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Join our host Scott Beaton in conversation with Organic grain farmer Ian Cushon and organic buyer Scott Shiels to learn about the opportunities and challenges that come along with marketing organic grain. Organic farmers can take advantage by paying attention to what's happening in the market place and planning crops accordingly . The organic industry is a smaller community and everyone wants to help each other so learn the network and learn to ask questions. Learn what might be a good crop to start with and how to approach speciality markets. Hear about the importance of maintaining grain quality on the farm. Hear about contract considerations straight from the farmer's perspective.

Guest Bios:

Ian Cushon has farmed organically for 30 years producing a wide variety of field crops including row cropping organic sunflowers in the 1990s to soybeans in 2016. Ian has used mechanical weed control including rod weeders, tine harrows, tine weeders and rotary hoes. Mechanical weed control is an important option in some crops, but strong crop rotations and cultural weed management are the foundation of productive organic crops on the prairies. Ian and wife Jo-Anne, operate Moose Creek Organic Farm near Oxbow, in Southeast Saskatchewan. They have two children Liam 16 and Anna 14.

Scott Shiels works with Grain Millers as the Procurement Manager and has experience as a grain buyer handling the procurement of grains into the mill in Yorkton. He works with the US procurement team on other commodities that they source from Canada.

Resources discussed in this episode:

• Pivot and Grow Business 2 Business Directory
• Grain Quality Fact Sheet
• Transition Starter Kit

Credits:

Host: Scott Beaton
| Producers: Dana Penrice, Iris Vaisman, Cari Hartt, and Tierra Stokes

Grain on the Brain is a podcast of the Prairie Organic Grain Initiative