Developing an Organic Corn Enterprise in Kentucky

While the price of organically produced corn averages 1.5 to 2 times the price of conventionally produced corn ($13.44 upper Midwest vs. $6.62 in W. Ky during week of April 14, 2012. USDA AMS data), virtually no organically produced corn is grown in Kentucky. As a result, farmers may be missing a profitable opportunity and producers of organic livestock products are paying higher prices for their feedstuffs. This project's has these stated goals and expected outcomes: agricultural professionals will know site specific state of the art techniques for producing and marketing organic corn; farmers will learn how to produce organically grown corn and understand marketing opportunities; some farmers will experiment with producing corn with organic techniques (for technical reasons, the corn will not be certified organic initially). Project Participants: Lee Meyer and Greg Halich (Ag Econ); Mike Bomford (Horticulture, Ky. State Univ.); Chad Lee (Plant and Soil Sciences); and, Sam McNeil (Bio Systems and Ag Engineering). Project activities include: identification of obstacles (technical, social, marketing); development of a set of best practices for production and marketing; conducting training programs for professionals; planning and implementing on-farm demonstrations.