June 2002
UC winegrape team expands biologically integrated farming systems
DAVIS--Farmers, researchers and agricultural consultants in Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties have been awarded money to promote biologically integrated farming practices in Central Coast winegrape vineyards.
The Central Coast Vineyard Team (CCVT) has been awarded $99,969 to fund the first year of its three-year project. The team of growers, UC scientists and consultants will use the Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) extension model -- a team approach to project management, on-farm demonstrations, monitoring of key biological and economic variables, and farmer-to-farmer information flow. BIFS practices are designed to reduce off-farm movement of pollutants and soil while enhancing natural processes.
"BIFS demonstration projects involve a high level of cooperation among individuals, public institutions and private companies," said Janet C. "Jenny" Broome, associate director of the UC Davis-based statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP). "Projects involving such diverse groups represent a new and innovative extension model, but we have accumulated seven years of experience in this grants program. We are moving ahead to help new teams like the CCVT get started with BIFS, building on the experiences of the earlier projects while retaining flexibility to respond to local conditions."
Funding for this round of BIFS projects came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 Agricultural Initiative. This initiative is intended to help California farmers with pest management challenges resulting from the implementation of the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act.
Farmers involved in the BIFS projects integrate biological and cultural control of pests into their production systems; provide on-farm habitats for beneficial insects; use cover crops to provide all or part of the nitrogen needed by crops; and monitor pests, beneficials, and water and nitrogen needs to inform their farm management decisions. These biologically integrated farming practices, according to Broome, enable conventional farmers to maintain yields and quality while greatly reducing their reliance on agrichemicals.
BIFS teams include farmers, pest control consultants, University of California farm advisors and researchers. The Central Coast winegrape BIFS project will be using successful working vineyards to demonstrate agricultural operations that have reduced pesticide use in high-value crops. Other area growers have agreed to participate by adapting the methods demonstrated to sections of their own acreage and then monitoring and comparing results with conventional practices.
The vineyard team BIFS project addresses the main environmental challenges faced by Central Coast growers without compromising their economic viability. By promoting a system that integrates soil fertility, plant nutrition, and pest management decisions, the project will reduce sediments, pesticides and nutrients moving into bodies of water draining into the Monterey and Morro Bay estuaries.
"Growers participate in the project because they believe that it is an important process," said Kris O'Connor, executive director of CCVT and coordinator of the vineyard BIFS project. "Many of our growers incorporate BIFS practices because it reduces their inputs and improves their quality. It is critical to communicate their successes to other mainstream growers in the region."
Dana Merrill, winegrape grower, vineyard manager and president of the Central Coast Vineyard Team said the winegrape BIFS project will allow growers to work with Cooperative Extension to spotlight the sustainable practices many of them use.
"We have growers in rural areas, near population centers, in cool areas and in warmer climates," he said. "There is no one system that will work the best for everyone. In the BIFS project, we are trying to come up with tools and guidelines that can arm growers to move toward sustainable growing systems. The growers are the best ones to adapt these to individual growing situations."
The steep slopes found on some Central Coast vineyards make them more susceptible to erosion and run-off. CCVT gives special attention to reducing off-site movement of water and soil through the promotion of various cover-cropping strategies.
With an intensive outreach program that includes newsletters, field days, tailgate meetings, grower breakfasts, a sustainability rating system, and Web sites, the project can influence practices throughout the state. At stake is the long-term interest of growers farming 100,000 acres of winegrapes and the health of major watersheds in California.
Media Contacts:
Lyra Halprin, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
