CALIFORNIA
Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
The Western Cover Crops Council and the University of California established this crop demonstration at Park Farming Organics in Sutter County to showcase several varieties of cover crops.
Cover crops supply nutrients on regenerative farm By Vicky Boyd
“The soil hasn’t been tilled, but I’ve heard it’s in beautiful shape,” Collins said. Wynette Sills, who farms organic field crops with her husband, Ed, near Pleasant Grove, said they were considering transitioning to certified regenerative organic. Before doing so, they wanted to learn more about sheep grazing arrangements and specific soil tests, among other considerations. “We’re just at the beginning and learning and figuring out logistics,” she said. Scott Park, who planted his first cover crop in 1989, said they don’t want a single piece of bare ground. If a field isn’t planted with a cash crop, it has cover crops on it. The theory is the roots and the liquid compounds they exude feed the beneficial microbiome living in the soil. Withhold a crop and its roots, and you essentially starve the soil microbes. “Cover crops are driving our system,” Scott Park said. The Parks and many growers like them have seen first-hand how their soils have bene- fited from cover crops. But Sarah Light, UC Cooperative Extension agronomy advisor for Sutter, Yuba and Colusa counties, said she saw mixed results from a three-year cover crop study conducted on three Colusa County farms. Funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture Healthy Soils Program, the trials compared two seeding rates of purple vetch to an untreated control. Light found no significant differences in processing tomato yields following the different
As part of their long-term commitment to building healthier soils, Scott and Brian Park have added sheep grazing to their farm, which grows a mix of organic vegetables and field crops. The father and son, who operate Park Farming Organics near Meridian, say the move into regenerative agriculture fits their philosophy of focusing on practices that produce positive impacts. Central to their efforts is growing cover crops before each cash crop. “Let’s take away the negatives that are taking your crop down,” Scott Park said. “Let’s put in the positives. If you take care of the soil, it will take care of the crop.” To foster learning about the emerging field of regenerative agriculture, the Parks, who are certified regenerative organic, hosted a field day with the Western Cover Crops Council and the University of California. During the event, the father-son duo discussed their cover crop rotations and showed off some of their specialized equipment, much of which was custom made. Attendee Rich Collins said he wanted to become better educated about some of the cover cropping and regenerative practices one of his tenants was using on a field near Dixon. Shortly after the 2023 processing tomato harvest, the tenant planted a sorghum-sudan cover crop, which mined much of the nitrogen left over from the tomatoes. After chopping the cover, the renter no-till planted a vetch cover crop and eventually brought in about 800 goats to graze the field in preparation for planting pickling cucumbers this spring.
See REGENERATIVE, Page 9
8 Ag Alert April 3, 2024
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