Marketing Organic Grain 101

05/26/19 • 27 min

Join our host Scott Beaton in conversation with Organic grain farmer Ian Cushon and organic buyer Scott Shiels to learn about the opportunities and challenges that come along with marketing organic grain. Organic farmers can take advantage by paying attention to what's happening in the market place and planning crops accordingly . The organic industry is a smaller community and everyone wants to help each other so learn the network and learn to ask questions. Learn what might be a good crop to start with and how to approach speciality markets. Hear about the importance of maintaining grain quality on the farm. Hear about contract considerations straight from the farmer's perspective.

Guest Bios:

Ian Cushon has farmed organically for 30 years producing a wide variety of field crops including row cropping organic sunflowers in the 1990s to soybeans in 2016. Ian has used mechanical weed control including rod weeders, tine harrows, tine weeders and rotary hoes. Mechanical weed control is an important option in some crops, but strong crop rotations and cultural weed management are the foundation of productive organic crops on the prairies. Ian and wife Jo-Anne, operate Moose Creek Organic Farm near Oxbow, in Southeast Saskatchewan. They have two children Liam 16 and Anna 14.

Scott Shiels works with Grain Millers as the Procurement Manager and has experience as a grain buyer handling the procurement of grains into the mill in Yorkton. He works with the US procurement team on other commodities that they source from Canada.

Resources discussed in this episode:

Credits:

Host: Scott Beaton
| Producers: Dana Penrice, Iris Vaisman, Cari Hartt, and Tierra Stokes

Grain on the Brain is a podcast of the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative

Guest Bios:

Resources discussed in this episode:

Credits:

Host: Scott Beaton
| Producers: Dana Penrice, Iris Vaisman, Cari Hartt, and Tierra Stokes

Grain on the Brain is a podcast of the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative

Previous Episode

Crop Rotation Strategies

Join our host Scott Beaton in conversation with Katherine Stanley to talk about strategies for designing organic crop rotations that build soil fertility, manage weeds and prevent disease and pests. Learn about planning green manures that will set you up for a successful cash crop. Scott and Katherine discuss applying manure, integrating livestock grazing and options including perennials in your rotation.

Bio: Katherine Stanley is a Research Associate at the University of Manitoba's Natural Systems Agriculture. She has a MSc. in plant science from the University of Saskatchewan and a B.Sc. in Agroecology from the University of Manitoba. Her research focuses largely on organic agronomy and weed management and extension work has allowed her to work with agronomists and organic farmers across the prairies.

Resources discussed in this episode:

Credits:

Host: Scott Beaton

Producers: Dana Penrice, Iris Vaisman, Cari Hartt, and Tierra Stokes

Grain on the Brain is a podcast of the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative

Next Episode

How to Take Soil and Plant Tissue Samples

Join our host Scott Beaton in conversation with organic grain expert Joanne Thiessen Martens to talk about taking soil samples and plant tissue samples. Learn when to take sample, how to take the sample, where to send your samples and how to interpret the results. Sampling and testing can help you understand what's happening on your farm and make management decisions or interventions if required. In organic systems, mainstream soil tests might not capture everything that you need to know to make management decisions and by adding plant tissue samples it can give you a better picture of what's happening in your fields.

Bio: Joanne Thiessen Martens grew up on a small mixed farm at Austin, Manitoba. She earned a B. Sc. In Agroecology at the University of Manitoba in 1999 and has since been working in the area of sustainable and ecological agriculture. For much of this time, Joanne has been a part of Dr. Martin Entz’s research team in the Department of Plant Science at the University of Manitoba. Her recent areas of focus include cover cropping, integrated crop-livestock systems, and farming systems design.

Resources discussed in this episode:

Credits:

Host: Scott Beaton

Producers: Dana Penrice, Iris Vaisman, Cari Hartt, and Tierra Stokes

Grain on the Brain is a podcast of the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative