On a sunny October day last week, over thirty farmers, seed company representatives, and students gathered to see the results of OSA’s vegetable variety trial on Coke Farm in San Juan Bautista, California.
John Navazio of OSA and Washington State University, and Jared Zystro of OSA, led the variety trial field day. Participants compared over sixty varieties of green beans, lettuce, Swiss chard, kale, and broccoli. Participants also learned how to set up trials on their own farms and the simple steps required to get good information from trials. The day continued with lively discussions in the field as participants were able to see how, for example, not all strains of ‘Fordhook’ Swiss chard or ‘Lacinato’ kale are created equal.
For those of you unable to make the field day and interested in the trial results, the data will be posted to OSA’s website and included in eOrganic’s Organic Variety Trial Database once they are all collected. If you are interested in conducting your own variety trials, check out our On-farm Variety Trial: A Guide for Organic Vegetable, Herb, and Flower Producers publication.
This work was made possible by the efforts of Coke Farm and through the generosity of Columbia Foundation.
