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Organic farming is gaining traction
More farmers reap green by growing premium produce, meat
By Lindsay Kishter, Tribune staff reporter. September 3, 2007
A little luck and a bit of trickery got farmer Harold Wilken through his first years growing organic feed without pesticides.
By luck, he planted the red clover next to the corn; Japanese beetles that typically feed on corn silks were more attracted to the clover blossom. A careful rotation -- wheat, alfalfa, corn, soybeans, repeat -- helped too.
"Root-worm beetles learned to lay their eggs in soybean stubble so they would be there for the corn the next year," he said. "We confuse them."
These are the kinds of blessings that farmers rely on during what can be a tumultuous process: a transition to organic farming. Three years ago, Wilken began converting 94 acres of farmland in Danforth, just south of Kankakee, but this harvest is the first time he will see the premium prices that organic feed and vegetables can pull in.
To read the full story, click HERE.
A little luck and a bit of trickery got farmer Harold Wilken through his first years growing organic feed without pesticides.
By luck, he planted the red clover next to the corn; Japanese beetles that typically feed on corn silks were more attracted to the clover blossom. A careful rotation -- wheat, alfalfa, corn, soybeans, repeat -- helped too.
"Root-worm beetles learned to lay their eggs in soybean stubble so they would be there for the corn the next year," he said. "We confuse them."
These are the kinds of blessings that farmers rely on during what can be a tumultuous process: a transition to organic farming. Three years ago, Wilken began converting 94 acres of farmland in Danforth, just south of Kankakee, but this harvest is the first time he will see the premium prices that organic feed and vegetables can pull in.
To read the full story, click HERE.
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