The Organic Apple Grower Hour

Posted September 2008

On 18 Thursday mornings from April 24 through August 28, a group of apple growers came together over the phone to discuss holistic orchard management. Leading the calls was Michael Phillips, organic orchardist and author of The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist. The breadth and depth of information covered on the calls was very impressive, with an emphasis on soil health and minimizing inputs. To see the topics covered on the calls, go to the Midwest Organic Tree Fruit Growers Network website.

The calls were popular among growers, with an average of 22 people listening to each call. Many found that the calls helped them to stay on track and gave them new ideas to improve their orchard systems.

To access call recordings, or for additional information on the calls, contact Lisa at ldipietro@wisc.edu or 608-265-3637. The Organic Apple Grower Hour was made possible with funding from the Organic Farming Research Foundation.


CIAS in the community

How do we get more local produce in the marketplace?

How do we get more local produce in the marketplace?

On December 8th, CIAS co-hosted a meeting for 50 public and private sector leaders to discuss the opportunities and challenges of fresh produce aggregation and distribution in Wisconsin. This meeting was supported in part by the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, a UW-Madison based fund designed to foster public engagement and advance the Wisconsin Idea. The December 8th meeting exemplified the Wisconsin Idea, bringing together university and other public sector advocates and private sector food industry business leaders. The agenda for this meeting was designed to identify and begin addressing the key barriers to greater local food sale in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. Notes from this meeting will be available shortly. For more information, contact Anne Pfeiffer, 608-890-1905.

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