Klaas Martens (above) farms nearly 2,000 acres of organic grains and legumes in the Finger Lakes region of New York alongside his wife, Mary-Howell Martens. (SARE Outreach, YouTube)
ALBANY — Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens farm nearly 2,000 acres of organic grains and legumes in the Finger Lakes region of New York. In these videos, Klaas Martens discusses the role of careful field observation and diverse crop rotations in their non-chemical management of weeds, blind cultivation strategies, and the camera-guided finger weeder, which allows for in-row weed cultivation after crop emergence.
Manage Weeds on Your Farm: The Martens Farm
Blind Cultivation on the Martens Farm
Learn more about reducing or eliminating the use of synthetic herbicides with the book Manage Weeds on Your Farm: A Guide to Ecological Strategies, available online and in print.
This material is distributed by SARE Outreach for the SARE Program and based upon work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2017-38640-26822. SARE Outreach operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.
–SARE Program