Parker Farm, located in Warren, Ohio, is a small farm urban farm, in its second year of transitioning to certified organic. Farm owner Markisha Parker wanted to improve the yields and systems in the area that they have in production, and in particular, she wanted to find a way to deal with excess moisture and puddling in the fields. One of her biggest challenges was in her most valuable crop: tomatoes. Episodes of excess rain left much of her crop with splitting or blight.

Markisha decided to trial different readily available materials that could be used as a mulch, in order to mitigate extreme rainfall events and help her tomatoes get to market. In her area, Markisha had access to local sources of woodchips, grass clippings, and straw. All three mulch treatments improved yield compared to the bare-soil control. The straw mulch treatment showed the highest final yield. The control plots showed the lowest yield and were the most labor-intensive, demanding the greatest time investment for weekly weeding.

For full details on the study’s methodology and results, check out the OFRF Farmer Led Trials Blog, or read the final report linked here.