The Organic Center will collaborate on two projects made possible by grants awarded last week from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Organic Agriculture and Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) to help advance research on vital challenges facing organic agriculture–protecting organic farmers from inadvertent pesticide contamination and innovating through accessible and equitable agricultural technology.

Organic tomato growers use cover crops and compost to build fertility; however, these practices don’t always provide sufficient soil nutrient availability during the period of rapid plant growth, which can limit tomato nutrient uptake, yields, and fruit quality. While fertilizer products approved by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), which meet the National Organic Program compliance criteria, provide a viable option for improving nutrient uptake, organic tomato growers have expressed a need for research to evaluate the profitability and effects on soil health resulting from the use of these products.

The Santa Rosa, California-based Regenerative Organic Alliance (ROA) is now certifying organic farms as regenerative, after completing a pilot phase.

North Carolina’s Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) recently named recipients of its fellowship program.

Pipeline Food’s supply chain is complex and global. It stretches from the organic grains farmer in Minnesota to the organic soybean and corn producer in Argentina, and from the organic grain elevator in Canada to the organic oilseeds processor in India. Protecting the integrity of organic and preventing organic fraud in such a diverse and wide-ranging supply chain requires commitment, knowledge and lots of hard work.

BioTEPP Inc., a Canadian biotech company, recently received registration from the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) for its Virosoft CP4, a biopesticide used to control codling moth (cydia pomonella) and oriental fruit moth (grapholita molesta).