June/July 2019
Organic Farmers—Experienced or Brand
New—Are All Welcome at NRCS
Organic Dairy: Economic Opportunities
and Challenges with a Focus on California
Multispecies Grazing: Integrating Ecological
Processes and Biodiversity to Promote
Regenerative Agriculture
Organic Spider Mite Control in
Deciduous Trees and Vines
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Organic Farmer June/July 2019
© 2019, Trécé Inc., Adair, OK USA • TRECE, PHEROCON and CIDETRAK are registered trademarks of Trece, Inc., Adair, OK USA • TRE-1523, 5/19
Organic
FARMER
4
10
16
22
28
30
34
38
IN THIS ISSUE
Organic Farmers—
Experienced or Brand
New—Are All Welcome
at NRCS
Organic Dairy: Economic
Opportunities and
Challenges with a Focus
on California
Multispecies Grazing:
Integrating Ecological
Processes and Biodiversity
to Promote Regenerative
Agriculture
Organic Spider Mite
Control in Deciduous
Trees and Vines
A New Tool Makes it Easy
for Organic Farmers to
Follow the NOP Guidance
on Natural Resources and
Biodiversity Conservation
Organic Carrot Breeding
Delivers Novel Varieties,
Cutting-edge Research for
Vegetable Production
Why Research Matters
Celebrating Organic
Farming in Arizona
16
22
30
PUBLISHER: Jason Scott
Email: jason@jcsmarketinginc.com
EDITOR: Kathy Coatney
ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Cecilia Parsons
Email: article@jcsmarketinginc.com
PRODUCTION: design@jcsmarketinginc.com
Phone: 559.352.4456
Fax: 559.472.3113
Web: www.organicfarmingmag.com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
& INDUSTRY SUPPORT
Anita Brown
Director of Public
Affairs and
Outreach, USDA
Natural Resources
Conservation
California Service
David Haviland
UC Cooperative
Extension, Kern
County
Kiki Hubbard
Organic Seed
Alliance
Vicki Lowell
Communications
Manager, OFRF
Julie Murphree
Arizona Farm Bureau
Outreach Director
UC COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
ADVISORY BOARD
Kevin Day
County Director and
UCCE Pomology Farm
Advisor, Tulare/Kings
County
Steven Koike
Director, TriCal
Diagnostics
Lee Rinehart
NCAT Agriculture
Specialist
Jessica Shade
The Organic Center
Daniel A. Sumner
the Buck Distinguished
Professor of
Agricultural
Economics,UC
Davis, and Director
of the University of
California Agricultural
Issues Center Dustin
Messner, Student
Research Assistant,
Pablo Valdes-
Donoso Post-
Doctoral Research
Fellow
Emily J. Symmes
UCCE IPM Advisor,
Sacramento Valley
Kris Tollerup
UCCE Integrated Pest
Management Advisor,
Parlier, CA
The articles, research, industry updates,
company profiles, and advertisements in this
publication are the professional opinions of
writers and advertisers. Organic Farmer does
not assume any responsibility for the opinions
given in the publication.
June/July 2019
www.organicfarmermag.com
3
Organic Farmers—
Experienced or
Brand New—Are
All Welcome
at NRCS
By ANITA BROWN | Director of Public Affairs
and Outreach, USDA Natural Resources
Conservation Service
Organic farmer John Teixeira (center) poses with a few of the
NRCS conservationists working on his farm. From left to right
is Soil Scientist Luis Alvarez, Resource Conservationist Rob Roy,
John, Resource Inventory Coordinator Sheryl Feit and Biologist
Taylor Fridrich.
ORGANIC FARMER JOHN
Teixeira from Lone Willow
Ranch near Firebaugh, California,
first started working with
conservationists from United States
Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)
Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS) when he was already an experienced
farmer with more than a decade
of experience under his belt and a head
full of ideas he wanted to try.
The experienced—and ever
experimental—Teixeira is on his
seventh contract with NRCS—and
is always looking for new, push-theenvelope
ideas for farming ecologically.
He also appreciates that NRCS can
help him plan and pay for the new
conservation approaches. One of the
five activities Teixeira is currently
pursuing with NRCS is to completely
(or nearly completely) source all his
needed nitrogen on-farm—primarily
by using manure and legumes in cover
crop mixes.
One hundred and fifty miles away on
the Pacific coast near Half Moon Bay,
California, organic farmer John Vars of
Fifth Crow Farm visited with his local
NRCS conservationist, Jim Howard,
even before he planted his first crop.
Vars sought out NRCS expertise
for upfront, planning basics like
pipeline placement, drainage and soils
information, and where best to place a
hedgerow before he began applying for
financial assistance.
There is no wrong time to visit NRCS
for the first time.
The path to the office door may be
highly personal for each farmer, but
NRCS conservationists are happy
to meet farmers where they are—
beginning or experienced—organic,
conventional or transitioning. All are
welcome to access the technical services
that NRCS has provided for over 80
years and the financial services available
through Farm Bill programs.
Here is a brief primer on the available
options:
Conservation Planning
Few of us would build a house without
a blueprint. Building a successful
conservation approach to farming
merits the same comprehensive
forethought. NRCS has a well-respected
9-step planning process that has been
used successfully by tens of thousands
of farmers in the last 80 years. It begins
with a resource inventory and is then
based on the goals of the farmer.
Options are provided and the farmer is
the sole decision maker. The final step is
evaluating the results, tweaking where
needed and repeating the process.
Vars offers this comment regarding the
value of this planning process:
Agronomist Valerie Bullard of the Plant Materials Center (PMC) in Lockeford, California, presents
at one of the many workshops held at the PMC to host demonstrations and dialogue over current
vegetative solutions to conservation challenges in the state. Currently the PMC is working on a
number of trials to find ways to improve soil health and pollinator habitat in the Golden State.
“When you first start farming, you
have ideas of what you want to do to be
sustainable and successful, but you can’t
afford it. When you can afford it, you
may find it hard to go backwards—like
where you want a road you may have
already placed your hedgerow.”
4
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
Teixeira, too, has done significant
conservation planning since beginning
work with NRCS in 2009—first working
with conservation planner Rob Roy,
and later, with Sheryl Feit. Feit says,
“Through the years John’s goals have
changed. The NRCS planning process
gives us the flexibility to continue to
adapt our approach and work with him
on his evolving goals.”
Once goals are established, conservation
practices are selected to answer the
farmer’s particular needs and priorities.
The NRCS has a time-tested catalogue
of well over 100 conservation practices
to call into play, though a given land
use (row crops, orchards, grazing, dairy,
forestry etc.) in a given geographic
location will usually lend itself to a
particular subset of these conservation
options.
In California some of the most popular
conservation practices used by organic
farmers in recent years have included
the following: nutrient management,
cover crops, mulching, irrigation water
management, hedgerow plantings,
conservation cover, crop rotation and
high tunnels.
The conservation practices seek to
address resource concerns targeted
to improve the farm’s soil, water, air,
plants, animal and energy needs.
Both Teixeira and Vars have used
well over a dozen separate practices
including many of those listed above.
Don’t Forget the Critters
Beyond the significant needs of running
a farm, organic regulations also require
that producers maintain or improve
natural resources and wildlife. Both
Teixeira and Vars have worked with
NRCS to do so.
The NRCS
Planning
Process
Make
Decisions
Formulate
Alternatives
Evaluate
Alternatives
Identify
Problems
Inventory
Resources
Determine
Objectives
Implement
the Plan
Evaluate
the Plan
Analyze
Resource
Data
The NRCS Planning Process: NRCS has long relied on a systematic approach to conservation planning
that positions the farmer or rancher as the critical decision maker. The process begins with an inventory
of the natural resources found on the farm/ranch as well as a discussion of the problems to be fixed and
the objectives of the farmer. Conservation practices and priorities are proposed and discussed and the
farmer decides on an approach. The plan is implemented and results are evaluated.
FREE online tutorials
on soil health, produce safety, and more
Recognizing the unique habitat
opportunities on his ranch—which
lies between the San Joaquin River and
the Lone Willow Slough—Teixeira has
planned and used NRCS practices to
make room for fish and wildlife on
his ranch. Does that create a problem?
“Well, they may occasionally get a
chicken that has strayed too far, but
that’s not really a problem,” Teixeira says
philosophically.
Continued on Page 6
How can ATTRA help you?
Trusted technical assistance for your ag challenges
June/July 2019
www.organicfarmermag.com
5
This poster depicts the unique irrigation system that allows Fifth Crow Farm to thrive side-by-side with anadromous fish. The poster is one of 19
created recently by NRCS and collaborator Lexicon of Sustainability to explain many of the ways that NRCS can assist organic farmers. The NRCS
campaign also features eight videos, fact sheets and other web resources. Find it all here: https://go.usa.gov/xmkNQ
Continued from Page 5
Fifth Crow Farm has the unique
challenge of drawing water from Butano
Creek which is also used by steelhead
salmon. To provide for the farm’s
irrigation needs while minimizing
impact on the fish, Vars and NRCS have
collaborated on engineering a system of
pipes, pumps, variable frequency drives,
risers and a storage tank. “This stream
is the lifeblood of our farm,” says Vars.
The unique irrigation system helps
balance the needs of the fish and of the
farmer that both rely on that stream.
Professional Expertise
NRCS employs a diverse cadre of
natural resource professionals who
provide the expertise needed to work
with farmers and ranchers to plan and
apply conservation practices. These
conservationists include agronomists,
rangeland specialists, soil scientists,
foresters, engineers, biologists and
more. Not all of these will be found in
a given field office (there are 54 field
offices in California—typically one per
county) but experts can be drawn upon
as needed to explore a given conservation
dilemma in more depth.
Additionally, NRCS partners with
many resource specialists who can
complement and deepen the expertise
on staff. Resource Conservation
Districts, university extension specialists
and dozens of others collaborate to
create a sort of “localized conservation
internet,” looping in related specialists
in entomology, ornithology, air quality,
conservation easements, environmental
regulations, energy and more.
Financial Assistance
In the real world, the difference between
having lofty ecological goals and applying
them across the landscape often comes
down to money. Farm Bill programs
provide a number of tools to help make
goals reality.
Environmental Quality Incentives
Program (EQIP) and the National
Organic Initiative (NOI)
EQIP is a popular program that shares
with the farmer the cost of applying
selected conservation practices to
the landscape to realize the farmer’s
conservation goals. In recent years
California NRCS has invested
almost $100 million annually using
this program. Typically, EQIP
provides roughly half of the cost
of most practices and is paid as a
reimbursement once the practice has
been implemented and verified. EQIP
is a competitive program (one out
of every two to three applications is
funded on the average) and projects
are ranked for environmental benefits.
Producers interested in organic systems
should realize significant environmental
benefits and thus are often well
positioned to be funded.
In addition to the “general” EQIP
pool, organic and transitioning
farmers have an additional option
available only to them: the organic
subportion of EQIP called the National
Organic Initiative (NOI). Most of the
practices mentioned in this article
can be funded through either general
or organic EQIP. However, since the
organic funds are available only to
organic and transitioning producers,
the competition is often less when
competing in this pool.
In the new 2018 Farm Bill, which rolls
6
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
out in fiscal year 2020, the amount
that farmers can get through NOI has
increased to $140,000 over the life of
the five-year Farm Bill. Furthermore,
the annual cap has been removed so for
large projects, that entire amount could
be used in one year.
Farmers and ranchers can get up to
a maximum of $450,000, through
the life of the 2018 Farm Bill using a
combination of NOI and/or general
EQIP financial assistance.
To summarize, there is more money
available in the larger pool of general
EQIP funds, but there will also be
more competition. Organic farmers are
welcome to apply for either. Nationally,
more than 1500 organic farmers have
received EQIP contracts in the past
three years, representing an Agency
investment of more than $42.6 million.
Transitioning to Organic
An Organic System Plan (OSP) is
completed by those who wish to be
certified organic. NRCS Technical
Service Providers (TSPs) can help
producers develop a Conservation
Activity Plan for Organic Transition
(CAP 138). CAP 138 consists of three
sections: Resource Inventory, Erosion
Control Inventory, and Summary
Record of Planned NRCS Conservation
Practices. The Resource Inventory
section may serve as a portion of the
farmer’s OSP.
Farmers and ranchers should begin
by working with NRCS to develop a
conservation plan for their operation.
Then, a TSP can develop a CAP
138 for transition and producers
can apply for financial assistance to
implement conservation practices
or enhancements. Nearly 1000
transitioning farmers across the nation
have received CAP 138 contracts in the
last three years totaling more than $15.4
million.
Conservation Stewardship
Program (CSP)
John Teixeira–by himself and in
combination with his brothers—has
had four EQIP contracts—both general
and organic. At this point John has a
comprehensive conservation approach
applied on most of his operation. John
is now on his second Conservation
Stewardship Program (CSP) contract.
Farmers like John who already have
applied significant conservation work
on their operations may be ready for
CSP—which plans and pays farmers
to maintain and further enhance
conservation practices on their
operation.
Using John as an example, he
has established a comprehensive
conservation system on his ranch
but wants to continue to find
additional ways to reach a higher
level of stewardship. Using CSP he is
undertaking new approaches—such
as intercropping, sourcing 90 percent
of his nitrogen on-farm, and using a
deep-rooted cover crop to improve
infiltration.
John says that the ideas and insights he
gains through his CSP enhancements
have also given him good ideas for
trying on his conventional acreage that
he farms with his brothers. Currently,
Continued on Page 8
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June/July 2019
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7
Continued from Page 7
he says, he is working on ways to
bring his intercropping approach to
conventional row crops.
Applying for Financial
Assistance
When applying for EQIP, especially
when applying for the first time,
producers should be mindful that
they will need to fill out forms
providing USDA with information
that confirms that they are eligible
to participate in these public-funded
programs. USDA employees can help
with the legal and financial forms
that will make it possible to receive
funding. Most of these forms are not
required for farmers requesting only
conservation planning and technical
assistance.
Special Situations
Most EQIP contracts pay producers
approximately half of the cost of
structures or management. Benefits
for organic producers may be higher
due to the typically greater costs
involved in farming organically.
Additionally, payment rates are
typically higher for those who have
farmed less than 10 years (considered
beginning farmers and ranchers)
and for those with limited financial
resources (defined on a county by
county basis). Beginning farmers
and ranchers who served in the
U.S. Armed Services will receive an
application preference in certain
EQIP and CSP funding pools. Please
inquire with your local NRCS service
center for more information if you
are a military veteran.
Plant Materials Center
NRCS is assisted by special
facilities called Plant Materials
Centers (PMC) that are dedicated
to finding innovative ways to use
plant materials to address resource
concerns such as erosion, pollinator
habitat or better soil health. In
California the PMC in Lockeford
has a robust program that provides
demonstration gardens that are often
the site of workshops and discussion
groups. The PMC is a respected
resource and site for continuing to
find better conservation approaches.
John Teixeira is currently trying to
find a better cover crop approach for
the hot, arid summer conditions in
California’s Central Valley. As is turns
out, that is a key focus for the PMC as
well.
Other USDA Assistance for
Organic Growers
In addition to the many conservation
services organic farmers can find at
NRCS, there are other USDA agencies
and programs that can also offer
important assistance. Two examples
are farm loans and microloans through
the Farm Services Agency and the
cost share assistance that helps pay
for organic certification. In California
the help with the certification fees
are administered by California’s
Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA).
Getting Started
While the internet and other
farmers are always a rich source of
information, the best way to delve
into the conservation opportunities
discussed in this article is to get to
know the conservationists at your
local office. NRCS has 54 offices in
California—typically an office in each
county.
Working with farmers is what NRCS
conservationists love most—and the
relationship is mutually enriching.
“We always love it when John comes
into the office,” says Feit, “he always
challenges us with his new ways of
thinking through a situation.” Jim
Howard who works with John Vars in
Half Moon Bay, couldn’t agree more.
“Farmers in my area are idea machines
and we just love engaging with them to
find solutions for the land,” he says.
The NRCS field office director is called
a District Conservationist and they are
assisted by soil conservationists and/or
a range of specialists. It’s always a good
idea to call ahead to make sure they
have put aside time to discuss your
farm and your concerns. You can find
your local office at https://www.nrcs.
usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/ca/
contact/local/.
Comments about this article? We want
to hear from you. Feel free to email us
at article@jcsmarketinginc.com
8
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
Bio With Bite.
June/July 2019
www.organicfarmermag.com
9
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
organic dairy producers include
higher market prices and growing
market shares. But, to the familiar
challenges of costs and management
constraints, is added a difficult market
outlook for beverage milk products that
have been the mainstay of organic milk
utilization. This article explores these
issues.
About 18 percent of U.S. milk comes
from California. California also
represents about 12 percent of dairy
consumers, including many who buy
organic milk. Organic milk production
and marketing in California exemplifies
the complexity of the outlook for
this segment of the dairy industry
nationally.
On the supply side, the requirement
that organic dairies make substantial
pasture available to their herd is a
limiting factor for expansion of organic
production in the dry San Joaquin
Valley where most California milk
production is located. In that region,
tree, vine, and vegetable crops compete
for land and irrigation water and typical
milking herds have thousands cows.
Organic Dairy:
Economic Opportunities
and Challenges with a
Focus on California
All photos courtesy of Kathy Coatney.
By DANIEL A. SUMNER | the Buck Distinguished Professor of
Agricultural Economics at UC Davis and Director of the University
of California Agricultural Issues Center, DUSTIN R. MESSNER |
Student Research Assistant, PABLO VALDES-DONOSO | Post-
Doctoral Research Fellow
The organic segment has therefore
concentrated in the coastal hills and
valleys north of San Francisco that
are less suited to intensive irrigated
farming. There, high-priced wine grapes
claim much of the suitable cropland,
and the remaining dairy industry has
shifted to organic practices. Let us
examine some of the economic facts
that drive the situation and outlook for
the organic dairy industry.
Comparing Farm Costs and
Returns
We use data from the California
Department of Food and Agriculture
on dairy farm costs and returns for
more than 100 representative dairy
farms across the state. The reports
identified farms by breed of cow, region
and whether they were organic. Table
1 (see page 12) summarizes costs and
returns for a sample of 13 organic farms
in 2017 (the last full year of available
data) compared to a sample of 96
conventional farms. The organic farms
are mostly in the North Coast region
and the conventional farms are mostly
in the San Joaquin Valley. A typical
conventional dairy has thousands of
Continued on Page 12
10
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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Continued from Page 10
cows and that produce about 24,000
pounds of milk per year each. A typical
organic dairy has a few hundred cows
that produce about 16,000 pounds
per year.
Three facts
stand out in
the cost and
returns data:
• First, although even
the organic dairies in
California are large by
national standards, milk
from conventional dairies
comes from farms that
produce about nine
times as much milk as the
organic dairies.
• Second, costs are
much higher on the
organic farms, with the
difference dominated
by feed and labor costs
that are about double per
hundredweight of milk.
If it were feasible to scale up the organic
industry and continue to return an
extra $3/hundredweight, then the dairy
industry would be rapidly converting
to organic. Some of that is happening,
but it is not easy. Three problems
are: (1) organic dairies require much
more management and land per
hundredweight of milk, and thus scale
diseconomies keep organic operations
small; (2) neither the opportunity cost
of operator time and management or
the scarcity of the required pasture
is included in the costs displayed in
Table 1; and (3) the amount of organic
milk that can be sold at prices that
are almost double conventional milk
prices places a limit on the expansion
of organic dairies, even if the land and
management could be found.
We turn to the size of the market next.
Markets for Organic Dairy
Products
Organic milk is mostly sold in beverage
form nationally and in California.
Figure 1 (see page 14) shows that
the organic share of beverage milk
quantity in California has doubled
in the ten years since 2009 from just
over 4 percent of beverage milk sales
(known as Class I products under
federal regulation) to about 8.5 percent.
But this expansion in share masks a
concern. All beverage milk sales have
fallen, so organic milk has gained a
rising share of a shrinking market.
This overall decline in beverage milk
quantities is severe enough that quantity
of organic beverage milk sold fell from
about 54 million gallons in 2013 and
2014 to about 47 million gallons in
2016 and has remained low through
2018 (using data through October
to extrapolate to the 2018 annual
quantity).
The higher farm price, and
considerations in where and how
organic milk is sold, means that retail
price of organic milk is more than
double the retail price of conventional
milk in California. Organic milk is more
than 20 percent of the total expenditure
on beverage milk in California. Within
the beverage milk category, the organic
milk share tends to be about one
percentage point higher for whole milk
(or 2 percent-fat milk) than for low fat
or skim milk—perhaps reflecting the
tendency for school milk to be low fat
and non-organic.
United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) data show
somewhat lower national shares of
organic beverage milk than shares in
California. The national share has was
about 5.5 percent or a little less for 2017,
2018 and the first three months of 2019.
Like California the share of organic
in whole milk is higher—about 6.5
percent.
Future Considerations
The higher prices and rising shares
of organic milk are positives for the
industry. Concerns include the limits of
an economic model that requires high
market prices to offset lower milk per
cow, higher costs of feed, higher labor
costs and diseconomies of size
and scale.
Continued on Page 14
• Third, milk revenue
per hundredweight is so
much higher that the net
return per hundredweight
of milk is more than three
times higher (for the lowprice
year of 2017) on the
organic dairies.
Table 1.
Milk production
(hundredweight)
Costs
Feed
Labor
Herd Replacement
Other costs
Revenue
Revenue- costs
Conventional Milk Organic Milk
($/hundredweight)
600,000
66,000
$15.90 $27.74
$8.61
$16.92
$1.85
$3.80
$1.83
$2.14
$3.60
$4.87
$16.71
$30.84
$0.81
$3.10
12
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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Your Edge – And Ours – Is Knowledge.
© 2019, Trécé Inc., Adair, OK USA • TRECE, PHEROCON and CIDETRAK are registered trademarks of Trécé, Inc., Adair, OK USA • TRE-1383, 5/19
8.50%
6.50%
4.50%
2.50%
Figure 1. Organic Share and Quantity of Beverage Milk in
California (millions of gallons)
Organic as Share of Total
Organic quantity
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
60
50
40
30
20
Continued from Page 12
The higher farm price of organic milk must be supported by
higher consumer willingness to pay and that has been evident for
beverage milk products. One of the challenges for beverage milk
demand has been the expansion in the sales of beverages made
from plant sources, such as soybeans, almonds and many others.
An open question is the degree to which these products tend to
compete for some of the same customers that would otherwise be
drawn to organic milk.
A challenge for growth in the organic dairy industry is how to
raise the willingness of buyers to pay organic prices for such major
dairy products as bulk cheese, whey or dry milk powders that tend
to be used as food ingredients. Overall U.S. dairy production has
grown as beverage milk quantity has declined. It therefore seems
important to expand the demand for organic milk used for other
dairy products, including dairy products used as food ingredients.
Comments about this article? We want to hear from you. Feel free to
email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com
14
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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15
Multispecies Grazing:
Integrating Ecological Processes
and Biodiversity to Promote
Regenerative Agriculture
By LEE RINEHART | NCAT Agriculture Specialist
Cattle and sheep are natural complementary grazers.
Photo courtesy of Linda Coffey, NCAT.
ORGANIC FARMS ARE
based on diversity, from wide
variation in plant species
composition above ground to the
billions of microbes that make up the
soil microbiome. Ensuring diversity
in the pastures we manage fosters
resilience and productivity, and is a
natural application of our fundamental
organic, agrarian values. Producers who
combine perennial pasture, cover crops
in rotation on annual fields, and good
grazing management with high species
diversity will see benefits to soil health
and increased revenue due to reduced
inputs and higher productivity. This
is particularly important for organic
farmers, who apply nature’s design
to make animals and pastures more
resilient and productive.
“The presence of multiple species of
large herbivores is the typical condition
of grassland and savanna ecosystems,”
says John Walker, a range ecologist
who wrote on the subject more than
two decades ago (Multispecies grazing:
The ecological advantage, by John
Walker, 1994). Early in my career I
was taught to plant one or two species
of pasture forages and graze them
continuously with a single livestock
species. This practice is still evident if
you drive around the countryside and
look critically at pastures. Most often
you see a closely grazed landscape
peppered with the mature stalks from
less-palatable plants. Cattle and sheep
that graze continuously easily select
the newest growth and cause selection
pressure that results in the eventual
demise of the best forages. This picture,
however, can change.
There has long been an interest in
grazing multiple species together,
either sequentially or at the same time.
More producers are adding diversity to
their farms, not only by adding diverse
pasture mixes and cover crops, but with
multiple species of livestock. There are
some very good reasons for doing this.
A well-managed farm with abundant
diversity is generally healthier, has
greater carrying capacity, fewer weed
problems, and higher net income.
Multispecies grazing takes full
advantage of biological diversity.
Those farmers who work hard to
increase pasture-plant diversity will
also see an even greater advantage
by adding diversity of livestock to
the mix. In fact, these ideas go hand
in hand. Multispecies grazing works
best, and excels, when a multitude of
forage species make up the pasture
composition. As vegetation of pastures
becomes more diverse, multispecies
grazing tends to improve composition
and utilization.
Multispecies Grazing Increases
Carrying Capacity
This management practice “may
be one of the most biologically and
economically viable systems available
to producers, especially on landscapes
that support heterogeneous plant
communities” (Managing livestock
using animal behavior: Mixed-species
stocking and flerds, by Dean Anderson,
E. L. Fredrickson, and Rick Estell.
Animal, 2012). Studies have shown
that when you add sheep to a cattle
herd, you get 20 to 25 percent greater
productivity and carrying capacity over
cattle alone, and 8 to 9 percent greater
productivity and carrying capacity over
sheep alone (Walker, 1994).
Ecological Resiliency and
Better Pasture Health
Grazing, when controlled and matched
to the pasture resource, is known to
increase pasture health. Diversity
is key here, and just as diversity of
plant species leads to greater soil
health, having diverse animal species
on the landscape adds a multiplier
effect. Proper grazing increases soil
aggregation, enhancing soil structure
and allowing for better water-holding
capacity and nutrient exchange. Grazing
also contributes soil organic matter
and rumen microbes to the soil that
help to increase biodiversity, buffer soil
temperature, escalate nutrient cycling,
and minimize soil compaction and
disturbance.
Because different animal species have
different grazing habits and select
various forages and combinations of
forages, pastures that are grazed with
multiple species have more uniform
defoliation. Defecation patterns affect
nutrient cycling, and whereas cattle
prefer not to graze around their dung,
sheep generally do not have any bias
about foraging near cow patties. Better
forage utilization and uniformity of
grazing contributes greatly to forage
quality and resiliency by keeping forage
growth constant; resetting the plants
to the same stage of growth with each
grazing event and preventing weedy or
unpalatable plants from taking over.
16
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
Vegetation Management
Pastures that have infestations of weeds
or brush can be grazed with species
appropriate to the plants present. This
reduces the ability of any one species
to dominate the landscape. Grazing
managers must understand the growth
habits of weeds and desirable plant
species and know what animals graze
them, in order to target-graze the weeds,
and allow palatable plants enough rest
to recover. This is especially important
where invasive plants are involved. One
species may eat what another will reject
and, by using the correct livestock,
managers can suppress and reduce a
weed problem in a cost-effective and
ecologically responsible way. With
knowledge of plant response to grazing
and timing of grazing events, grazing
managers can alter the landscape to a
healthy, diverse, quality pasture.
Goats can be used to control weeds and brush in diverse pastures. Photo courtesy of Lee
Rinehart, NCAT.
Parasite Control
One of the biggest benefits of
multispecies grazing is its effect on
parasite management. Cattle will
consume parasite larvae such as the
Barber Pole Worm (a sheep and goat
parasite) and because this worm is
incompatible with cattle, the worms will
die. The same thing happens when small
ruminants consume parasites that are
indigenous to cattle. Because of parasite
larval incompatibility between species,
cattle can be grazed after or with small
ruminants to reduce the incidence of
larval infection.
Continued on Page 18
Annual cover crops provide excellent forage while
adding diversity, building soil organic matter,
and feeding soil microbes. Photo courtesy of Lee
Rinehart, NCAT.
June/July 2019
www.organicfarmermag.com
17
A small, portable mineral feeder can be used
with electric netting to isolate sheep and feed
them the appropriate mineral. Photo courtesy of
Dave Scott, NCAT.
Continued from Page 17
Managing forage height is key in
controlling internal parasites. As long
as you keep grazing the top leaves of
the sward, and move the animals before
they graze too low, you can significantly
reduce infection. Also, give the
paddocks a nice long recovery period.
This is not only good for pasture health
and resiliency, it also allows parasites to
die off in the pasture before they can be
consumed by a grazing animal.
Animals can deal with a certain amount
of parasitism, and you’ll never be able to
completely eradicate internal parasites
from your herd or flock. However, an
integrated management system with
combined livestock species can certainly
make a dent in parasite populations.
The key here is maintaining a healthy
herd or flock and fostering natural
immunity through good nutrition,
clean, fresh water, and pasture access.
One of the best methods for controlling
parasitism, in addition to observation
and targeted treatment, is culling and
selection for resistance when breeding
and acquiring new animals.
Diversity of Enterprises/Income
Grazing two or more species together
has been shown to increase animal
production (Walker, 1994). As was
mentioned above, the carrying capacity
is increased when two or more livestock
species are grazed on the same pasture.
This results in higher productivity and
increased cash flow from the greater
production of added enterprises.
Predator Control
Due to their size, small livestock like
Guardian dogs may be an essential part of your
farm if you have small ruminants. Photo courtesy
of NCAT.
sheep and goats are targets for predators
such as coyotes, mountain lions,
wolves, bears, and even neighborhood
dogs. The first line of defense should
be strong, adequate fencing. But,
depending on your location and
predator pressure, fencing may not be
enough to protect your livestock. Sheep
and goats can be better protected by
a combination of adequate fencing,
bonding to larger livestock species (such
as cattle, donkeys, or llamas), and using
guardian dogs.
When small ruminants are bonded to
cattle to form one herd/flock (or, ‘flerd’),
they tend to remain together in a group
that provides safety from predators and
takes less time to manage. Bonding
species together imparts many more
benefits as well. For instance, cattle
fencing can work very well for sheep
when they are bonded to cattle. Grazing
distribution is enhanced as sheep and
goats tend to spread out more evenly as
they graze with cattle, compared with
flocks that are not bonded.
Key Considerations for
Implementing Multispecies
Grazing
Fencing and Working Facilities
Fencing is probably the most critical
and challenging component of
multispecies grazing from a practical
standpoint, and is a crucial question
given the size and behavioral differences
between livestock species. Your fencing
should serve multiple purposes.
Certainly, you’re going to want to keep
your animals off the highway or out of
the neighbor’s garden. But you’ll also be
Two strands of electrified poly-wire can work
well to contain grazing sheep in a paddock.
Photo courtesy of NCAT.
using your fencing as a tool to control
grazing in specific areas for specific
animals.
Your perimeter fencing should be
strong and permanent. Be sure to pay
attention to gates and areas where
terrain changes, or where fallen trees
or stumps are near the fenceline. Goats
have an uncanny ability to squeeze
between gates and posts that otherwise
work well for cattle or sheep.
Next, you’ll be thinking about how
to deal with pasture and paddock
subdivisions. This is the working part
of your fence system that will place the
animals just where you want them and
will help you manage grazing for the
benefit of the livestock and the pasture.
There are so many options out there,
and the first thing to think about is what
you have on hand. Is it appropriate for
multiple species? Polywire or polytape
can work for cattle, sheep, or goats,
especially if you use three strands.
If you want to use polywire or polytape,
train animals to the wire by placing
them in a pen with a hot polywire and
just expose them to it for about a week,
so they can get used to the new idea.
These materials are portable and allow
you to adjust paddock size as resources
and herd size demand. For small
paddocks, electrified netting works
great and is easy to move.
For larger paddocks, some producers
have suggested that woven wire with
two electric wires, offset and at the top,
works best for sheep and goats. A really
Continued on Page 20
18
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19
Continued from Page 18
hot wire fence is sometimes the only
way to deter some predators. A 30- to
50-joule charger is not unwarranted,
because you want to instill fear of the
fence in any predator that encounters
it. Dave Scott, a NCAT agriculture
specialist and sheep rancher in
Montana, recommends that producers
with high predator pressure buy a
charger that is twice the joule rating of
what they initially think they need.
Working Facilities and Shelter
A well-designed handling system
considers the welfare and behavioral
tendencies of the animals, ease of
movement, efficient and safe operation
by handlers, and the overall image of
the livestock industry as seen by the
consumer.
A livestock handling facility should
be constructed to accommodate a
particular class of livestock. Because
of the size differences between cattle
and small ruminants, they cannot both
use the same chutes and restraining
systems. However, if you have a
combined herd of cattle and sheep or
goats, a system could be built to take
care of both species if you have a single
trap or holding pen that would provide
access to two separate chute and
restraint systems; one for the cattle, and
one for the small ruminants.
Livestock require very little in the way
of shelter, but do need to be protected
from wind chill, especially when it’s
cold and raining. Animals use energy to
maintain their body heat, and extremes
in temperature can cause stress,
notably for young animals. For cattle,
windbreaks or a grove of trees or woods
can often provide what they need to get
out of the weather. And, although sheep
and goats don’t require much shelter,
either, it’s important to note that goats
typically don’t like rain. Lambing and
kidding can and should, in most cases,
occur on pasture, where the animals
have access to fresh air and flock
behavior, but young lambs and kids are
very sensitive to wet and cold. For the
safety of young animals, especially in
winter and foul weather, animals can be
brought into a barn prior to parturition
and kept there for several days after
lambing or kidding, until the young
ones gain their footing and are ready for
pasture.
Mineral Supplementation
Grazing different species together can
cause some logistical problems that go
beyond fencing and working facilities
and require producers to think about
new ways of accommodating the needs
of different animals. One of these issues
is mineral supplementation. Cattle
mineral should not be fed to sheep due
to sheep’s lower tolerance of copper.
Stocking-Rate Decisions
The goal in determining a stocking
rate is to find a combination of two or
more livestock species that will produce
more total gain, while maintaining the
integrity of the pasture ecology and
improving the pasture composition.
There’s no hard-and-fast rule for
determining a stocking rate, but as
with single-species systems, it should
be based on empirical observation
of forage production and plant
composition.
Your stocking rate will likely vary from
year to year, and even from season to
season, and will change depending
on temperature, rainfall, pasture
composition, animal growth rates, and
many other factors. Also, remember
that sheep and goat herds grow more
quickly than cattle herds. Within a
few months you can easily go from 50
sheep to 150 sheep, and this will place
added pressure on your pastures. Be
sure to take this increased herd size into
account when you are planning your
grazing.
Stocking rate is dependent on the
available forage resources of the
landscape and the kind of management
employed to ensure pastures are well
rested. If you have adequate, diverse
forages, maintain a short grazing
period, move animals regularly, and
provide adequate pasture rest, you can
increase your stocking rate. Remember:
implement, observe, adapt.
If you are just starting out with
multispecies grazing, it might be best
to stock a little conservatively. This
will allow you to observe and adapt.
Greg Brann, a multispecies grazier
in Tennessee and a retired Natural
Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS) professional, suggests matching
the livestock stocking ratio to the
vegetation that livestock prefer. He’s
found that a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio of sheep to
cattle works well as a starting point.
Pigs can be an excellent addition to a
multispecies grazing operation. They
work well following cattle and sheep,
and can help renovate old, worn-out
pastures. Maintaining adequate ground
cover is a challenge for pastured swine
producers, and, if not managed, pigs
will strip a pasture bare, which has
negative impacts on soil and water
quality. To ensure pasture productivity,
provide a varied pasture mix of diverse
legumes, forbs, and grasses. Stock the
pigs appropriately with around 15 to
20 growing pigs or four to seven sows
per acre and rotate! Make sure there is
adequate time for pasture regrowth.
Multispecies grazing is all about
matching animals to the appropriate
landscape. It’s about having the right
fencing and working facilities for
the species you’re working with.
It’s about managing parasites and
predation and ensuring proper mineral
supplementation. Finally, it’s about
determining an accurate stocking rate
to use the pasture resource efficiently
Photo courtesy of NCAT.
20
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
and sustainably. With these principles
in mind, combining multiple species
on pasture can be successful, profitable,
and fun.
Resources
ATTRA has developed some in-depth
resources and training programs to help
you plan, implement, and monitor your
managed grazing system:
ATTRA's Managed Grazing
Tutorial
https://tutorials.ncat.org/
This course was designed to help
producers manage toward productivity
and resilience. Topics include inventory,
infrastructure, managing the mature
stand, intensifying grazing, stockpiling,
fertility and soil health, and monitoring.
Grazier's One-Stop Resource
Packet
https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/
summaries/summary.php?pub=587
Includes useful planning tools for
managed grazing, including a Clip
and Weigh Forage Yield Calculator,
Grazier's Calculator for matching
forage to animal demand, a Monitoring
Checklist, and a Grazier's Math tipsheet
with useful formulas.
This article has been adapted from
the ATTRA publication Multispecies
Grazing: A Primer on Diversity
(2018), by Lee Rinehart. Download the
publication at https://attra.ncat.org/
attra-pub-summaries/?pub=244
Lee Rinehart has been writing and
educating on sustainable agriculture for
over 20 years. A graduate of Texas A&M
University and an Agriculture Specialist
for NCAT’s ATTRA Sustainable
Agriculture program, his work focuses
on agronomy, livestock, and grazing.
Lee can be reached at 479-587-3474 or
lee@ncat.org.
Comments about this article? We want
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at
article@jcsmarketinginc.com
"
Stocking rate is dependent on
the available forage resoures of
the landscape and the kind of
management employed to
ensure pastures are well rested.
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June/July 2019
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21
Organic Spider
Mite Control in
Deciduous Trees
and Vines
By DAVID HAVILAND |
UC Cooperative
Extension, Kern County
Figure 1. Spider mites are known for the construction of webbing. All photos courtesy of D. Haviland.
MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS
for spider mites in tree and
vine crops are a classic opportunity
to implement integrated pest
management (IPM) practices. It requires
proper identification of the mites,
monitoring programs that include both
pests and natural enemies, treatment
thresholds that consider biological
control, and in some cases miticides.
When IPM practices are in alignment,
biological control is often sufficient to
provide season-long mite control. When
chemical controls are needed, choice
of a selective miticide that has minimal
impact on natural enemies helps maintain
the integrity of an organic production
system.
Proper Identification
For deciduous trees and vines, the most
significant spider mite problems are
caused by Pacific and two-spotted spider
mites. These two species have a nearly
identical appearance in the field. During
the winter they are orange in color while
adult females hide in protected areas,
such as in leaf litter or under loose bark.
During the spring, typically in March
or April, they move up the tree or vine
and take on an amber color after feeding
on green leaf tissues. Spider mites are
generally slow moving and are often
found in association with webbing
(Figure 1). They lay spherical eggs
within this same webbing. Both species
have two spots on their abdomen, for
which the two-spotted spider mite gets
its name.
Spider mites need to be distinguished
from predatory mites, also called
phytoseiids, which are an important
natural enemy of spider mites.
Phytoseiids are typically amber to clearcolored,
have a tear-drop shape, and are
shiny due to a lack of hairs. They do not
produce webbing. Phytoseiids do not
have spots on their abdomen, produce
conical eggs that are often found within
spider mite webbing, and are often seen
moving quickly on the leaf surface.
Monitoring and Treatment
Thresholds
Monitoring programs for most tree
and vine crops can be found at the
University of California Statewide IPM
Program web site (http://ucipm.ucanr.
edu) by clicking on ‘Agricultural Pests’,
then selecting a crop, and then clicking
‘webspinning spider mites’. In most
commodities, monitoring efforts begin
by evaluating individual leaves or leaflets
for the presence or absence of spider
mites and natural enemies. This should
be done in multiple locations within an
orchard or vineyard, and can typically
be done rather quickly, especially
considering that counting individual
mites or natural enemies is not required.
These data are used to calculate a
percentage of leaves with the presence
of spider mites and natural enemies
that can be compared to published
guidelines regarding the need to treat
for each commodity (Table 1, see page
24). Pest Control Advisors (PCAs) are
encouraged to keep written records
of their monitoring efforts, such as on
the forms linked in Table 1, to justify
their treatments. These records are also
beneficial when looking at multi-week
trends in mite populations. For example,
should an almond PCA be concerned
if 20 percent of almond leaves are
infested? The answer depends on the
context. If multi-week sampling shows
Continued on Page 24
22
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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June/July 2019
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23
Table 1. University of California Statewide IPM Program
monitoring forms and treatment thresholds.
Almond
Treat if 25 percent of leaves have mites and there are no natural
enemies, or if one third of the leaves have mites and natural enemies
are present. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C003/almonds-mites.pdf
Walnut
Treatment decisions are made by sampling leaflets in the top and
bottoms of the trees. Avoid treatments if predators are present on at
least half of the leaves. If predators are present on fewer than 10
percent of infested leaves, spray when 10 percent of the leaves have
spider mites. If predators are present on more than 10 percent of
infested leaves, spray when 20 percent of leaves have spider mites.
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C881/walnut-mitemon.pdf
Grape
Treatment decisions are determined by comparing mite injury levels
(light, moderate, heavy, or very heavy) to predator-prey ratios (predators
are rare, occasional, frequent, or numerous).
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C302/grape-leafhoprmite.pdf
Use presence-absence sampling to determine a mite rating (low,
low/moderate, moderate, moderate/high, high) that is compared to a
predator rating (low, moderate or high). A treatment should be made if
there is a low/moderate mite rating with a low/moderate predator
rating, or a moderate/high mite rating with moderate/high predator
rating. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C602/peach-mitesampling.pdf
Continued from Page 22
Peaches, Nectarines and Plums
Cherries
Treat if 25 percent or leaves have mites and there are no natural
enemies, or if one third of the leaves have mites and natural enemies
are present. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C003/almonds-mites.pdf
that it was only 5 percent last week,
intervention is likely required. If it was
50 percent last week, then 20 percent
infested leaves this week indicates that
natural enemies will likely be adequate
to provide control.
Biological Control
Natural enemies play a key role in
regulating spider mite populations in
all commodities, especially in ones
grown organically. It is for that reason
that monitoring for natural enemies
is critical when making the treatment
decisions that were previously described.
The diversity of natural enemies changes
according to commodity, geography,
regional diversity of cropped and noncropped
areas, and history of pesticide
use.
Phytoseiids—There are approximately
70 different species of predatory
mites in California. In a statewide
survey led by Dr. Grafton-Cardwell,
a team of extension farm advisors
and specialists from the University of
California documented that the species
differ among crops, different climatic
regions of the state, and at differ times
of the year. Some phytoseiids, such as
Galendromus occidentalis, are excellent
predators of spider mites, while other
species, such as many in the genus
Euseius, prefer to feed on pollen.
Regardless of the exact species and
feeding preferences, all predatory mites
are known to benefit biological control
programs. Growers should monitor
for them and protect them if present.
Several species that are important in
trees and vines, such as Galendromus
occidentalis and Neoseiulus californicus,
can be purchased from commercial
insectaries and released to augment
natural populations, particularly in
the spring.
Six-spotted thrips—Over the past decade
sixspotted thrips has become the most
important mite predator in California
almonds, and has been known as an
excellent mite predator in stone fruit for
several decades. Sixspotted thrips get
their name from spots on the wings of
the adults (Figure 2, see page 25). They
are voracious feeders and exclusively eat
mites and mite eggs, with the exception
that they will also eat each other when
their preferred food is scarce. They
thrive in hot, dry conditions and are
very good at navigating within spider
mite webbing.
Over the past few years, yellow sticky
cards have been shown to be the
preferred way to monitor for sixspotted
thrips. The most effective is the small
yellow strip trap (3 inch x 5 inch)
that can be purchased through Great
Lakes IPM (Figure 3, see page 25).
Cards can be hung from a tree branch
using a binder clip and large paper clip
near the locations of other traps, such
as pheromone or egg traps for navel
orangeworm, peach twig borer, codling
moth or oriental fruit moth. Traps can
be checked weekly to determine the
number of sixspotted thrips present
(Figure 4, see page 25). Data from
almonds show that if one thrips is found
per card per week, there is no need to
use miticides in April or May. In June
24
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
and July, if there are three thrips per
card per week there is a 50 percent
chance that mites will be the same or
lower within 14 days. If six thrips are
found per week there is a 72.7 percent
chance mites will decrease within
seven days, and 96.6 percent chance
they will crash within two weeks.
Mite destroyer beetles—Small black
ladybugs, called mite destroyer
beetles, are commonly found in
orchards with spider mites (Figure
5). This beetle feeds exclusively on
mites. Advantages of this species
are that they eat many mites, and
live a long time. Disadvantages are
that they develop slowly and do not
often appear until very late in the
season, long after they were needed.
For this reason, it is important to
observe and protect this species, but
probably not wise to overly rely on it
for mite control, especially during the
spring and early summer when mite
management is
most critical.
Figure 2. Sixspotted thrips get their name from the spots on wings of the adult.
Other predators—There are several
other species of insects that feed
on spider mites. Some of the most
common are minute pirate bugs and
green and brown lacewings (Figure
5). These species are generalists
and also feed on scales, mealybugs,
aphids, and other pests in trees and
vines. These generalists have an
advantage that they can survive on
many different foods while mites are
absent and be ready to eat the mites
when they appear. Conserving these
beneficials is of great importance in
an organic system.
Cultural Controls
Spider mites respond directly to plant
stress by increasing their populations.
This can be stress due to water, such
as insufficient irrigation, that is either
accidental or done intentionally (such
as deficit irrigation practices used
to improve wine grape quality or to
synchronize hull split in almonds). It
can also be caused by poor nutrition
programs, excessive heat, root
systems damaged by nematodes or
disease, or even a heavy crop load.
Dust also promotes spider mites. It
Figure 3. Yellow sticky trap for sixspotted thrips.
Figure 4. Sixspotted thrips on a sticky trap.
Continued on Page 26
Figure 5. Larval stage of a green lacewing (top) and adult spider mite destroyer beetle (bottom).
June/July 2019
www.organicfarmermag.com
25
Mites per leaf
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
Figure 6. Evaluation of three oil-based miticides against Pacific
spider mite in almonds, Kern County, 2018.
4
0
4DAT 7DAT 14DAT
21 DAT 27DAT 33DAT
Biomite Cinnerate TetraCURB 415 Oil Water Untreated
Miticide,
Insecticide,
Fungicide
• Fast, high efficacy results
• Powdery mildew, botrytis, rust
– knockdown & curative
• Mites, controls all life stages
and eggs
• Scale, mealy bug, aphid
and more
• Safe on beneficial predators
• Multi-site activity – no known
resistance
• Tank mix compatible with sulfur
• Excellent crop safety
Continued from Page 25
is for that reason that many growers
are adamant about adherence to speed
limit signs on the farm. Growers that
limit dust in their trees and vines, have
excellent irrigation and fertilization
practices, and are good at managing
nematodes and diseases, typically have
less problems with spider mites.
Miticides
There are occasions where biological
and cultural controls are insufficient to
provide adequate spider mite control.
In this case, when thresholds dictate the
necessity, miticides can be used. Most
of the miticides available to organic
farmers are oil-based, with many
containing plant-based oil extracts
such as clove oil, rosemary oil, garlic
oil, or extracts from plants such as
chenopodium. Oil-based pesticides
kill mites by causing them to suffocate,
with some products also having other
toxic effects. During 2018 we evaluated
three examples of oil-based miticides,
including Biomite, TetraCurb and
Cinnerate (Figure 6). While not as
effective as traditional miticides used
in commercially-grown fields, all
three products did cause significant
reductions in the number of spider
mites to levels that were comparable to a
1 percent 415 oil conventional standard.
These results are consistent with the
performance of several OMRI (Organic
Materials Review Institute)-approved,
oil-based plant extract or botanical oil
miticides that we have tested over the
past several years.
For More Information
Growers and PCAs in search of methods
to control spider mites or other pests
should consult the UC Integrated
Pest Management web site at http://
ucipm.ucanr.edu. Guidelines for the
management of each pest contain
information specific to the biological
and other control methods available to
organic farmers.
0-Hour REI
0-Day PHI
No MRL
www.sym-agro.com
541-607-5097 Info@Sym-Agro.com
Disclaimer: Discussion of research
findings necessitates using trade names.
This does not constitute product
endorsement, nor does it suggest
products not listed would not be suitable
for use.
Comments about this article? We want
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at
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Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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27
A NEW TOOL MAKES IT EASY FOR
ORGANIC FARMERS TO FOLLOW THE
NOP GUIDANCE ON NATURAL
RESOURCES AND BIODIVERSITY
CONSERVATION
By JESSICA SHADE | The Organic Center
All photos courtesy of John Quinn.
THE CONCEPT OF HEALTHY
farms brings to mind fertile soils,
clean water, and abundant wildlife.
These amenities or ecosystem services
were at one time taken for granted, but
are now increasingly in the news and
scientific literature, as we recognize that
many are being degraded.
Biologically Diverse
Agricultural Ecosystems
Organic farmers rely on biologically
diverse agricultural ecosystems to
maintain resilient farms in the absence
of synthetic chemicals. Services
provided by healthy agricultural systems
include the production of food, fiber,
and fuel, biological control, pollination,
biodiversity conservation, aesthetic
landscapes, carbon sequestration,
climate control, purification of air and
water, production of high quality soil,
flood control, and breakdown of waste
into nutrients. Though ecosystem
services are provided free of charge,
their estimated global value exceeds
$33 trillion dollars per year. Beneficial
species such as insects and birds, for
example, provide an estimated $4.5
billion in biological pest control and
$3.1 billion in pollination services
annually. These ecosystem services also
reduce the need for external inputs
and increase yields—improving profits
and sustainability. Furthermore, such
practices aid local conservation efforts.
In 2016 the National Organic Program
(NOP) published its Guidance on
Natural Resources and Biodiversity
Conservation, a direct response to the
need for supporting on-farm ecosystem
services through organic agriculture.
Unfortunately, the guidances provided
are vague, placing the burden of
designing and implementing technical
plans on the farmer. This task is
complicated by the fact that variation
in farm size, type, and geographic
location all influence the feasibility and
effectiveness of biodiversity-friendly
farming techniques making a “one-size
fits all” conservation recommendation
impossible.
Research continues to identify
techniques and specific on-farm
best practices that will result in a
biodiversity increase on farm systems,
but translation of this information
for farmers remains limited, as does
on-farm implementation. These
shortcomings continue despite the
benefits that can be gained by
organic farmers.
Compliance Tool
To address this, The Organic Center and
Dr. John Quinn of Furman University
have collaborated to develop a NOP
28
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
Four management goals:
• PLANNING
• MANAGEMENT
• RESTORATION
• PRESERVATION
Strip Cropping.
Natural Resources and Biodiversity Conservation
Guidance Compliance Tool, which provides a farmerfriendly
means of examining biodiversity with an
interactive front-end interface that includes the mandates
released by the National Organic Program in order to
aid farmers in technical decisions to increase on-farm
biodiversity and comply with the new guidance.
The tool can be accessed here, and details ways that
farmers can find and measure biodiversity on their fields.
For example, diversity can be measured as the number
of livestock breeds on a farm, the number of crop species
planted in a field, the presence of unique wildlife in a
pasture, or habitat patches across the farm. As a complete
biodiversity inventory is not practical for a farm, suitable
indicators are needed. The tool suggests indicators for
general, crop, and livestock Organic System Plans for each
of the following four management goals:
• Planning
• Management
• Restoration
• Preservation
In addition, to guide standardized reporting as part of
annual United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
NOP certification, the tool can be used to generate a
formal report.
Lastly, the tool is designed to encourage farmers to set
annual biodiversity conservation targets and follow a
more formal land use planning process. Thus for each
category, farmers are asked to choose the best indicator
for their farm, the current values that they observe on the
farm, and where they would like to see their farm change
to address each biodiversity indicator in the next two to
three years.
Recognizing the importance of ecosystem services to
human well-being is an essential first step to sustaining
healthy ecosystems now and for the future, and it is
essential to ensure that the broad array of services is
part of the decision-making process. The NOP Natural
Resources and Biodiversity Conservation Guidance
Compliance Tool seeks to improve how decisions
are made by providing a cohesive way for farmers
and certifiers to track on-farm biodiversity in a way
that makes it easy to follow the Guidance on Natural
Resources and Biodiversity Conservation.
Comments about this article? We want to hear from you.
Feel free to email us at article@jcsmarketinginc.com
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June/July 2019
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29
Organic Carrot Breeding
Delivers Novel Varieties,
Cutting-edge Research for
Vegetable Production
By KIKI HUBBARD | Organic Seed Alliance
All photos courtesy of Organic Seed Alliance.
THE U.S. ORGANIC INDUSTRY
continues to grow, with sales of
organic food reaching $47.9 billion
in 2018 and the number of organic
farms estimated at over 14,200. Organic
carrots increasingly make up a larger
share of overall carrot production—14
percent of the estimated 100,000 acres
of carrots grown in the U.S. are certified
organic (compared to three percent of
total vegetables grown organically).
Growing carrots organically isn’t easy,
however, given the extensiveness of
major diseases and pests, and the cost
of managing weeds. More than 80
percent of U.S. carrot acreage is infested
with one or more of the most common
pests or diseases: root-knot nematodes,
Alternaria leaf blight, and other foliar
and storage diseases, such as cavity spot.
The future of organic carrots therefore
relies on the development of effective,
non-chemical methods for addressing
these challenges, including managing
weeds in this slow-to-establish crop.
Breeding a Key Factor
“Organic farming takes a whole-systems
approach to addressing plant nutrition
and challenging weeds, diseases, and
pests,” says Micaela Colley, program
director for Organic Seed Alliance. “In
important ways, organic growers rely
on the genetic characteristics of the
seed they plant even more than other
growers, since most pesticides and
fertilizers are not allowed under organic
regulations.”
“That’s where plant breeding comes in,”
Colley adds.
Seed provides growers the genetic tools
to confront day-to-day challenges in
the field, and breeding plants in the
environment of their intended use—in
this case, under organic conditions—
can yield many benefits. Enter the
Carrot Improvement for Organic
Agriculture (CIOA) project, a multiregional
plant breeding collaboration
between the United States Department
of Agriculture’s (USDA)/Agriculture
Research Service (ARS), University of
Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University,
University of California-Riverside,
Organic Seed Alliance, and Washington
State University. It is the first publicly
funded organic carrot breeding project
in the U.S., and the USDA’s Organic
Research and Extension Initiative
(OREI) grant program recently awarded
the project a second round of fouryear
funding—and for good reason.
The project’s successes thus far are
noteworthy.
Dr. Philipp Simon is the coordinator of
CIOA and has been breeding carrots
for 40 years. He holds a joint position
with USDA ARS and the University
of Wisconsin-Madison’s Horticulture
Department. Simon has learned a lot
in the last decade about the needs
of organic carrot growers and how
CIOA can turn their production
challenges into breeding opportunities.
To that end, CIOA’s main goal is to
develop orange and novel colored
carrots with improved disease and
nematode resistance, improved weed
competitiveness, and better nutrition
and flavor. That’s quite the genetic
package, but progress toward releasing
new varieties has been efficient—and
relatively quick—thanks to the project’s
variety trial network that expands
across the U.S.
Variety Trials
In 2018, CIOA variety trial sites were
located in California, Hawaii, Indiana,
Maine, Washington, Wisconsin,
Vermont, and Virginia. Each site
tested a different mix of 34 promising
advanced breeding populations (these
are varieties that are nearly uniform
enough to release commercially).
Simon is especially excited to see more
evidence that the most important
traits are “fixed.” This means that from
general appearance to disease resistance
to flavor, CIOA partners are finding
that the varieties in development are
performing relatively similar across trial
locations.
“From a breeding standpoint, the
process of putting together the right
combination of traits and then having
them reliably expressed across regions is
so important,” Simon explains. “CIOA’s
extensive trialing network is providing
us more confidence that certain traits
will express in varying environments,
allowing us to accurately report just
how well the overall varieties perform
in different regions across the U.S.”
Simon says that two traits in particular
are worth noting: top size and
nematode resistance. Research shows
that carrots with bigger tops help
suppress weeds, a costly production
challenge for all carrot growers, not
just organic. CIOA breeders have had
success in incorporating this trait into
breeding lines to support better weed
competition.
CIOA is also having success in breeding
orange and novel colored carrots that
demonstrate resistance to the two major
30
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
species of root knot nematodes, tiny
roundworms not visible to the naked
eye. Nematodes live in soil and feed on
plants, leading to malformed, stubby,
and hairy roots, and tougher skin and
lower yield. Furthermore, growers
who aren’t organic are losing access to
chemical fumigant and spray controls,
making breeding for resistance that
much more important to the entire
industry.
Emerging Science
CIOA’s research is contributing to
emerging science regarding beneficial
microbe associations with crops as well.
Plants (including carrots) associate with
a diverse assemblage of microbes living
on the surface and within plant tissues,
which is now commonly called the plant
microbiome. Some of these microbes
have the potential to help plants acquire
nutrients and withstand biotic and
abiotic stress, so identifying factors that
affect their recruitment and survival is
important to optimizing plant growth.
CIOA partner Dr. Lori Hoagland and
her research team at Purdue University
have determined that a carrot’s genotype
plays a small, though significant, role
in shaping these beneficial endophyte
communities, indicating it may be
possible to select varieties that are more
apt to recruit them from soil. Other
studies are underway to determine if
researchers can identify differences in
carrot genotypes in how they interact
with soil microbes to facilitate organic
matter decomposition, which could
be important for managing organic
nutrients.
Collaboration
The CIOA project team takes a
participatory approach to plant
breeding, where farmers, formal plant
breeders, and members of the seed and
food industry collaborate on setting
project priorities and evaluating the
results. Evaluations have also closely
involved consumers of organic carrots
to ensure that breeding projects not
only meet the needs of growers with
traits like disease-resistance, but
also meet the expectations of the
market. Not surprisingly, flavor and
nutritional content are of top priority
to consumers of organic carrots. CIOA
hosted seven variety tastings in 2017
and 2018 to gather feedback on their
projects from consumers, focusing on
flavor, texture, color,
and appearance. This
feedback is evaluated and
then informs breeding
decisions moving
forward.
Novel Colored
Carrots
Novel colored carrots—
yellow, red, and purple—
are increasingly popular
among consumers and
chefs, yet they’re in
need of serious breeding
attention. Much of the colored carrot
germplasm collection hasn’t been
improved for, or even tested in, organic
systems. One exciting finding is that
within this collection is the expression
of important traits, including large tops,
bolt resistance, and vigorous seedling
growth. CIOA breeders are improving
this material to also include disease and
pest resistance characteristics as well as
good flavor and nutritional value. For
example, breeders are testing CIOA
carrots for their level of carotenoids
and anthocyanins (both are naturally
occurring pigments that offer health
benefits), among other nutritional
elements.
Continued on Page 32
June/July 2019
www.organicfarmermag.com
31
Micaela Colley is program director for Organic
Seed Alliance, a partner in CIOA. In this photo
Colley is reviewing carrot variety trials in El
Centro, California.
The Carrot Improvement for Organic Agriculture
(CIOA) project is coordinated by, Dr. Philipp
Simon with USDA-ARS and UW-Madison. Here
is Dr. Simon harvesting carrot trials in El Centro,
California.
The Carrot Improvement for Organic Agriculture
(CIOA) project will soon release new colored
carrot varieties that were bred under organic
farming conditions. Pictured here are carrots in a
variety trial conducted in El Centro, California.
Continued from Page 31
The CIOA project takes a classical
approach to carrot breeding, starting
with intercrosses to combine traits
from two breeding stocks in one
offspring population. So, for example,
intercrossing breeding stock with good
flavor and an unrelated nematode
resistant carrot, to develop a new
breeding line with both good flavor and
nematode resistance. As CIOA breeders
develop DNA markers to track genes
controlling these traits in carrots, the 5
to 10 year process of combining traits
will be be reduced. That is good news
because carrot growers and consumers
are interested in improvements for
many traits.
Challenges
Simon says one challenge the project
has encountered is finding suitable
carrots for the Southeast region, where
the subtropical climate proves difficult
for production. But trials in Virginia,
and in the tropical climate of Hawaii,
have provided promising leads on
which material is worth pursuing as
part of CIOA’s breeding work. They
hope to identify even more material in
2019 to help meet this need.
New Releases
For now, CIOA is poised to release
several varieties adapted across
geographical regions in the U.S. Project
partners plan to release at least half
a dozen varieties within the next two
years, including a purple-orange carrot
and some red varieties. Reds are of
special interest to organic growers, who
report having limited options that have
good flavor.
CIOA has already released some
breeding lines with exceptional
nematode resistance to other
breeders, including a carrot breeding
collaborative in British Columbia, as
well as to the organic seed industry.
These lines support the breeding
work of others, resulting in even
more improved varieties entering the
marketplace. CIOA’s intent is for the
products of their work to remain in
the public domain: free of intellectual
property rights that restrict the ability of
farmers and breeders to freely operate.
CIOA believes it’s important that
everyone have continued access to use
and further develop these new varieties
and breeding lines that were supported
through public funding.
CIOA partners also hope new varieties
coming out of their project will be
produced organically and successfully
commercialized to help organic
operations meet the requirement to use
certified organic seed when available.
Although gaps remain in the organic
seed supply, availability in organic seed
has expanded tremendously over the
last 15 years. Organic plant breeding has
played an important role in this growth
to ensure that more diverse organic
seed options are available—and it will
continue to play a meaningful role.
2018 Farm Bill
Congress recently passed the 2018
Farm Bill, which more than doubles the
amount of research funding available
to the USDA’s OREI program, CIOA’s
funding source. By 2023, $50 million
will be available each year to support
research that benefits existing organic
growers as well as transitioning growers
who face a steep learning curve when
adopting organic practices. Because
organic research often focuses on soil
health and alternative pest and disease
management, the results benefit all
farmers—not just organic.
“One of the long-term impacts of
CIOA—and of publicly funded organic
research in general—is that graduate
students working on this project
are developing expertise in organic
systems,” says Colley. “They represent
the next generation of plant breeders
and agricultural researchers. And the
demand for and interest in organic
farming is only growing.”
This article first appeared in Carrot
Country.
Comments about this article? We want
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at
article@jcsmarketinginc.com
32
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
June/July 2019
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33
WHY RESEARCH MATTERS
By VICKI LOWELL | Communications Manager, OFRF
prosperity of organic farming. While
modest in size, OFRF grants have played
a crucial role in advancing the careers
of young scientists, many of whom have
subsequently advanced to influential
research, teaching, and public-service
careers in organic agriculture.
ORGANIC FARMING IS A
more knowledge- and sciencebased
way of doing things. For
example, you need to understand the
life cycles and biological interactions of
pests and you need to know how soil
works. It’s a completely different system
than non-organic farming—that’s
why research focused on organic is so
critical.
The goal of the Organic Farming
Research Foundation (OFRF), a nonprofit
organization founded in 1990, is
to advance organic agriculture through
scientific research. As a champion of
organic farmers across the U.S., we
work to foster the improvement and
widespread adoption of organic farming
systems by cultivating organic research,
education, and federal policies that bring
more farmers and acreage into organic
production. Through these efforts, we
are working to create a more resilient
and sustainable agricultural system that
values healthy environments and healthy
people.
So much has changed since we began
nearly thirty years ago. Back then,
OFRF's Soil Health and Organic Farming series includes
eight guidebooks and webinars on best organic practices for
organic farming research
was not a well-studied field,
and the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) was more than a
decade away from certifying organically
grown products. Here we are today
with a Farm Bill that makes significant
investments in organic agriculture—
including $395 million for organic
research and education over the next ten
years. This increase in federal funding for
organic research makes OFRF’s support
of innovative work at the early stages
more critical than ever. Our seed grants
enable researchers to collect the data
they need to leverage much larger federal
funding to continue to work at a larger
scale.
About Our Research Program
OFRF regularly surveys organic farmers
about their experiences, challenges, and
information needs, using that feedback
to determine research funding priorities.
The proposals we fund are evaluated for
both their scientific merit and ability
to address these farmer priorities. We
require all research be conducted on
certified organic farmland.
Close collaboration with
farmers as research directors
and participants is a hallmark
of our program as this tends
to ground the work in the
real-world challenges facing
producers. Farmer involvement
also helps ensure results
that can be quickly adopted;
field days and other types of
outreach are also important
factors when we evaluate
proposals.
To date, OFRF has invested
over $3 million in 344 research
grants. Overall, OFRF grant
funding has advanced scientific
knowledge and improved
the practices, ecological
sustainability, and economic
In April, we announced the first of five
grants OFRF will award this year, funded
in part by a match from the Foundation
for Food and Agriculture Research
(FFAR), and aimed at funding research
related to improving soil health and
reducing the negative environmental
impacts commonly associated with
agriculture.
The grant provides funding to a team of
researchers at Montana State University
led by Dr. Jed Eberly to evaluate the
effects of seeding rates on lentil yields
and competition. This project is
important to farmers in the Northern
Great Plains, where lentils are used
for diversifying wheat-based cropping
systems, and are one of several pulse
crops (legumes such as dried beans,
chickpeas, lentils, and peas harvested
solely for dry seed) used to promote
biodiversity, improve soil health, and
generate income.
Details on all of our 2019 grants will
be announced soon. Sign up for our
newsletter to hear about the innovative
work we’ll be funding this year.
Outreach and Education
Our research grant program is one part
of OFRF’s three-pronged approach to
supporting the success of organic farmers
and ranchers. Providing educational
resources is also an important part of
our mission. Our recent Soil Health and
Organic Farming series of guidebooks
and webinars provides an analysis of
decades of research related to building
soil health and organizes it by topic for
greater accessibility and ease-of-use.
The overwhelming response to the series
surprised even us, revealing an explicit
need for more science-backed education
on best organic and sustainable practices
for building soil health. The guidebooks
have been downloaded over 16,000 times
and the webinars have been viewed more
than 6,000 times. Topics range from
cover cropping to conservation tillage,
and all of the guides are available for free
at ofrf.org.
building soil health. Continued on Page 36
34
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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Continued from Page 34
Another important vehicle for sharing
research is OFRF’s Organic Agriculture
Research Forum, an annual event that
takes place in conjunction with major
farming conferences across the U.S. Most
recently, we were in Portland, Oregon at
Organicology with a full day of research
presentations from across all disciplines
related to organic farming and food
systems. A poster session immediately
following the presentations added to the
breadth of topics presented throughout
the day. Jim Myers, a Professor of
Vegetable Breeding and Genetics at
Oregon State University, summed it up
best. “I really like the multi-disciplinary
approach and format. It allowed me to
catch up on a lot of areas.”
On the “Hill”
Our third core area is in policy, where
we advocate for federal programs and
policies that support the unique needs
of organic agriculture, working to
ensure the voices of organic farmers and
ranchers are heard in Washington, DC.
In 2002, OFRF was instrumental in
securing the first dedicated USDA
funding for organic agriculture of $3
million annually. In the 2008 Farm Bill,
OFRF worked to secure $78 million for
organic research, a historic five-fold
increase from the $15 million allocated in
the expiring 2002 legislation. Now in the
2018 Farm Bill, we can proudly say that
USDA’s funding for organic agriculture
research became permanent, steadily
increasing to $50 million annually by
2023. The bill continues to support the
National Organic Certification Cost
Share Program, provides increased
funding and enforcement authority for
the National Organic Program, and
supports the vital Organic Market and
Production Data Initiative.
The bill also makes important changes
to conservation programs that support
organic agriculture. The Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
organic initiative had a restrictive
funding cap that has been raised, and
the Conservation Stewardship Program
(CSP) will provide program funds
to states for the support of organic
production and transition to organic
agriculture. This bill also encourages
cover cropping, resource-conserving
crop rotation, and advanced grazing
systems, which are important tools
for organic farmers and ranchers.
Additionally, the bill makes important
policy improvements to support organic
crop insurance education, promotion of
organic products, and allows for states to
mediate farm disputes impacting organic
production.
While it is exciting to see this increased
level of support for organic farming
and organic research in the Farm Bill,
its passage is just the first step. OFRF
will be working to inform this increased
investment by working to ensure future
research and programs are relevant and
responsive to the top challenges facing
organic producers and that education
and resources are broadly disseminated.
Because we all know that farmers and
ranchers have a major stake in curbing
further climate change—we need to
address the barriers to transition and
scaling up.
OFRF puts farmers first—we do not
charge an annual membership fee and
all of our resources are available for free.
Sign up for our newsletter at ofrf.org to
get the latest news.
Comments about this article? We want
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at
article@jcsmarketinginc.com
Graduate student,
Tim Jacobs, explains
OFRF-funded research
on biosolarization at
California Polytechnic
State University, San Luis
Obispo, California. This
is a technique organic
farmers can implement to
control weeds, pathogens,
and nematodes. Photo
shows bare soil where
biosolarization was
used and weeds where
biosolarization was not
used. Photo courtesy of
Vicki Lowell.
36
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
June/July 2019
www.organicfarmermag.com
37
Aerial show of McClendon’s Select farm.
Celebrating Organic
Farming in Arizona
By JULIE MURPHREE | Arizona Farm Bureau Outreach Director
HIGHLIGHTING THE MOST
available figures from the United
States Department of Agriculture’s
National Agricultural Statistics
Service (USDA/NASS), in 2016, the
United States has 14,217 certified organic
farms that produced $7.6 billion
in certified organic products. Of those
14,000 certified U.S. organic farms,
Arizona had 38 of them.
Sound like small numbers for this
desert state? Maybe. But when you
consider that one of the largest certified
USDA Organic farms is in Arizona
(Duncan Family Farms) and that we’re
planting and harvesting 365 days out of
the year, this southwest state does pretty
darn well with the organic farming
effort. And, it’s not over yet. Wait
until USDA/NASS releases their latest
certified organic numbers.
Of those 38 certified organic farms in
Arizona, $117.8 million in certified
organic products was recorded by
NASS. Of the 33,183 acres of certified
land in Arizona, 27,063 acres were
cropland and 6,120 acres were
38
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
pastureland or rangeland. The top two
certified commodities sold in Arizona,
according to NASS, were spinach with
sales valued at $24.7 million and lettuce
with sales valued at $18.8 million.
Another caveat to these numbers,
USDA/NASS isn’t counting those
farms adhering to most of the organic
practices but simply are not certified.
So, our numbers could be much larger.
These numbers mean something, but
the real story to dig in on is down on
the farm.
Organic Farming Came
Naturally to Arizona
Recently interviewing Mark Schnepf,
owner of Schnepf Farms in Queen
Creek, Arizona, he said, “We have a
mini-Sonoma Valley feel going on
here.” He was referring to the cluster of
U-pick, agritainment farms clustered all
over Arizona.
Their main crop is their organic peach
orchard that provides a u-pick setting
during harvest season. “We grow eight
different varieties at the farm,” Schnepf
explains. “What I consider to be the two
best include Early Grand and Florida
Prince. Peach trees can get up to 15 feet
tall if you let them. But we never let
a tree get that tall to ensure a fruitful
u-pick experience. We trim from the
time our trees are little and we shape
our trees so that ladders are not needed
by the public. Ultimately trimming the
peach trees so they’re low to the ground
and you can reach all the peaches by
just standing on the ground and picking
the fruit.”
Peaches from Schnepf Farms have been
named and featured in Wine Spectator
Magazine as the best in the country and
for over 50 years, the Schnepfs have
continued to extend their season by
planting more orchards with different
varieties. Besides their two other
peaches, peaches like Earligrande,
Springcrest, and Florida King are all
popular varieties that grow extremely
well in the Desert climate.
Schnepf ’s Peach Season begins before
any other location in the United States.
It’s an incredible season that typically
lasts six to seven weeks! The different
varieties ripen at different times
which means customers must plan
accordingly.
The Schnepf Farm peaches are their
number one crop. So, they are very
particular about the way they care for
their trees and even open the farm
up to the public. They used to have
a “Peach Festival.” In the first year,
they picked the orchard clean in three
hours. It got so big, and the peaches
become ripe at various times thanks to
mother nature, they decided to spread
it out and not feature a festival.
The interesting story behind the
generational Schnepf family farm is
that it started out years ago as a very
traditional farm: cotton, wheat and
alfalfa. Mark Schnepf and wife, Carrie,
saw an opportunity in the market
and went for it. Today, their farm is
nationally recognized.
And, their story isn’t unusual.
Another Success Story Comes From
Robert (Bob) and Marsha McClendon.
Local and organic sells better than
either one alone. Just ask Bob and
Marsha McClendon, members of
Arizona Farm Bureau and owners of
McClendon’s Select; a retail/directmarket
farm. They’re so niched and
specialized, they shake their own
heads at how strong the demand is for
their product.
Bob and Marsha, along with their
son Sean, his wife, Kate, and their
grandson Aidan grow exclusively
USDA certified organic, all local, on a
limited amount of acres and mainly to
chef-owned, chef-directed restaurants,
never to chain restaurants. They sell
directly to the public at two Saturday
Farmers’ Markets, Uptown and the
Old Town Farmers’ Market during
their growing season. They started
selling at the Town and Country
Market more than a 17 years ago, and
forged relationships with customers
and chefs that have lasted and grown
ever since.
“We only wanted to work with
restaurants that are passionate about
using organic, local produce,” says
Marsha. They have developed such a
following of such chefs that the farm
now has a waiting list of restaurants
wanting to do business with them.
From top to Bottom, Sean McClendon,
Kate McClendon, Marsha McClendon,
Bob McClendon, Aidan McClendon in
tractor wheel.
Beginning with 25 acres, Bob says, “We
continue our quest for excellence even
as we expand
our acreage.”
They sell citrus, vegetables, dates and
honey, along with many specialty items
that are in high demand from chefs
and market customers, like heirloom
tomatoes and baby greens. During
the season, they grow more than 200
kinds of fruits and vegetables. It is their
relationship in working with chefs to
find their needs that have led them to
try new crops, such as Yuzu, Gilfeather
Rutabaga, Spigariello, and Sun Gold
Tomatoes.
Arizona has only a handful of growers
catering exclusively to chefs and the
resort market, but the niche is lucrative.
Others in the business describe the
same kind of customer waiting lists
and a clientele that may call up one
season begging and pleading to have a
new type of vegetable to feature for a
restaurant’s seasonal menu.
If there is anyone that knows about
farming in the direct-market segment,
it’s McClendon.
“Direct-market sales directly to
consumers of any kind of food item
that’s locally grown continues to be
popular,” says Bob.“People more and
more want to know where their food
comes from. Customers are even
focused on how the food is packaged.
For example, I sell honey. Many of my
customers would prefer to purchase
honey in glass bottles. So, I sell my
honey in glass and plastic containers.”
And, while Arizona has plenty of
organically-managed farms, McClendon
is a serious advocate to the USDA
Certified Organic label. Here’s why.
Continued on Page 40
June/July 2019
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39
Continued from Page 39
“First, the term organic can’t be used
unless it’s USDA certified,” explains Bob.
“There’s another group called Certified
Naturally Grown. Right now, you can go
online and get your backyard certified
Naturally Grown. They use the good
ole boy approach where Sam Jones
wants to be certified and he calls Phil
Roberts who lives a mile down the road
to come by and say, “Oh, yes, you’re
certified.” They claim they are the same
standards as the nationally certified
organic standards, but the big difference
is there is no independent third-party
inspection and review. It’s a way to get
around the USDA Organic certification
without the expense, the trouble and the
compliance.”
He adds: “The value in the USDA
Certified Organic program is that the
public has a great deal of trust in it. It’s
the only standard that they can hang
their hat on. They know with a high
degree of trust in this program they are
getting a true (organic) product. Plus,
the penalties for non-compliance can
be really stiff. From the time we became
USDA Organic certified our business
has grown exponentially.”
Bob McClendon even has marketing
advice for the organic farmer, especially
McClendon’s select.
those just starting out and struggling
with managing the business. “Live the
business,” he says. “Get to know your
customers. Define the market and cater
to that market and meet that market’s
needs. If they go into a farmers’ market
and see an opportunity they first need
to assess the status quo and figure out
how to do it better. (The aspiring directmarket
farmer) must ask how they can
offer something different, something
better; high quality. Sometimes, it’s the
simplest shifts in how they are doing
something, for example, if they’d just
keep something cold by packing the
produce in ice. If not, within two hours
you will have a wilted product but don’t
expect to sell it.
“Customers want to see and know
who grew their stuff. As a result,
either Sean, my son, or I are at the
market. Don’t send the hired help to
put out a bunch of stuff to sell. Directmarket
farmers also need to have an
educational mindset. If they put out
a variety of produce they should be
prepared to tell people how to cook
it because they’ll ask you. They’ll also
ask how to cut the produce. We have
people that work market hours to talk
to our customers about cooking and
recipes. It’s the educational part of what
we do. If our customers know how to
cook something, they want to know a
different way to cook it.”
Today, McClendon’s Select has grown.
Their 93 acre operation included
growing crops on 68 acres adjacent
to the Cancer Treatment Centers of
American in Goodyear, Arizona.
Helping Arizona Families
Connect to Local and Organic
Farming
We’ve all heard the statistic: by 2050,
almost 75 percent of the world’s
population will be urban. And most
of us, including Arizona families are
generationally removed from the farm
even though America began very
agrarian. So, if American families have
no contact with the source of our food
other than eating it, we have a real
challenge with making a reconnection.
Arizona Farm Bureau realized the
importance of this and set out to make
a difference. The opportunity to meet
a modern-day farmer growing food
for the local market is not a difficult
connection to make if you think
creatively. We did it through Fill Your
Plate.
Fill Your Plate is an online, searchable
database of Arizona farmers and
ranchers that can sell food products and
certainly local Arizona food directly
to Arizona families. We stay Arizona
focused. Two other searchable databases
include recipes and our statewide listing
of farmers markets. And, the majority of
farmers featured on Fill Your Plate are
organic growers, certified and
non-certified.
Launched in 2007, Arizona Farm
Bureau’s Fill Your Plate serves to help
form a unique relationship—a common
bond—between Arizona farmers and
ranchers and Arizonans. In fact, it’s
one virtual way to build community!
Fill Your Plate provides chefs and our
Arizona families with an opportunity
to find and purchase locally grown food
and along the way make friends with
the farmers and ranchers who grow our
food.
One of our regular Fill Your Plate users,
Arizonan Janel Rogers and mom of
Continued on Page 42
40
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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Aerial shot of the Peoria farm.
Continued from Page 40
three, said, “The wealth of information I
can find at this website, including their
weekly blog is so useful and why I use it
regularly.”
On the site, viewers have all sorts of
entertaining opportunities to engage
beyond just the searchable producebased
database. They can search for
recipes, read what local celebrities are
saying about food and view a number
of the videos we’ve produced for the
site. We even provide information
about how food prices are trending and
nutritious tidbits that highlight Arizona
fruits and vegetables and meat products.
It’s a cornucopia of insights that once
you’ve begun to use Fill Your Plate
your mouth will water in anticipation
of biting into an Arizona apple or
barbequing some of Arizona’s famous
and tasty beef.
Our Commitment to the
Organic Farmer
Arizona Farm Bureau has more than
25,000 members. Of that number, about
2,700 are agriculture members. And,
we represent all agriculture. Our farm
and ranch members are small, medium
and large, organic and conventional and
they grow and raise just about anything
you can imagine. Our organization is
a big tent and works for organic and
small producers, especially because of
the challenge’s beginner farmers face.
Farm Bureau provides financial services
and asset protection for all sizes of
operations and any type of production.
This, because the agriculture in Arizona
is so diverse.
In fact, Shane Burgess, dean of the
College of Agriculture and Life
Sciences, the University of Arizona calls
Arizona the “Nutrition State.” His main
point in calling Arizona a nutrition state
is because we can grow almost anything
with our 300-plus days of sunshine,
letting us plant and harvest every month
of the year.
But, why does Dean Burgess call
Arizona the nutrition state? “When
you take a look at what contemporary
science considers our optimal diet for
physical function and our ability to
think and learn (often described as a
Mediterranean or Okinawan diet) it
looks a lot like what is produced by
Arizona agriculture,” he says. “Imagine
we were to stop food imports to Arizona
and so we could only eat what we
produce here; how would we feel about
that and how healthy would we be? We
come out pretty well (arguably better off
than many of us are today).”
Burgess goes on to talk about the
market segments in agriculture in
this state. “Not only is this about what
products Arizona produces but what
market segments it delivers into. For
example (and with apologies to those
I miss), if you are like me and care
about sustainable optimal production
with lower water use and minimized
pesticide application you can get
transgenic (GMO) crops; if you want
to have certified organic food you can
get that; if you want “local” you can get
that; you can chose grass-fed or grainfed;
if you want “heart-healthy,” that’s
no problem. If dairy is your thing—no
problem. If you want salad at Christmas
dinner—sure, have at it at bargain
prices with negligible “carbon miles.” If
you want some great wine or beer, you
can get that. We even have exceptional
aquaculture production. Of course, this
will require some actual cooking and
families eating together.
“Obviously, I am not actually
suggesting or advocating we carry out
this experiment; it’s simply one way
to visualize the amazing diversity of
primary production Arizona possesses.
We are not the biggest farm and ranch
state by any means, but there are few
that can boast what we can deliver to a
table and to lower health care costs.”
And that is what makes Arizona
farming and ranching so special,
especially our local, organic farms that
are growing such an array of agriculture
that the list of products goes on and on.
Comments about this article? We want
to hear from you. Feel free to email us at
article@jcsmarketinginc.com
42
Organic Farmer June/July 2019
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