Mark Freeman, a Fresno County farm advisor and the principal investigator for the citrus BIFS project administered by UCSAREP, says the project will provide more information to address the "tougher economic and environmental concerns that affect citrus clientele."

"DPR’s plans will be implemented in the year 2000 and will profoundly affect the citrus industry," Freeman says. "The new regulations will affect both growers and pest control advisors. Water management plans will be required before certain chemicals can be applied, both to reduce surface runoff from the fields and deep percolation of chemicals through the soils."

"Our goals are to emphasize careful monitoring, using validated threshold values before applying pesticides or fertilizers, and the reduction of broad-spectrum chemicals," he says. "Growers will be searching for ways to cut costs and maintain quality and yields after the devastating1998 freeze. We plan to supply information and knowledge that will help them accomplish that goal."

Freeman says the citrus growers involved in the BIFS project will be able to use the GIS to compare multiple factors based upon a geographic location. For example, the GIS will allow them to compare insect damage by geographic location. "We’ll be able to see if certain locations are more susceptible to insect damage and yield and quality of fruit. We can enter all the data we collect on insect damage at particular locations and once it is in the GIS, it will be accessible for analysis and discussion with farmers,"Freeman says.

"We can look at citrus orchards that release Aphytis wasps to control California red scale versus using a broad-spectrum insecticide and record that data," Freeman says. "We can then compile data on red scale infestations in different locations and see how the remedies compared."

"I think we’re going to have to get serious about the fact that some of the herbicides and insecticides we’ve been using will go by the wayside, whether because of regulations or resistance problems," he says. "The reality is that we’re going to lose some of those tools. The sooner we gear-up and look for alternatives for weed and pest management, the better off we’ll be."

Severns, who farms 40 acres of navel and Valencia oranges and works in grower relations for Orange Cove/Sanger Packing, says the broadly damaginglate-1998 freeze highlights another reason to look at farming alternatives.

"The freeze underscores the uncertainty we face in farming," he says. "It’s the same uncertainty we face regarding pesticides and herbicides; we want to look strongly at alternatives."

Severns says the opportunity to work with the citrus BIFS project is bound to help growers in their efforts to stay in business. "The market reality is that I’m going to have to ship fruit with high yield, good size and high quality in the next few years if I want to stay in business. I’ve experienced pesticide resistance; things I’ve used no longer work. When that happens, a guy’s got to start asking the question, 'Why is this happening and what can I do to mitigate the problem?’ Maybe the BIFS projects will help us find some answers."

Sharing information with other growers and hearing what they have to say is the reason Shawn Stevenson, a Clovis-area grower, is participating in the management team.

"You might be trying something on your place that someone already tried, and failed or succeeded at, and it’s useful to hear that,"Stevenson says. "The thing about agriculture is that it’s about art as much as it is about science. Things that work or don’t work vary. You can’t write a cookbook or a manual on farming. Talking about it helps."

Stevenson farms 1,350 acres of citrus and has been using cover crops on much of his land for more than 15 years. "Our use of cover crops evolved from using them on hillside acreage with erosion problems," hesays. "The cover crops were effective in reducing the erosion, and it seemed to me there were other benefits, too, including the reduction of compaction. It started me thinking about the soil itself, and how the cover crops might help with the water penetration problems we have around here."

Stevenson says he also began to think about the impact of more than 30years use of the herbicide simazine in his orchards, including its effect on tree root health. "Because of resistance and regulations, it’s useful to learn to farm with fewer chemicals," hesays.

Doug Reese, a Fresno County crop consultant and a member of the citrus management team, is interested in the mutual benefits of the BIFS approach.

"My clients have been using cover crops for soil fertility and beneficial insect releases to combat California red scale, and they customize fertility programs for each block of trees," he says. "It will be nice to compare notes with others who have been doing similar practices, and to hear about other management practices that are helping to increase crop quality and reduce inputs."

Stan Xavier, an independent appraiser at Correia-Xavier agricultural appraisers in Fresno, is working with the citrus BIFS farm management team to help farmers, pest control advisors and lenders learn how to use the Internet to get useful information.

Xavier and the Agricultural Lenders Society put together an "Ag and the Internet" training session that offers basic and customized lessons in using the World Wide Web. Xavier has made some of Freeman’s cost studies available on the Web.

"The Internet has made it easier and more cost effective to disseminate cost studies and other critical information to growers," Xavier says. "This is one of the areas where I can help."

Farmers involved in the BIFS projects are integrating biological and cultural control of pests into their production systems; providing on-farm habitats for beneficial insects, mites and spiders; and emphasizing soil-building practices such as using cover crops to provide all or part of the nitrogen needed by crops. The intended result, according to Jenny Broome, SAREP BIFS coordinator, is that biologically integrated farming systems will enable farmers to maintain yields and quality while greatly reducing their reliance on agricultural chemicals, including pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

BIFS is designed around a team approach to farm management, using farmers, pest control consultants, University of California farm advisors and researchers. Like the walnut, prune and rice projects (see Sustainable Agriculture Vol.10, No.3, Fall 1998), and the 1994-funded wine grape and cotton/vegetable crops BIFS projects (see Sustainable Agriculture Vol.7, No.4, Fall 1995), the citrus project will be using successful working farms to demonstrate agricultural operations that have reduced pesticide use in high-value crops. Other area farmers have agreed to participate by adapting the methods demonstrated to sections of their own farms and then monitoring and comparing results with their normal practices.

"This citrus project presents a road map of the transition from more conventional, to transitional, to more biologically based citrus farming systems in California," says Broome. "Interested growers will be able to learn from the citrus BIFS growers, consultants, and UC researchers and extentionists about adopting the most environmentally sound and economically viable practices for their particular citrus orchards."

The citrus BIFS project is funded for one year. Contingent upon demonstrated progress, the project will be eligible for renewed funding for two additional years.