Update Course

NOFA Update Course

Each year the NOFA Organic Land Care Program host an Annual gathering of NOFA Accredited Professionals. The line up of dynamic speakers and subjects changes each year reflecting emerging science and hot topics relating to organic land care.  We are still in the planning process for the 2010 Update course. Below is last year's schedule.

December 8, 2009 - Sturbridge, MA
Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center

Keynote Speaker - Bill Cullina
Sugar, Sex, and Poison:
Shocking Plant Secrets Caught on Camera
Plant and Garden Curator, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Additional Presentations
- Biochar as a Climate Change Mitigation Strategy & Soil Ameliorant
- Cues, Signals, and Tree Response to Pruning
- Mile-A-Minute Vine Research Update
- Organic Products Research Update
See presentation descriptions and schedule below.

$75 Admission for NOFA AOLCPs, $85 Admission for non-AOLCPs
This course is worth 6 AOLCP Credits and Pesticide Applicator Credits are pending

Celebrate NOFA OLC Program's 10th Year Anniversary
Join us at this year's Update Course to celebrate the NOFA Organic Land Care Program's tenth year.  A great oportunity to network with long time members and founders!

Thanks to our Update Course Sponsors.

Hotel Reservations
If you would like to reserve a room for December 7 at the Sturbridge Host Hotel, mention that you will be attending the NOFA Annual Update Course in order to receive the special rate of $104. The number is 1-800-582-3232.

Course Schedule

8:30-8:50
Registration

8:50-9:00
Welcome & OLC Updates

9:00-10:15
Biochar as a Climate Change Mitigation Strategy and Soil Ameliorant
Presenter: Janice Thies, Associate Professor of Soil Biology, Cornell University
The thermal decomposition of biomass under low temperature and low O2 results in the co-products syngas (for bioenergy) and biochar (for soil conditioning). Social movements have arisen to block the use of biomass for bioenergy and the use of biochar as a soil amendment. The concerns expressed encompass debates around food vs fuels, land use change and environmental and human health issues. Participants will gain an understanding of the arguments for and against: (1) the use of residual biomass to produce bioenergy and biochar; (2) the use of biochar as a means to improve soil fertility and reduce off-site movement of agrichemicals; and (3) the inclusion of biochar in carbon trading schemes and as a climate change mitigation strategy.

10:15-10:30
Break

10:30-11:45
Cues, Signals, and Tree Response to Pruning
Presenter: Kevin T. Smith, Project Leader/Supervisory Plant Physiologist, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service

The first thing to remember before pruning or any other tree care activity is that trees are a live and are part of living systems. As living systems, trees (and other woody plants) receive cues from the external environment that affect their growth and reproduction. These cues can be in the form of light exposure, mechanical stress, gravity, and physical pressure. Within trees, the various parts such as shoots, roots, branches, and growing points perform different functions, often in response to signals produced in some other part of the tree. Many of these signals are plant hormones that regulate cell division and tissue differentiation. Sometimes these hormones act individually, but more often they act synergistically and in a dynamic cascade, handing off the message from one molecule and from one tissue to the next. OK, what does that have to do with pruning and organic land care? These cues and signals all lead to conditions of tree growth and senescence that result in the need for proper pruning. The act of pruning itself can result in the stimulation of growth and other effects. Sometimes this is a good thing. Sometimes this is what we want to avoid. Understanding the basics of these processes should increase the perceived and true value of an organic approach to land care.

11:45-12:30
Mile-a Minute Vine Research Update

Presenters, Carole Cheah, from the CT Agricultural Experiment Station and Kathleen Nelson, from Mad Gardeners, Inc., will discuss the present threat of Mile-a-Minute Vine (MAM), including identification, biology, potential environmental impact, and known distribution. Kathleen will describe control by pulling as used by the successful project in New Milford/Bridgewater, CT; and Carole will describe the very promising biocontrol program initiated in Connecticut this year. The tiny weevil used for biocontrol will only reproduce on MAM. Early reports from New Jersey and south indicate that the weevils may be able to reduce MAM from ecocatastrophe to an annoying weed.


12:30-1:30
Lunch

1:30-2:45
Keynote: Sugar, Sex, and Poison: Shocking Plant Secrets Caught on Camera
Presenter: Bill Cullina, Plant and Garden Curator, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens
As we all know, plants are at the base of both the human and non-human food chain. Everything eats them directly or indirectly, which may or may not be a good thing as far as plants are concerned. Because they do not move around, it is easy to forget that plants are not helpless. They have evolved an incredible arsenal of chemicals, camouflage, spines, hairs, and waxes to discourage herbivores. On the other hand, they spend a huge amount of their energy on pollen, nectar, edible fruits, and sugary root exudates designed to attract and nourish animals, insects, fungi and bacteria so they can perform services such as pollination, seed dispersal, defense, and nutrient acquisition. It is a carefully balanced natural economy and community based on the products of photosynthesis that is amazing in its complexity and efficiency. Strengthening this natural economy through sound horticultural and agricultural practices is in essence what the organic movement is all about. In this talk, Bill Cullina will show how this world of pollen, poisons, pigments, pheromones, sugars and sex translates to sound organic practices we all can benefit from.

2:45-3:00
Break

3:00-3:45
Organic Products Research Update
Presenter by Don Franczyk of Baystate Organicswill cover the National Organic Standards as they apply to determining whether fertility, pest, and disease control products are allowed for use in organic operations. He will discuss the labeling of input products under the National Organic Standards, the approval of composting operations, and the role of OMRI and certifying agents like Baystate in the approval of input products.

3:45-4:00
OLC Closing Comments