Strawberries, one of California's highest value and most input-intensive specialty crops, and dairies, which through manure disposal can contribute significantly to ground and surface water pollution, will be the focus of the latest biologically integrated farming systems (BIFS) projects funded by UC SAREP.

"We received ten excellent proposals, including an apple project and several new grape projects," said Sean L. Swezey, SAREP director. "We regret that we can not fund them all at this time."

The strawberry and dairy projects, along with a citrus project announced earlier, were funded with a $1 million appropriation related to AB 1998,sponsored last fall by Assembly member Helen Thomson (D-Yolo County), who noted she is "pleased to see the state funding being used to start these promising projects. Agriculture is key to California's economy, and the BIFS program can help to maintain our state's competitive edge on the agricultural market."

The bill was supported by a wide range of agricultural organizations and institutions including The Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Farm Bureau, and the University of California.

The strawberry project grant funds a bio intensive production innovators group in the Monterey Bay region called BASIS, for biological agriculture systems in strawberries. The dairy project will integrate forage production with manure management in the San Joaquin Valley.

"A number of key chemical inputs, including methyl bromide, used in conventional strawberry production in California are scheduled to be phased out due to environmental or health concerns, and many are losing their effectiveness due to increasing resistance and cost," said Swezey. "The BASIS work group will address these issues by testing and disseminating innovative ideas in strawberry chemical use reduction."

Carolee Bull, a research plant pathologist at the US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service office in Salinas and principal investigator of the project, noted that strawberry farmers, pest control advisors, agronomists, UC farm advisors and USDA and UC researchers will collaborate on this outreach program. They will document the BASIS insect, weed, pathogen, fertility and soils management options in strawberries and monitor techniques that can assist farmers to significantly reduce or eliminate agrochemical use.

Strawberries are one of the most important economic crops in the Monterey Bay region, with a value of nearly $300 million annually. Planted acreage has doubled on the Central Coast in the last 15 years and now totals more than 11,000 acres. As a high-value, highly competitive specialty crop with exacting cosmetic standards, strawberries are one of the most input-intensive crops in California. There are many environmental and food quality issues which could affect the economic viability of strawberry production in the next few years, including regulatory actions related to methyl bromide, the chemicals used for pest arthropod control and fungal diseases, and the soluble nitrogen fertilizers implicated in well contamination in the Pajaro and Salinas valleys.

"All these issues have motivated strawberry growers to use an integrated approach to soil and pest management which enables them to address chemical use and off-farm contamination," said Bull. "Using mentor growers, we will showcase farms which employ innovative bio intensive management strategies. These farms will demonstrate the BASIS template."

Showcase dairies will be one of the demonstration tools of the dairy manure project, noted Stuart Pettygrove, UC Cooperative Extension soils specialist in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis, and one of the principal investigators. Participating dairy farmers will tour cooperating dairy facilities to see demonstration fields where application of liquid manure is
metered and timed to coincide with crop nutrient demands, and which use fewer applications of commercial nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Pettygrove's co-principal investigators are UC Davis Cooperative Extension specialists Deanne Meyer, livestock waste management, and Dan Putnam, forage production.

"California leads the nation in milk production, and more than sixty percent (800,000) of the state's dairy cows are located in the San Joaquin Valley," said Meyer. "Each year each cow can contribute 50to 100 pounds of nitrogen into a cropping system."

Dairy manure is stored in either liquid or solid form. A large percentage of the nutrients can be collected in a liquid storage system, depending on the design and management of cattle housing, Meyer said. Dairy operators pump the dilute, nutrient-containing water from settling basins and retention ponds through their irrigation systems to adjoining cropland, most commonly used for forage, which is hayed or green chopped and used as feed in the same dairy.

"In principle, this is an integrated system," Pettygrove said. "Unfortunately, the reality is that although the nutrients and organic matter are returned to forage crops, the nutrients are not typically incorporated into fertilizer-related management decisions."

Pettygrove said the enforcement of existing federal and state regulations and the likely introduction of additional manure management regulations will have significant impact on the long-term economic viability of dairy production in the San Joaquin Valley.

"Forage cropping systems designed explicitly to recycle dairy manure must be developed, demonstrated and adopted," Putnam said. "This must be coupled with improved manure nutrient monitoring and irrigation techniques to create a more sustainable dairy manure management system."

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 the use of cover crops or organic forms of nutrients including dairy manure to provide all or part of the nitrogen needed by crops. The intended result, according to SAREP Associate Director and BIFS coordinator Jenny Broome, is that biologically integrated farming systems will enable farmers to maintain yields and quality yet protect natural and human resources by reducing their reliance on agricultural chemicals, including pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.