EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On September 28, 1994 Governor Pete Wilson signed Assembly Bill 3383 (Bornstein, Brown, and Snyder). The bill requested the Regents of the University of California to establish a pilot demonstration program to provide extension services, training, and financial incentives for farmers who voluntarily participate in pilot projects to reduce their use of agricultural chemicals. The resulting program is known as Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS). Funds were provided from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s Food Safety Account and the US Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) to support the first two pilot projects. This report describes the implementation of the BIFS program between January 1995 and December 1996.
The University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP) was selected to administer the pilot program. A 13-member program advisory review board was appointed and policies and procedures were developed in accordance with AB3383. A Request for Proposals among the agricultural and research communities to identify the first two pilot demonstration projects. The program director selected, with advice from the program advisory review board, the first two pilot demonstration projects: one involving winegrapes in the Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape Commission ("Winegrape BIFS") and one involving cotton and row crops in the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley ("West Side BIFS").
In its first year of the Winegrape BIFS project, 31 growers have allocated 47 vineyards as BIFS demonstration sites, a total of 2023 acres. These 31 growers manage about 50 percent of the acreage of vineyards in the Lodi-Woodbridge Crush District #11. Cover crops and monitoring of pests, two practices noted in AB3383 as characteristics of the desired farming systems, are used in over 90% of the Winegrape BIFS vineyards. In-season pest monitoring and a computer database for managing the monitoring information are particular strengths of this project.
The West Side BIFS project involves twelve farms that manage a total acreage of approximately 90,000 acres. Each farm has dedicated one or more field sites of 80 acres or more to BIFS—a total of 1,653 acres in 16 field sites. The most notable success in this project is in the area of soil-building. All 16 plots received either compost (12 plots) or a cover crop (4 plots).
Annual results from both projects have been reviewed by the program advisory review board and the program director. Specific suggestions and requirements for continued funding have been identified and communicated to the project coordinators.
New funding from US-EPA and the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources now permits us to fund at least one additional project. The Request for Proposals has been prepared and is scheduled for distribution in January 1997.