Consolidation in Organic Agriculture - CCOF

ugs will be bad, he covers the emergingplants in a thin, Tyvek-looking row coverthat lets in sun and water, but not bugs.When the plants are big enough, heremoves the top and cleans up the weedsthat have also enjoyed the protection.Because the farm where he grows wintersquash is surrounded by pasture, beetleshave plenty of breeding ground and thereforecan be unrelenting. If they show a significantpresence early on, he sprays vineswith a naturally occurring mineral claythat sticks to the insects’ bodies and keepsthem from munching. Still, they will hideout in field borders and migrate in whenconditions are better. So when it’s reallybad, Foster will reverse the direction of hisleaf-blower and literally vacuum up thebugs from their place alongside the squash.All this is expensive, both in materialsand labor, but for Foster it’s worth it.Because winter squash stores well, he cansell it well into winter. In that slow season,the crop offers vital sales and the work thathelps him retain a crew of workers yearround.But there’s a Catch-22: Squash lastsonly so long after it’s harvested, but ismore valuable the later you sell it. The earliestplantings see fewer insects, but theirfruit comes out of the field so early that itisn’t very valuable. The later plantings geta higher price, sold in January rather thanOctober, but only if they make it—theyare seedlings in the height of summer,when bugs have multiplied; and they arestill in the field after most plants are gone,making them the sole food source for hungrybeetles. So what does Foster do? A littleof both. “If we just had one crop thatwe depended on we’d have a sad face if welost some of it,” he says. “Not relying onone thing allows us to be a little less frantic,a little more philosophical.”HEADSTARTNURSERYVegetable Transplants4869 Monterey Road, Gilroy, CA 95020(408) 842-3030 • (408) 842-3224 FaxPage 18CCOF Magazine