Growing for the Farm and Market

Crop Planning for Organic Vegetable Growers

By Frederic Theriault and Daniel Brisebois
From the Canadian Organic Growers Series. The most important key to the success of a mixed vegetable farming enterprise is organization. Timing, funding, harvest, and planning all the aspects of each crop before it is planted will add efficiency to the small oranic farm. This efficiency will be rewarded by increased revenues and better organization in the years to come. This useful book is based on personal experience as well as the thoughts, insights, and experiences of many diverse organic farmers. 136 pages.

Gaining Ground

Thinking about making the switch to organic farming? Read this book first. If you're already farming organically, but could benefit from the wisdom of farmers who have been there, this book  is also for you. Produced by Canadian Organic Growers, this classic guide is an invaulable resource for organic growers of all sizes. Full of practical advice and insights from people who have already transitioned to organic, including the challenges they faced and the solutions they came up with. 309 pages.

Growing Potatoes Organically

Part of the Practical Skills Handbook Series from Canadian Organic Growers. This book addresses one of the most heavily pesticide-dependent field crops. Written by a potato farmer with input from other farmers, the practical information in this book details organic production methods and managedment stategies for:

• Varietal selection & breeding
• Soil fertility
• Organic seed potato production
• Planting & cultivation
• Pests
• Diseases
• Harvesting & storage
• Marketing

120 pages.

Making Your Small Farm Profitable

By Ron Macher.
This practical, step-by-step guide to operating a small farm in the new millennium examines twenty alternative farming enterprises. Readers will learn how to target niche markets and sustain a farm's biological and economic health. 288 pages.

New Organic Grower

By Eliot Coleman.
A master's manual of tools and techniques for the home and market gardener. In this newly revised and expanded edition, Coleman continues to present the simplest and most sustainable ways of growing top-quality organic vegetables. Coleman updates practical information on marketing the harvest, on small-scale equipment and on farming and gardening for the long-term health of the soil. 352 pages.

Organic Farming Manual

by Ann Larkin Hansen

A Comprehensive Guide to Starting and Running a Certified Organic Farm: Whether you’re just starting out or transitioning from traditional farming techniques, this comprehensive guide has everything you need to know about growing and marketing organic produce, grains, meat, and dairy. Includes detailed information on how to obtain organic certification. 438 pages.

Organic Field Crop Handbook

From the Canadian Organic Growers comes the second edition of this standard reference for organic field crop growers. One third of the book is devoted to detailed descriptions of how to grow various field crops based on farmer interviews. Each crop profile includes suitable crop rotations, intercroppping, seeding rates, weed and pest control, harvesting methods, and more. Crops covered include cereals, pulses, broadleaf, forages, flax, industrial hemp, oilradish, potatoes, and sunflowers. 292 pages.

Organic Livestock Handbook

This Canadian Organic Growers handbook covers the principles of organic livestock husbandry including chapters on health care, intensive grazing, manure management, fly and parasite control, handling to minimize stress, marketing, certification, and record keeping. In-depth information is provided for the main types of livestock that are particularly significant in organic farming systems. Farm profiles from Canada and the northern US illustrate a variety of organic livestock enterprises. 174 pages.

Record Keeping for Organic Growers

by Kristine Swaren and Rowena Harris
Farmers want to be in their fields, not at desks. But organic farmers are required to maintain a complete audit trail, and that requires organized record keeping. Inside this book you will find suggestions for reducing your time in the office; examples from feild crop, livestock, market garden and on-farm processing operations; templates; and lots of advice from certifiers, inspectors and most of all, farmers. Another practical, useful book from Canadian Organic Growers. 116 pages.

Successful Small Scale Farming

By Karl Schwenke
This inspiring handbook contains everything small-farm owners need to know, from buying land to organic growing methods and selling cash crops. So begins this classic guide to organic small-scale agriculture, fully updated and revised for the 1990s -- for a new generation of readers who would like to live closer to the earth.

Successful Small-Scale Farming introduces anyone owning (or planning to own) a small farm to both the harsh realities and the real potential involved in making a full- or part-time living on the land. Karl Schwenke's clear-eyed approach to the best farming methods covers a wide range of proven techniques and practical advice.

With today's increased concern for the quality of the food we eat and the health of our environment, Successful Small-Scale Farming offers a unique and invaluable perspective on the future of agriculture. Karl Schwenke's message -- that small-scale farms can be cleaner, smarter, and more efficient than corporate agribusiness -- has never been so relevant as it is today. 144 pages.

The Organic Comanion

The Organic Companion contains 50 of the best articles from over thirty years of publishing Thge Canadian Organic Grower magazine and its predecessors. Articles cover a variety of topics and are geared toward both experienced farmers and novice gardeners alike. Subjects include:

• Building healthy soil from air and organic matter
• Backyard permaculture
• Vegetables and their kin
• Fruits and nuts
• Hands, hoes, mulch and mowers: controlling weeds in the garden
• Seed saving
• Beginning beekeeping
• Profitability on the small farm

278 pages.