management systems for California's Sacramento Valley , 1994 .

[7]  J. Sooby.  State of the States: organic farming systems research at land grant institutions 2000-2001. , 2001 .

[8]  Kelli L. Larson,et al.  Agricultural Research and Alternative Farmers’ Information Needs , 2001 .

[9]  C. Dimitri,et al.  A Brief Retrospective on the U.S. Organic Sector: 1997 and 2003 , 2006, Crop Management.

[10]  G. R. Mehuys,et al.  Farm-scale agronomic and economic conversion from conventional to sustainable agriculture. , 1990 .

[11]  Richard L. Thompson,et al.  On-farm experiment designs and implications for locating research sites , 1988 .

[12]  S. Dabbert.  Measuring and Communicating the Environmental Benefits of Organic Food Production , 2006 .

[13]  H. Karsten,et al.  Building diverse community networks for sustainable food systems: Guiding philosophies of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture , 2003 .

[14]  L. Drinkwater,et al.  Fundamental Differences Between Conventional and Organic Tomato Agroecosystems in California , 1995 .

[15]  W. Lockeretz.  Strategies for organic research , 2002 .

[16]  G. Shearer,et al.  Organic farming in the corn belt. , 1981, Science.

[17]  R. Harwood,et al.  Crop Production During Conversion from Conventional to Low‐Input Methods , 1989 .

[18]  C. Bull.  US Federal Organic Research Activity is Expanding , 2006 .

[19]  C. Bull,et al.  USDA research into organic farming , 2002 .

[20]  R. Harwood.  A look back at USDA's Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming , 1993 .

[21]  C. Folke,et al.  Linking Social and Ecological Systems: Management Practices and Social Mechanisms for Building Resilience , 1998 .

[22]  T. Ulbricht.  Report and recommendations on Organic Farming: preparedby USDA Study Team on Organic Farming. United States Department of Agriculture, 1980, 94 pp , 1981 .

[23]  C. Greene,et al.  Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic Foods Market , 2012 .

[24]  Experiential science as a novel scientific discipline , 2002 .

[25]  R. Venette,et al.  Transition from conventional to low-input agriculture changes soil fertility and biology , 1994 .

[26]  Comparing Hemp Seed Yields (Cannabis sativa L.) of an On-Farm Scientific Field Experiment to an On-Farm Agronomic Evaluation Under Organic Growing Conditions in Lower Austria , 2004 .

[27]  Hugo Fjelsted Alrøe,et al.  Towards a systemic research methodology in agriculture: Rethinking the role of values in science , 2002 .

[28]  Laurie E. Drinkwater,et al.  Cropping Systems Rsearch: Reconsidering Agricultural Experimental Approaches , 2002 .