2003 Producer Grants Awarded

Earlier this year, the Kerr Center awarded three grants through its Oklahoma Producer Grant Program. This is the sixth year for the program with many excellent grant proposals submitted. The proposals were evaluated by an independent technical committee of farmers, ranchers, and agriculture professionals.

Grants were awarded to Ruby Ladd of Glencoe, Jim Young of McAlester, and Richard Ortez of Glencoe.
Both research and demonstration projects were eligible for funding during this annual competitive grant program. Money was available for two- and three-year grants. The program focused on the Kerr Center's eight points of sustainability, which address: soil health and erosion, water quality and conservation, organic waste management, Oklahoma-adapted crops and livestock, bio-diversity, environmentally-safe pest management, energy conservation, and farm diversification and profitability.

Revitalizing Soil with Vermicomposted Food Waste

Ruby Ladd received a three-year grant for $2578. Ruby’s four acre farm near Glencoe has established gardens and beds for growing seasonal vegetables and herbs.

In small plots, she will investigate the effect of vermicompost on soil quality by testing different rates of the vermicompost. Ruby will be monitoring soil organic matter, soil fertility and yield data from selected crops.
The cooperators on this project are Jack Eckroat, OSU Extension Service/Plant and Soil Science, Hailin Zhang, Associate Professor, Dept. of Plant and Soil Sciences, and Sarah Kimball, OSU Extension Service/Agricultural Economics.

IPM for Tomatoes

Jim Young is a member of the Pittsburg County Farmers’ Market Growers’ Association in McAlester. He received a three year grant for $6696 to investigate Intregrated Pest Management (IPM) methods for controlling nematodes and pinworms in tomatoes.

Jim asked producers from his farmers’ market to participate in the project. Several farmers were selected for the research trial. Each will set up plots to monitor the selected pest and use several different IPM methods as tools for control. The methods will be tested over the period of the trial and data will be collected on each method. As part of the project, several educational workshops will be offered to market growers to assist them in trying some of the methods used for control.

The cooperators on this project include Jonathan Edelson, Wes Watkins Ag Research and Extension Center, Brian Olson, Entomology & Plant Pathology, OSU, and Ted Evicks, OSU Extension Service.

Dry Bean Varieties for Oklahoma

Richard Ortez owns an 80-acre farm in Glencoe, Oklahoma. Richard is a past recipient of a producer grant and this grant continues his investigation of dry bean production in Oklahoma. In his first grant, Richard worked on variety selection and production techniques for a small scale operation. This two year grant is for $3110 and furthers his work by taking information learned in the first grant about production and variety selection and increasing his trial size to investigate seed stock acceptance by the market.
His end objective is to add horticulture bean seeds to his Boarding House Classics product list. During the project, he will document data from the bean seed plots and compile information from his test marketing of the different seed varieties.

See the fact sheet on Richard Ortez' dry bean project.
Read an article on Richard Ortez' commercial processing kitchen from the spring 2006 issue of Field Notes.
See Richard Ortez' presentation from Future Farms 2008.
See Richard Ortez' presentation from Future Farms 2002.

Nathan Anderson from OSU Extension Service and Vincent Russo, ARS, Wes Watkins Research Center are cooperators on this project.

Contact Information:
To find out more about the Oklahoma Producer Grants Program contact Alan Ware, program director, at the Kerr Center, 918.647.9123, email mailbox@kerrcenter.com, visit www.kerrcenter.com, or write PO Box 588 Poteau, OK 74953