Growers assist SAREP’s Buy California Initiative BIFS outreach project

by Bev Ransom, SAREP

In January 2003, SAREP was awarded Buy California Initiative funds by the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the USDA to coordinate a project extending the adoption of biologically integrated farming systems. This outreach project builds on the successes of SAREP’s Biologically Integrated Farming Systems (BIFS) program by enlisting experienced growers to inform a wider audience of farmers about the practices demonstrated in the prune, walnut and dairy BIFS projects. An update on the outreach project follows.

Prunes/Dried Plums
Dan Bozzo, a Butte county prune grower, shared his experiences growing cover crops with other prune growers at a short course held in Gridley last June. Due in part to his experience as a participant in the SAREP BIFS prune project for the last five years, Bozzo was able to answer growers’ questions and describe how cover crops are particularly helpful in orchards where standing water is a problem.

Fred Thomas, CERUS Consulting, is coordinating the prune outreach component of this project. Thomas has assembled a team of prune growers including Bozzo and management team members from the prune BIFS project to guide this outreach. At winter field meetings for Yuba, Sutter, Madera, and Merced county growers,
the outreach team prune growers helped farm advisors Franz Niederholzer, Brent Holtz, and Maxwell Norton describe the potential money saved on dormant sprays when growers use the decision guide demonstrated in the prune BIFS project. (All farming decision guides developed as part of the Integrated Prune Farming Practices/BIFS project are available at: www.agresearch.nu/ipfp_wsrd.htm.)

Walnuts
Farm advisors Joe Grant and Kathy Kelley Anderson, who coordinate the walnut outreach component of SAREP’s project, have met several times with a team of seven walnut growers to guide their outreach to other growers. Based on recommendations from the team, Grant and Anderson conducted focus groups with growers and pest control advisers to learn more about grower decision-making in nitrogen fertilizer use. Grant and Anderson are working with their outreach team to determine the most effective ways to encourage the use of leaf sampling, irrigation water testing, calculating nitrogen contributions from cover crops, and other nitrogen-budgeting practices to prevent overfertilization that can affect water quality.

Walnut outreach efforts included a Walnut Orchard Floor Management field day in August where Stanislaus and San Joaquin county growers learned about cover crops and how to manage weeds without herbicides. (A handout on Organic Weed Management in Walnut Orchards by Tom Lanini, Cooperative Extension weed ecologist, and Grant is on the Web at: www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/bifs/organicweedmanagement.pdf.) The most recent event was a 2003 fall field day to demonstrate how to chip and shred orchard prunings as an alternative to burning. This event, presented in collaboration with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, provided growers with a practical way to address air quality concerns.

Dairy/Forage Crops
Stuart Pettygrove, Cooperative Extension specialist, is coordinating the dairy outreach component of this project. The dairy BIFS project demonstrated ways to integrate forage production with manure management to protect water quality and save money. These practices will be disseminated to a wider audience with a manual developed for Central Valley and North Bay dairies that will highlight the experiences of dairy farmers successfully using environmentally sound practices on their farms.

Results from SAREP’s walnut, prune, and dairy grower surveys have also provided information on effective BIFS practices and their degree of adoption, as well as attitudes and exposure to BIFS, which will help guide future work with Buy California funds. Additional outreach events for prune and walnut growers will be scheduled through 2004. For information on upcoming events, check SAREP’s Web site at: www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/BIFS/BuyCA.htm.