Strategies for Weed Management in Organic Production Systems in the Northern Great Plains

Two field studies were conducted in North Dakota to explore methods to facilitate weed management in organic production systems. No-till farming is gaining popularity in conventional systems; however, organic producers often rely on tillage for weed control. We hypothesized that the addition of sheep grazing into an organic no-till annual production system with roller crimped cover crops would aid weed management. Despite the grazing treatment, the no-till system resulted in greater weed biomass and increased yield loss compared to a tilled system. Weed community composition differed between no-till and conventionally tilled treatments. A second study was conducted to explore alternatives to plastic mulch in perennial strawberry production systems by testing two novel mulch materials, paper and hemp hurd. Both materials were found to meet or exceed the ability of hay mulch, a commonly used mulching product, to suppress weed emergence