Birmingham, Deirdre

Posted July 2000

Deirdre is starting an organic apple orchard in Iowa County. The orchard features English and French cider apples that she will process to make draft and vintage ciders. She helped initiate and runs the Midwest Organic Tree Fruit Growers Network. She also helps nonprofits and farmers apply for various grant programs. She is president of the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), and a past director of the REAP Food Group. She has experience running an educational nonprofit and working in international agricultural development, particularly in Africa. She holds a Joint Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Land Resources and Adult Education. deirdreb@mindspring.com

Vegetable Storage Crops Workshop

Learn how to extend your marketing season by growing and selling winter storage crops like carrots, beets, winter squash, cabbage, potatoes, onions, garlic and more. This workshop will be held on December 4 in Hudson and December 11 in Madison. For details, see the workshop flyer. Hope to see you there!

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CIAS in the community

CIAS Hosts Annual Meeting of Eco-Apple Growers

On Thursday, November 12, CIAS hosted its annual meeting of apple growers engaged in its Eco-Apple pesticide reduction program. Notably, the group of 48 growers celebrated the successful completion of a six-year effort designed to reduce the use of pesticides on orchards throughout Wisconsin. During the course of the program, all reporting orchards demonstrated a reduced reliance on pesticides in favor of a diversity of IPM strategies, and some realized a near-total elimination of organophosphate applications. CIAS thanks its team of growers for their enthusiastic and committed participation. In particular, CIAS wishes to thank Dave Flannery, Wendy Schafer, Bill Stone and Anna Maenner for their fortitude in seeing this phase of the project through to a successful conclusion. UW rsearchers Dan Mahr, Patty McManus, Matt Stasiak and Teryl Roper have been critical to the project’s success. Thanks also to EPA-V and the USDA for their support and encouragement.

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