“If we want to feed a growing world population, producing adequate crop yields is vital,” Reganold wrote. He noted, however, that according to a 2010 report by the U.S. National Research Council, growing enough food is only one of four main criteria for making agriculture “sustainable.”

The other three are:

• Enhancing the natural resource base and environment
• Making farming financially viable
• Contributing to the well-being of farmers and their communities.

“The NRC report identifies organic methods as one of several innovative systems that better integrate production, environmental and socio-economic objectives,” Reganold said. Other systems include agroforestry, hybrid organic-conventional agriculture, conservation agriculture, grass-fed livestock production and mixed crop-livestock systems.

“No one of these systems alone will produce enough food to feed the planet,” he wrote. “Rather, a blend of farming approaches is needed for future global food and ecosystem security.”

As WSU scientists David Granatstein has pointed out, the very notion of sustainability is subject to debate. In a Green Times article, Granatstein wrote:

I would like to suggest that sustainability represents a long-term goal that we cannot precisely define. We can confidently say that soil erosion is generally negative for sustainability, while increasing soil organic matter is positive. So we are able to confidently measure improvements in sustainability for a number of aspects of farming. However, I don’t think we can say there is a line that is crossed that makes a farm “sustainable.” Thus I suggest we avoid using phrases such as “that is a sustainable farm” and instead talk about farms becoming more or less sustainable over time.

Then we have “organic.” I have spent many years working in organic agriculture. This term has gone from a vague notion of farming “more naturally” without synthetic inputs, and maximizing ecological processes, to a very detailed Federal rule that is constantly being tweaked by the National Organic Standards Board. Some synthetic materials are allowed, and some natural materials are not, so organic is certainly not the absence of synthetics. Organic growers have access to a variety of pesticides, chemicals and fertilizers that are compliant with the standards, so organic is not the absence of these inputs. The organic standards do strongly encourage soil improvement, reduction of toxins, and increased biodiversity, and research supports these claims in general. However, despite following the same standards, organic farms can vary greatly in their practices and their outcomes. Organic farms have had documented contamination of soil by copper, which is both an essential micronutrient and a toxic heavy metal, from its extended use as a fungicide. At the same time, biosolids (the solid fraction resulting from municipal wastewater treatment) are excluded from organic production in part because of potential heavy metal content. Ironically, recycling of nutrients from cities back to the farms that feed them is a core ecological principle of organic farming. The organic standards are complicated and not easily reduced to sound bites that are very accurate.

10-Class Agriculture Entrepreneur Course in Enumclaw at the Green River Community College Small Business Center

Do you want to grow your own grapes and start a winery? Do you want to sell directly to the market place? Are you taking Grandma’s recipe to market

This class is designed specifically for participants to learn how to write a business plan, how to develop an innovative marketing strategy, how to evaluate economic returns of their business. Financial experts, bank officers, legal experts, and small business counselors, as well as successful local farmers will be featured as guest speakers. These contacts help new and established farmers accurately assess what it will take to launch a new agricultural business and maintain its financial health, as well as begin to develop a support network.  Owners and managers of new and existing agricultural business are encouraged to participate.

Deanna Burnett-Keener is the Green River Community College Small Business Director and has been an authorized instructor for the NxLevel Entrepreneurial Training Program for the last 10 years. Prior to coming to Green River Community College, she was an award-winning lender in the banking community and has been very successful in finding funding for her small business clients. She has worked successfully with hundreds of small business owners to overcome obstacles as they started or expanded their businesses.

Location
Green River Community College Enumclaw Campus, 1414 Griffin Ave, Enumclaw

Date
Tuesday evenings from 6 to 9 pm April 17, 2012 – June 19, 2012

Cost
$345 (includes book and class materials); pre-registration required

To Register
Click here

Sponsors of the event include Osborne Seed Company, Elenbaas Company, Whatcom Community, and the Community Food Coop Farm Fund.  Partial scholarships are available to Whatcom County farmers, thanks to a grant from the Community Food Coop Farm Fund.

Registration and other information can be found at http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/edu/susagconf. Contact Colleen Burrows at 360-676-6736 or cburrows@wsu.edu with questions.

Contact: Kim Miller; kim@tinysorganic.com (email only, please no phone calls)

Farm Description:

Tiny’s Organic was established over 40 years by the McPherson family and is owned and operated by the family. Tiny’s is located in a rural setting approximately 5 miles from East Wenatchee and 150 miles east of Seattle. We grow a variety of fruit and vegetables on two parcels of land using sustainable and organic farming methods.  Tiny’s has been using organic growing methods for over 20 years and is 100% certificated organic. Our produce is grown for our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members, for the approximately 35 farmers markets that we attend and our wholesale customers.

Job Description:

Tiny’s Organic is looking for several interns for our organic farm for the 2012 July-Sept season. Internships provide an introduction to farming and all aspects of our growing operation. Interns will be primarily focused on organic vegetable production. Learning opportunities include soil and bed preparation, planning and transplanting, manual weeding and cultivation, insect and disease control, greenhouse and irrigation.

Minimum length of stay: 30 days. Interns will spend 6 days a week, farm hours, and will report directly to our owner/lead vegetable grower.

Qualifications:

Tiny’s Organic is looking for people ready and willing to work in a dynamic environment with open minds and a positive attitude. Applicants must be able to work in all types of weather and in physically demanding conditions. Intern must be able to lift 40 pounds. Experience is valued, but not necessary, just a willingness to learn and participate.

Compensation:

Weekly stipend of $300. Interns will receive a CSA share during their Internship stay as well. The farm is a non-smoking and drug-free environment. Tiny’s does not provide housing.

Application Instructions:

1. Cover letter indicating skill assets and purpose for participating in our intern program.
2. Resume. Include all basic personal information, education, employment history, etc…
3. References. Provide names and phone numbers of three references and relationship to reference.
4. Proposed dates for interview and start/end dates.
5. Current Drivers License.

Applicants must have their own health insurance and a current tetanus shot.

Closing Date: Open until filled

Large-scale Pacific Northwest organic vegetable producers routinely plant 30 percent more seed than they really want. They do this to help with weed control and because they anticipate losing that much to a plant disease called damping-off, according to Lindsey du Toit, associate professor and vegetable seed pathologist at the WSU Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center in Mount Vernon. In the worst cases, when a combination of early planting in late February to early March and a cool, wet spring create conditions perfect for damping-off, growers have had to replant entire fields. Paying for that extra seed–anywhere from $20 to $55 more per acre for certain crops–is expensive.

Lindsey du Toit and graduate student Ana Vida Alcala are working to help organic vegetable growers in the Pacific Northwest's coastal region and central Washington's Columbia Basin find ways to manage damping-off.

“If they could get this disease under control, then that’s one cost that could be avoided,” said du Toit. She and graduate student Ana Vida Alcala are continuing work from an earlier study to help organic vegetable growers in the Pacific Northwest’s coastal region and central Washington’s Columbia Basin find ways to manage damping-off, also known as seedling blight.

Organic vegetable growers face unique challenges from the get-go. For one thing, they cannot use the same chemicals that conventional growers use to combat the various soil-borne pathogens (Pythium, Rhizoctonia, or Fusarium) responsible for the disease. For another, farmers growing vegetables for the organic processed food market must plant early for several reasons: planting early reduces competition with weeds that are difficult to control with organic methods; to ensure harvest before conventional crops and thus avoid the effort and cost of cleaning the processing facility, which they must do to keep organic certification; and to plant two different crops in one growing season consecutively, thus maximizing return on the farmer’s investment.

Unfortunately, the low soil temperatures and high soil moisture associated with early spring planting allows pathogens that cause damping-off to thrive. The young seedlings are also at their most vulnerable to these pathogens, which are attracted to tender, succulent roots. Damping-off affects the plant’s ability to absorb nutrients and moisture from the soil, resulting in poor emergence and plant growth.

Alcala, who is working toward her doctorate in plant pathology, said she and du Toit are investigating alternative management methods applicable to organic vegetable production, specifically for peas. One method is treating seed with products allowed on certified-organic farms. Seeds treated with NORDOX®, a copper-based fungicide, appeared to grow well in one of Alcala’s field trials that was severely affected by damping-off.

“There are promising results, but we just looked at one season,” Alcala said. “It’s still too early to say for sure. We still have a year and half of my program to fine-tune the information we’re obtaining. We need to study the whole cropping system to ultimately know if organic producers are likely to use these applications.”

Another method that will require further investigation is studying electrolyte leakage from seeds as a tool for predicting damping-off risk in the field, Alcala said. Electrolyte leakage is the loss of dissolved minerals and other nutrients as seeds take up water from the soil. Electrolytes attract damping-off pathogens. Seeds stored for a long time are especially prone to leakage and older or more damaged seeds leak electrolytes faster once they are planted. Pacific Northwest growers found that planting high-quality seeds for organic vegetable crops is very important to ensure good growth and to minimize crop loss.

Vegetables at a farmers' market.

“If you use poor-quality seed and the pathogen is present in the soil, the chances of the plant becoming infected are higher. You’re making it more favorable for the pathogen,” Alcala said. “So if you have the right soil and weather conditions and poor-quality seed, it really is the perfect storm for damping-off to occur.

The study originally started in 2006 when du Toit and a former graduate student, Jaime Cummings, evaluated seed and drench treatments for damping-off in spinach that were either approved or being developed for certified-organic production. The treatments were tested on Pythium ultimum, Rhizoctonia solani, and Fusarium oxysporum under greenhouse and field conditions.

Alcala took over Cummings’ work in 2009 when du Toit received additional funding to continue the project. They interviewed nine Washington growers of certified-organic vegetables to understand their damping-off management needs. The growers they interviewed work with diverse production systems that range from a few acres of organic vegetable crops to a 6,000-acre certified-organic operation.

Yet the interviewed growers indicated they don’t typically use organic seed treatments because of inconsistent results. Alcala and du Toit are testing different microbial and non-microbial treatments under the same conditions their interviewees encounter. The production processes that Pacific Northwest organic vegetable farmers use may not work with a particular treatment, and some products may do better in warmer soil conditions, rather than in the cool, early spring conditions of central Washington. Still, growers want an effective solution to their damping-off problems.

“Some growers indicated they would pay up to $100, even $150, per acre for a seed or drench treatment that works consistently to significantly control damping-off under their production practices,” du Toit said. “That tells you that this is significant.”

–Nella Letizia

Towards a Sustainability Index for Agriculture

Green Times asked WSU Extension educator and Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources team member David Granatstein to define “sustainable.” Granatstein argues that the word has a range of meanings, none particularly helpful when trying to compare one type of farm with another. Rather, he says, what we need is a sustainability index to help us compare different types of farms. Read Granatstein’s essay on the Green Times blog »

What do you think? Post your comments on the Green Times blog or, if you’re interested in presenting your own views at length, write the editor (bcclark@wsu.edu) with your proposal.

Fight the Wilts with Vegetable Grafting

Verticillium being cultured in a petri dish. WSU Extension has info that can take "the wilts" off a vegetable grower's plate.

Verticillium wilt is a nationwide scourge, and with the impending phase-out of methyl bromide fumigation, Pacific Northwest growers need new techniques to fight this crop-busting fungus. One new technique comes in the form of a centuries-old Asian practice: vegetable grafting. A team lead by Carol Miles at the WSU Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center in Mount Vernon is helping watermelon, eggplant, and tomato growers fight the wilts with a time-tested technique modernized for today’s growers.

While some plants, such as bottle gourd, are not economically significant in their own right, growers admire their resistance to verticillium wilt. Miles found that this desirable resistance could be transferred to watermelon plants by grafting watermelon scion (a twig containing the buds that later become a fruit or vegetable) onto bottle gourd rootstock.

“Vegetable grafting,” said Miles, “is a simple, biological method for achieving disease resistance.” Miles and her colleagues have created a web page with publications, animated presentations, and additional resources to guide growers in the use of this method.

Learn more at http://bit.ly/veggraft.

–Bob Hoffmann

Potato Farmers Reap Many Benefits to the Soil by Using Green Manures

Strong winds can create major dust storms in eastern Washington. One source of blowing dust is from newly harvested potato fields that lack residue and soil structure. In Oct., 2009, for example, one such storm reduced visibility on Interstate 90 between Ritzville and Moses Lake to near-zero, and the freeway was closed for 20 hours.

The hazardous weather outlook for the day warned of high winds, possibly gusting up to 40-50 m.p.h. While the National Weather Service warned about damage to trees and buildings, WSU Extension educator Andy McGuire could see another kind of damage. “I sure saw the soil blowing off some fields today,” said the member of the leadership team for WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources. He called from his hotel in Sunnyside, after a day of fieldwork

Wind erosion, McGuire explained, robs cropland of its tiny, fertile soil particles, while lowering air quality and even causing highway collisions due to reduced visibility. These problems can all be redressed through practices that can build soil quality.

Soil quality is often the answer to many problems, as McGuire discovered when he advised farmers to use green manures, including mustard, sudangrass, and arugula, to control soil-borne pathogens such as verticillium wilt in potatoes. As measured by an increase in organic matter, farmers noticed an improvement in soil quality, and green manures also helped control the fungal organisms that threatened crops,.

Soil with more organic matter has better water infiltration and tilth, or texture. When tilth is better, harvest is faster, soil falls off the potatoes more easily, and the soil is more resistant to compaction. Compacted soils have less pore space for air and water and can decrease plant health and yields.

Conventional agriculture has not always focused on soil quality. Columbia Basin potato farmers were able to achieve high yields through irrigation and fertilizer alone. Without improving the soil, however, wind erosion and intensive tillage can gradually degrade the farmland that potato growers depend on. But green manure, said McGuire, “has the potential to bump up organic matter levels,” reducing wind erosion and improving tilth.

It sounds good, but are farmers convinced? “Green manure acreage is going up every year,” McGuire stated. “We started with 1,500 acres in 1999, and in 2011, it was over 30,000 acres.” The majority of potato farmers using green manures report better soil tilth, more organic matter in the soil, a reduction in wind erosion, improved water infiltration, and better control of verticillium wilt.

–Bob Hoffmann

Learn more about using green manures by checking out these publications available from WSU Extension: http://bit.ly/wsugrnmanure.

Collaboration Fuels Tribal Biodiesel Project

Winter canola in bloom near Omak.

WSU canola research in collaboration with the Colville Confederate Tribes has enhanced both the region’s economy and environment. This spring, the CCT and area growers intend to build a new canola oilseed crushing facility at the Paschal Sherman Indian School in Omak. The tribe already has a canola storage site in place, said Frank Young, a research agronomist and weed scientist for the USDA-Agricultural Research Service and a WSU adjunct faculty member

Canola is providing the CCT with valuable products such as biodiesel and livestock feed in place of other local resources that are no longer economically viable. “There’s no demand for lumber anymore,” Young said. The market for wood products has decreased and left many tribal members without jobs. The tribe has established a goal to process enough oilseed for biodiesel to fuel the Pascal Sherman school buses and other vehicles, he said.

Meanwhile, a feed store in Okanogan has agreed to distribute crushed canola, in the form of canola meal, to local livestock growers, said Young. Okanogan County has the highest livestock population in the state. The canola meal also will be distributed to local fish hatcheries to feed salmon.

“If you keep one dollar in the local economy, it circulates three times,” Young said.

The next step in the ongoing project is to teach the tribe how to grow canola on abandoned crop land, Young said. Restoring pastures and hay fields could potentially provide 20,000 additional acres of the oilseed crop. The project began with hand-planted and -watered spring canola, but researchers are now focusing their efforts on winter canola, which yields almost twice as much with similar inputs, he said. Used in crop rotation, canola also helps to improve winter wheat yields and weed control.

Reduced tillage and improved water quality are additional benefits from the canola research. “In 2006, the first salmon in 70 years swam up Omak Creek,” said WSU crop scientist Dennis Roe. This was mostly a result of improved conservation practices. Reducing tillage preserves more crop stubble, he said, which will help prevent erosion into the Omak and Foster creeks. Otherwise, eroded sediment fills in the stream channels and smothers fish spawning beds.

The research will look into how to establish canola without excessively disrupting the soil, Roe said. The project also will also work with the tribe to use safer herbicides, reduce the amount used and use other methods to slow the progression of resistant weeds, Young said.

–Tallie Mattson, WSU News intern

Watch “From Field to Fuel,” a short video describing the canola-to-diesel project, by visiting http://youtu.be/Az1sKyOcD3I.

People

Long Beach Farmers Seek to Be Washington’s First Organic Cranberry Producers

Starvation Alley Farms cranberry harvest in fall, 2011. L-R: John Oakes (Jared's dad), Jessika Tantisook, Jared Oakes

Jared Oakes and Jessika Tantisook are partners in Starvation Alley Farms. The partners are organic farmers pioneering the production of organic cranberry production in western Washington. As they transition to organic production, they are documenting the methods they use so that others may learn from them. And as they transition, they are being mentored by WSU Extension educator Kim Patten, a cranberry expert based in Long Beach, Washington.

Oakes and Tantisook have long been interested in food. With their background in the food and wine industry, they are passionate about being able to work with produce that is grown sustainably and locally. “Food,” said Oakes, “is a microcosm of what happens in the rest of the world. We’ve become enamored of the local food movement and wanted to contribute.”

Oakes said he and his partner are “coming at it form an outside perspective” — they are new to the business of farming but say they are encouraged by the market for their cranberries, by the science-based advice they get from WSU Extension and other sources, and by the ideal of producing healthy, locally grown food.

Watch a short video about Oakes and Tantisook at http://youtu.be/8ZQ84SZqBwY. And be sure to check out their web site at http://www.starvationalleyfarms.com.

Events Calendar

March 15: Northwest Washington Farm to Table Trade Meeting for Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and San Juan farmers, fishers, ranchers, chefs, distributors, restaurateurs, processors, caterers, and grocers. $15; 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Community Health Education Center in Bellingham. Learn more »

March 24: Hard cider making and orcharding workshop. Presented by WSU Snohomish County Extension at Ed’s Apples in Sultan. Learn more »

April 3: Native Pollinators on the Palouse Workshop. 6:30 – 9 p.m. at the 1912 Center in Moscow, Idaho. Learn how to design native-plant landscapes that attract native polinators; where to get native plants. Watch for more information coming soon on the Green Times blog, or contact Brenda Erhardt at 208-882-4960.

What do you think? Post your comments below, or, if you’re interested in presenting your own views at length, write to the editor (bcclark@wsu.edu) with your proposal.

The Language of Agriculture and Food

by David Granatstein, WSU CSANR

Language matters. The words we choose can greatly impact what we communicate. If I say “I see a car” most everyone who speaks English will get the exact same message. If I say “I support local foods” the interpretation will likely be highly variable. Let’s explore some of the language that accompanies society’s current heightened interest in agriculture and the food system and whether we are sharing the same message.

First, let’s talk “natural.” Many food products carry this term on their label, in their advertising, or as part of their image. But the first thing to recognize is that very little about agriculture is “natural.” Farming displaces the “natural” ecosystems just about everywhere it is practiced and is highly disruptive of many natural processes. So to suggest that there is some ultimate “natural” form of agriculture is not very accurate. Yes, agriculture can be changed to have fewer unintended consequences on natural processes (e.g., on water quality and wildlife), but there won’t be much farming in many natural ecosystems. Most of our food products are from plants and animals that would not exist in a “natural” state. We have greatly modified them through selection and breeding over dozens to thousands of years. Perhaps natural foods should probably be called “unadulterated” instead, as this term is generally used to suggest the lack of added ingredients beyond what was in the harvested raw material.

On to a more challenging term: “sustainability.” I have worked with this one for decades and have come to my own conclusions. But you probably have, too. Definitions abound, with many referring back to the UN Brundtland Commission report that described sustainability as “meeting the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” Sounds good, but how do we determine “need” and, more particularly, how do we distinguish “need” versus “want”? Do we all need cell phones, strawberries in January, or our daily latte? Estimates have been made of the ecological footprints of various countries, with the U.S. requiring 23.7 acres of resource land per person, compared with 12.6 acres per person for Switzerland, and 4 acres per person for China (based on 2003 data). Which level of resource use represents “need” and which will we choose for our sustainability definition?

Often, sustainability as applied to agriculture is defined as “economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially equitable.” Imagine a three-legged stool. If all legs are of similar length, the stool it stable. If one leg is broken or too short, the stool falls over. I interpret this to mean that profitability is a necessary but not sufficient condition. An unprofitable farm will go out of business and cannot tend to the other two “legs.” But to be profitable along with serious resource degradation on the farm is not a viable long-term condition either. So sustainable agriculture encourages the “triple bottom line” idea commonly used by businesses.

I would like to suggest that sustainability represents a long-term goal that we cannot precisely define. We can confidently say that soil erosion is generally negative for sustainability, while increasing soil organic matter is positive. So we are able to confidently measure improvements in sustainability for a number of aspects of farming. However, I don’t think we can say there is a line that is crossed that makes a farm “sustainable.” Thus I suggest we avoid using phrases such as “that is a sustainable farm” and instead talk about farms becoming more or less sustainable over time.

Another aspect to consider is that sustainability is relative. Think about irrigation in eastern Washington. Most of the water used comes from snowmelt that is annually renewed. This is a renewable resource, in contrast to water from deep wells in which the water table is measurably falling due to irrigation withdrawals. In our rivers, we have irrigation withdrawals that generally maintain stream flows at levels that provide for other processes, such as fish habitat and recreation. To me, this type of irrigation can be sustained over time. But what happens as the climate changes and the winter snowpack is significantly diminished? Summer flows are expected to be much lower. While we may remove the same amount of water as we do today, it becomes unsustainable at that level if minimum flows for fish are no longer provided. Same behavior, different sustainability outcome.

Then we have “organic.” I have spent many years working in organic agriculture. This term has gone from a vague notion of farming “more naturally” without synthetic inputs, and maximizing ecological processes, to a very detailed Federal rule that is constantly being tweaked by the National Organic Standards Board. Some synthetic materials are allowed, and some natural materials are not, so organic is certainly not the absence of synthetics. Organic growers have access to a variety of pesticides, chemicals and fertilizers that are compliant with the standards, so organic is not the absence of these inputs. The organic standards do strongly encourage soil improvement, reduction of toxins, and increased biodiversity, and research supports these claims in general. However, despite following the same standards, organic farms can vary greatly in their practices and their outcomes. Organic farms have had documented contamination of soil by copper, which is both an essential micronutrient and a toxic heavy metal, from its extended use as a fungicide. At the same time, biosolids (the solid fraction resulting from municipal wastewater treatment) are excluded from organic production in part because of potential heavy metal content. Ironically, recycling of nutrients from cities back to the farms that feed them is a core ecological principle of organic farming. The organic standards are complicated and not easily reduced to sound bites that are very accurate.

Common language divides agriculture into “organic” and “conventional.” In this taxonomy, conventional simply means “not organic,” and that would be a more accurate description. The diversity among conventional farms is likely much greater than among organic farms. Conventional farms are evolving along with new science, technology, regulation, and consumer demand. Some of the changes, such as cover crops, reduced tillage, biological pest control, and composting of wastes represent significant improvements in sustainability.

We often see the words “sustainable” and “organic” coupled together, implying that all organic farms are “sustainable” and that the only path to sustainability is through organic. I propose another way of looking at this. If we could develop a meaningful sustainability index for agriculture (which we have not) and could measure the various farms, we would then be able to plot them on a frequency curve. I have drawn a hypothetical example below (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Hypothetical distribution of organic and conventional farms on a hypothetical sustainability index (100=perfect). Y-axis is % of farms at a given level of sustainability

Let’s assume we have two populations of farms, conventional (“not organic”) and organic. I’ll assume their distribution in terms of sustainability is roughly normal, with a few very low sustainability farms, a few very high ones, and many in the middle. I’ll assume this is true for both groups. I’ll assume that conventional farms will tend to score lower on the scale than organic, since the organic standards do require certain practices that will lead to better sustainability outcomes. But I think these two curves would probably overlap, with some high sustainability conventional farms scoring higher than the lower sustainability organic farms. We can determine the average sustainability of the two groups and would conclude that organic is more sustainable than conventional. But I can also find conventional farms that are more sustainable than some organic farms; thus organic status is not a guarantee of higher sustainability.

This becomes important when we look at results from research studies that compare organic and conventional farms. It is obvious that the choice of farms to compare can have a pivotal impact on the conclusions drawn. This choice can be conscious (in other words, those doing the study have a predetermined outcome they desire, and choose farms that will lead to this outcome), or random (for single farm pair comparisons, it is very influential). So if I want to prove that organic farms are more sustainable than conventional, I can choose an organic farm on the high end of that curve (c), and a conventional farm lower on the curve (a). If my desire is opposite, I choose a low sustainability organic farm (b) and a higher sustainability conventional farm (a). This exercise is meant to point out the hazards of trying to equate a vague and hard to define goal (sustainable) with a clearly defined standard (organic).

The last term to look at is “local.” Media reports suggest that many consumers consider this of equal or greater importance than organic. We hear about food miles, the 100-mile diet, and “buy local” campaigns. The desire to buy local is based on the promise of fresher food, a lower carbon footprint, more money staying in the local economy, a closer relationship between consumer and farmer, and more. But as you probably know, the definition of local is hugely variable, and always somewhat arbitrary. Is local 10 miles, 50 miles, 100 miles, within state, or grown in USA? All of these definitions are used.

At a recent meeting, I listened to two presentations on market trends. One showed how the interest in local foods was growing. The other showed data on the growth of the fresh berry sector in grocery stores, where strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are now available year round and sales are exploding. Of course, this increased supply of berries is only possible by sourcing product from a range of production regions, meaning supply is local for only a short time each year. Yet consumers are readily buying these non-local products. When I asked a speaker about this apparent contradiction, I was told that there is a difference between “local” and “locale,” and that the consumer can have the same positive feeling as with a local purchase when they buy an imported product that describes its place of origin and perhaps a bit about who grew it. That explanation leaves me wondering how much practical meaning “local” has.

Natural? Sustainable? Organic? Local? They can all mean different things to different people. Despite having to create a world of black and white when setting standards, or when marketing products, most of agriculture comes in complex shades of grey that don’t fall neatly into the categories of the words we use. Because of this, it is important to talk about specifics rather than generalities. In talking about improving our food systems, let’s all choose and use our words carefully, both in our criticisms as well as our praises. And let’s keep up the conversations!

Thanks to the reviewers who provided many helpful comments.

Space is limited! Please register by March 1 at http://freshfoodinschoolssummit.eventbrite.com/. A free lunch will be provided highlighting school recipes using local ingredients. Contact Rita Ordóñez for more information at rordonez@wsffn.org or 360-336-9694. To download a poster of this event, please click here.

Soil Microbes in Organic Farming Systems Are Under Researchers’ Microscope

One of the goals of organic agriculture is to improve soil quality over time by increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil. This is done by various means, including adding animal manure, leaving plant matter behind after vegetables and grains have been harvested, growing cover crops, or by adding compost. These materials are recycled by microorganisms that live in the soil, releasing from the organic matter the nutritional building blocks the next generation of plants need to grow and thrive. Those building blocks include nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, and various micronutrients.

But as organic matter builds up in the soil, there is the potential for loss of those precious nutrients (particularly nitrogen) as they are released as gases from the soil or as they dissolve in water and are carried away by stormwater run off, as well as by other processes. For farmers, that loss of valuable nutrients affects their bottom line because those nutrients need to be replaced with costly inputs. For the environment, escaping nutrients could be a source of pollution in streams and other bodies of water. Even more ominously, those escaping nutrients could be greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Ann-Marie Fortuna

That’s why Washington State University scientists Ann-Marie Fortuna, Craig Cogger and Doug Collins are developing a series of experiments to determine the types and amounts of gases emitted by organic cropping systems. Research plots in Puyallup include a long-term organic farming experiment initiated in 2003. Because soil properties have been influenced by 9 years of differing organic practices, the researchers expect to see differences in gas exchange from the soils over the next three years. Together with their colleague Ron Turco at Purdue University, who is studying the same thing in plots transitioning to organic status, they will not only measure emissions but also develop a series of “best practices” that farmers can use to minimize nutrient loss from their soils.

Craig Cogger

“Long-term data sets are few and far between in organic agriculture but are very much needed,” said Fortuna, an assistant professor of soil science at WSU and the director of the project. Fortuna and her colleagues plan to measure the cycling of gases through the soil over several years because, as she pointed out, a single measurement is just a snap shot of the system at a given moment, and not an accurate inventory of its behavior over the year-long cycle of growth, decay and renewal.

“All systems are leaky,” Fortuna said. “Any time you are adding nutrients to a system and building them up, you need to be concerned about where the nutrients are going. But just because you have more organic inputs doesn’t mean you are creating more greenhouse gases. There is probably a difference in the way the gases cycle, but you do need to have proper cropping and management systems in place to keep nutrients from escaping and becoming pollutants or contributors to greenhouse emissions.”

Doug Collins

Fortuna said that while a great deal is known about crop production and nitrogen fertilizers, knowledge of the way soil microorganisms regulate the cycling of nutrients is limited. “We need to learn how agronomic management practices alter the microbiology controlling these reactions.”

“We are going to work out a set of practices that give growers a way to manage inputs that give plants the nutrition they need while not creating pollution,” said Craig Cogger, a soil scientist and Extension specialist based at WSU’s Research and Extension Center in Puyallup. “To that end, we are comparing how different organic farming systems with a history of different amendments and tillage frequency affect releases of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, two major greenhouse gases. We know that both tillage and type of amendment affect the soil ecosystem, but we now want to know how the microbes in these different ecosystems affect the release of greenhouse gases from the soil.”

Fortuna said that the direct impact of their research would be a set of management practices for farmers, as well as information about the availability of nutrients in soils. Soil is a complex, living system, so its fertility ebbs and flows with the rise and fall of temperature, the availability of moisture, and other factors. The team’s research has an additional potential bonus in that they may be able to quantify a way to tell growers what their carbon footprint is, which growers could use in marketing.

“This research will improve our understanding of how carbon and nitrogen cycle between land, air and water in vegetable and row crop farming systems in the Pacific Northwest and Midwest,” Fortuna said. The team plans on communicating their research results to growers via a video on climate change and soil microbiology.

–Brian Clark

Photos courtesy Ann-Marie Fortuna, Craig Cogger, and Doug Collins/Washington State University

Irrigation Info Goes Digital

Water management is a key issue for all agricultural producers, said Andy McGuire, a WSU Extension educator based in Grant County. Wise use of this precious resource not only improves producers’ economic bottom lines, but also reduces dust in cities and the loss of valuable soil.

Drip irrigation system in a vineyard.

That’s why a team of WSU Extension experts launched the Irrigated Agriculture Information Service. The new digital information emails alerts and other customized information to subscribers based on their specified topics of interest. Subscribers can now choose from more than 35 topic areas ranging from apples to cattle production and from drip irrigation to wine grape growing. Once subscribers create an account and choose their topic preferences, they can log back in at any time and change their options.

“We want to provide members of the irrigated agriculture industry with only the information they want, when and where they need it,” said Andy McGuire. “We want to get research results and other information out as quickly as possible to those that use it on a daily basis. This system replaces an older print-based information-delivery system. That not only saves money, it expedites the delivery of specific information to specific audiences. Email gives users the ability to receive timely water management information at home, in the office, or on a smart phone.”

“We want to provide members of the irrigated agriculture industry with only the information they want, when and where they need it,” said Andy McGuire. “We want to get research results and other information out as quickly as possible to those who use it on a daily basis. This system replaces an older print-based information-delivery system. That not only saves money, it expedites the delivery of specific information to specific audiences. Email gives users the ability to receive timely water management information at home, in the office, or on a smart phone.”

Alerts will be topic specific, McGuire said. For instance, WSU’s pest-monitoring team will quickly notify potato growers when crop-damaging insects are spotted in potato fields. “Timely information helps growers be judicious about pesticide use, thus improving overall water quality.”

–Brian Clark

The new system is available at http://extension.wsu.edu/irrigatedag.

Cougars Expand Homemade Hummus Business

Heath and Tish Barnes

May 2010 wasn’t the best time for Heath and Tish Barnes to launch their new hummus business. The bad economy aside, Bronzestone Hummus was competing with not only big-name U.S. labels like Sabra and Tribe, but also with other companies introducing their brands at the same time. But the Barneses had a huge advantage: Washingtonians, especially on the west side of the state, want locally grown food, and Bronzestone is the only hummus manufacturer that uses chickpeas directly from the family farm, located 60 miles from its Clarkston, Wash., plant.

“Many of our other ingredients are also sourced locally, making us the only hummus company that uses Pacific Northwest-grown products and 100 percent Washington-grown chickpeas,” said Heath, who graduated from Washington State University in 2000 with a degree in agricultural marketing. “We believe in the smaller farm-to-table concept, so people know where their food is coming from. I think this is one thing that small companies can do that the big-name brands just can’t match.”

Now more than a year later, Bronzestone Hummus, named for the rich color and smooth texture of its product, has expanded its market presence to stores and cooperatives in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. Not bad for a pair who initially started with a few hummus recipes they shared with only family and friends.

Getting to where they are today hasn’t come without its challenges, Heath said. He and Tish work seven days a week with help from their children on every aspect of Bronzestone’s operation, from hand-selecting producers, soaking and cooking garbanzo beans, roasting red bell peppers, garlic and onions, and blending the hummus to sealing it in 10-ounce tubs, packing them in boxes and delivering them to their buyers.

“We thought because we had a product that was better in flavor and local, using only the finest ingredients, that we could command somewhat of a premium for our product,” Heath said. “We were wrong. We have spent countless hours doing in-store demos and free samplings of every kind. Probably the biggest battle is trying to secure shelf space and, once on the shelf, keeping that shelf space. We work with farmers who employ sustainable practices that take care of the ground in a way that will leave future production possible for generations to come. We will not sacrifice quality for a profit. That is, in my opinion, the difference between the small guy and the big names.”

–Nella Letizia

Learn more about Trish and Heath at http://bit.ly/zrLSFh.

What’s Your Zone?

The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree Fahrenheit zones. For the first time, the newly revised map is available as an interactive GIS-based map, for which a broadband Internet connection is recommended, and as static images for those with slower Internet access. Users may also simply type in a ZIP Code and find the hardiness zone for that area.

Find out where you stand by checking out http://bit.ly/ACgTdh.

People

Ken Eastwell Helps Growers Keep It Clean

WSU plant pathologist is the director of the Clean Plant Center of the Northwest. Photo: Washington State University.

Ken Eastwell, a professor in the Washington State University Department of Plant Pathology based at WSU’s Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser, has been appointed director of the Clean Plant Center of the Northwest. As director of CPCNW, Eastwell provides leadership for the development and distribution of deciduous fruit trees, grapevines and hops that are free of viruses and virus-like agents.

“Viruses are particularly devastating to specialty crops such as tree fruits, grapes and hops,” said Eastwell. “Because these crops are perennial, annual losses caused by viruses occur every year and can ruin the economic outlook of a farming operation.”

“The National Clean Plant Network has provided a critical focal point for researchers, regulatory agencies and industry to share ideas and advance the production of virus-tested foundation planting stock to meet the nation’s needs,” Eastwell said.

The National Clean Plant Network is an industry-driven program designed to provide virus-tested propagation material to improve productivity and help growers and nurseries be more competitive in global markets. Domestic and international sales are negatively impacted by increased production costs and lower quality of fruits, nuts, hops and grapes, and their products. Programs to provide disease-free foundation plant material were established in the 1950s and 1960s torelieve  to the economic burden that growers at the time by diseases caused by virus-like agents. In 2009, producers of perennial specialty crops united to help create the National Clean Plant Network, with initial funding through the 2008 Farm Bill. The National Clean Plant Network now supports 15 centers across the U.S. representing five perennial specialty crops.

The Clean Plant Center of the Northwest is online at http://bit.ly/cpcnwwsu.

Events Calendar

Feb. 11: Women in Agriculture Conference. Women face unique challenges in growing viable businesses in farming and ranching. They also learn differently than men and like to connect with other women farmers in sharing experiences, knowledge and resources. At this conference, keynote presentations will be broadcast across the state to multiple county sites, and local presenters will reflect the needs of those regions. Save the date of Feb. 11 for this wonderful opportunity to learn and grow. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops, please send your contact information to Debra Hansen Kollock at dkollock@wsu.edu and you will be notified of all upcoming news and details. Please type “Women in Ag” in the subject line. Or call (509) 684-2588. Learn more »

Feb. 24 – 25: Specialty Cut Flower School. Washington State University and the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market are offering a Specialty Cut Flower Growers School focusing on sustainable flower growing techniques for the Pacific Northwest. Topics to be covered include business planning basics; plant selection; growing techniques; pest-management strategies; specialized equipment; quality postharvest care; season extension; and marketing opportunities. Learn more »

Find more upcoming events on the Green Times blog »

Download the flyer to register and get more information.

For more information, contact Sarah Smith, 509-754-2011 ext. 413, smithsm@wsu.edu or Jan Busboom, 509-335-2880, busboom@wsu.edu.

• Biosecurity: Is your Herd or Flock Safe from Diseases?
• Saturday, February 4, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
• Puyallup Public Library

During this workshop, participants will learn farm disease prevention, monitoring, tracking, reporting, and identifying, the symptoms of potentially contagious livestock and poultry illnesses from various speakers from WSU Extension and the WSDSA.  This is not a doom and gloom workshop, but is instead for the backyard or small farmer who has concerns regarding current challenges to how backyard farming is conducted.

Please contact Erin at 253-884-9474 or erine@piercecountycd.org, or René at 253-845-9770 ext. 106, or renes@piercecountycd.org, to sign up and get directions to the library.