Essential Farm Infrastructure & Equipment for Organic Grain Production
Fact Sheet | Essential Infrastructure & Equipment for Organic Grain Production
GROWING ORGANIC GRAIN USES A DIFFERENT MINDSET
While growing organic grain has some similarities to conventional production, there are also major differences in these management styles. When farmers transition to organic, their infrastructure and equipment needs often change. Under organic management, many farmers find that they:
• Rely more on crop rotation, as it provides many of the services achieved with chemistry before their transition. For example, organic management uses crop rotation to build soil fertility, improve soil texture, and manage pests and weeds. The required plant ‘food’ inputs cannot usually be purchased in full. Doing so is often too expensive and rarely permitted in organic certification, making it essential to optimize nutrient cycling and cultivate fertility sources on farm.
• Adopt a more strategic approach to weed management, incorporating both crop rotation and precision cultivation tools.
• Invest in on-farm grain storage, as fewer off-farm organic storage options exist, especially those with grain drying capacity.
HAVE A LONG-TERM PLAN FOR EQUIPMENT
Farmers often benefit in the long run to understand and plan for the bigger picture of their long-term tool and infrastructure needs. Even though farmers will acquire many of these supplies over time, as they find a good deal and finances allow, they will spend their money more wisely and ultimately run a more efficient farm by first planning how their infrastructure and tools will work together to grow, harvest, and store organic grain. Each farmer’s needs tend to vary based on:
• Their land, markets, and farming style
• The crops they foresee growing in the near and medium future
• Their crop rotation
• Whether they grow forage crops
• Whether they are grazing
• The types of cover crops they grow
CROP ROTATION
Most organic grain farmers want the flexibility to grow both row crops that are planted in wider rows (like corn, soybeans, sunflowers, dry bean) and small grains that are planted more closely (such as wheat, barley, oats, and flax). Being able to plant, weed, and harvest both row crops and small grains allows farmers to build a better crop rotation that supplies the agronomic services they need.
TOP EQUIPMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE TOOLS
Mentors and Support Team
A mentor and support team can provide valuable advice and guidance. Informal mentors may be neighbors, farmers from 50 miles away, or even located in another state. While it is most helpful for farmers to visit their mentor’s farm and vice versa, this is not critical for the relationship. In addition to a mentor, a transitioning farmer’s advising team should also include their crop advisor.
Primary and Secondary Tillage Implements
Primary and secondary tillage implements allow farmers to terminate cover crops, improve soil drainage, incorporate crop residue, and prepare high quality seedbeds. Many tools are available, ranging from classic to cutting-edge. The tools will be determined by the farmer’s preferences, observations, crops, and soils. For these reasons, consulting with mentors and other organic farmers can provide valuable insight into what works best. When beginning their transition, or in a pinch, farmers may be able to hire out these operations. However, as timeliness is of the utmost importance in farming, relying too heavily on hired services is not ideal.
Cultivation Tools for Early-Season Weed Control
The rotary hoe or tine weeder are popular tools for early-season blind cultivation and in-row weed control. They are used before crop emergence and can also be effective in later growth stages. Farmers often prefer the rotary hoe in fields with more rocks in their soil, more residue, or heavier soil textures.
Row Crop Cultivators
While older row crop cultivators can be effective, it is important to do a thorough assessment of their condition when purchasing used equipment. Worn sweeps and bent S-tines can be replaced or upgraded, but a bent frame is a more serious issue. Choosing weeding equipment is a great time to seek advice from a mentor or experienced organic farmers. An older S-tine cultivator with 3–5 sweeps between each row can handle both first and second cultivations. Older cultivators can also be tuned-up by adding flatter sweeps that move less soil, L-blades near the rows, vibro-springs, and in-row finger weeders. New cultivators are available in a wide range of designs to accommodate heavier soils, higher residues, and faster speeds, or shallower depths and finer tilth.
Guidance Systems for Tractors and Cultivators
Many farmers appreciate guidance systems for their tractor and/or cultivator to improve accuracy and efficiency. Options include:
• CultiVision mirror(s) – Simple and inexpensive but ineffective on larger tractors with front-wheel assist or four-wheel drive due to limited visibility.
• Guidance hitch for the cultivator – Uses wands to physically sense the crop row for improved alignment.
• RTK tractor guidance – Provides high-precision navigation for increased accuracy.
• Camera-guided hitch for the cultivator – Can be operated with the farmer steering the tractor or integrated with RTK guidance.
Grain Drill with a Small-Seed Box
On many organic farms, the grain drill covers more acres than the row-crop planter, because it is used for planting both small grains and cover crops. It is possible to avoid purchasing a grain drill with a small-seed box if a farmer can custom hire the planting of clovers.
GRAIN STORAGE, HANDLING, AND MONITORING EQUIPMENT
Organic grain must always be kept separate from conventional grain. Because of this, most elevators do not handle organic grain, which means on-farm storage is especially important for organic grain farmers. Some farmers must make do until they have sufficient on-farm storage. In situations with limited storage, farmers can secure contracts that include delivery straight from the field. They may also temporarily store grain in wagons with screw-in aerators for one to two months. To minimize moisture and pests, it is good practice for all wagons to be covered with tarps, whether stored under a roof or outside. While these temporary methods can be useful, they are not a long-term solution to grain storage. Cleaning grain with a screened, rotary grain cleaner as it is placed into storage can help improve grain quality. For long-term storage, bins with appropriate floors and fans for in-bin drying or a separate grain dryer are essential. Additionally, a high-quality, hand-held moisture meter with settings for all the crops a farmer grows allows them to maintain grain quality over time.
Research reported in this publication was supported by The Organic Center and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research under award number Grant ID: TOCFFAR-EXT-002. The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of The Organic Center and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research.