Yolo County farm cultivates seeds, ecological restoration
Julia Michaels, restoration specialist at Hedgerow Farms, stands in a field of milkweed grown for seed at the Yolo County farm. The operation produces some 400 varieties of native grasses and wildflowers. Many are used for ecological restoration, including after wildfires.
By Caleb Hampton In Yolo County, nestled among sprawl- ing orchards and field crops, is a one-of- a-kind farm. Each spring and summer, Hedgerow Farms turns into a patchwork of yellows, greens and violets as its fields of native wildflowers come into bloom. For more than three decades, the farm has cultivat- ed native plants for seed production, sup- plying land managers working to restore wildlife preserves and other nature areas. “We basically create our own super- bloom,” said Julia Michaels, restoration ecologist at Hedgerow Farms. “We go out into the wild and, with permission, find big blooms of native wildflowers and collect a small amount of the seed.” Hedgerow Farms uses the wild seed to plant a field of the native species at its 300-acre farm near Winters, “turning a handful of wild-collect- ed seed into thousands of pounds of seed.” The farm was founded in the 1980s by John Anderson, a veterinarian, environ- mentalist and farmer credited with pio- neering sustainable agriculture methods such as hedgerows, rows of native trees and shrubs planted between fields. “He just started planting natives be- cause he saw a need for it, learning along the way, and it became so valuable for the restoration community,” Michaels said. Anderson died in 2020 at the age of 77. Hedgerow Farms produces around 400 species of native grasses and wildflowers, which it sells to government agencies and other land managers for use in ecological restoration projects, often after wildfires, floods or other disasters. “What we’re doing is amplifying the amount of seed that eventually goes back into the wild,” Michaels said. She likens the farm to captive breeding programs that help endangered animal species reproduce in captivity before re- leasing them back into nature. The farm harvests plants for seed from April through October, using machines similar to wheat or rice harvesters. The plants are then dried on tarps and put through combines to separate the seeds from the plant material. The seeds are cleaned and shipped to a warehouse in San Joaquin County. Native plants grown at the farm include blue-eyed grass, poppies, lupine, sage and many others. Over the years, the farm has built an inventory of millions of pounds of native seeds. Hedgerow also has a farm in Santa Barbara County, where it grows plants better suited to coastal climates and soil types. Because the farm is so unique in what it grows, “there’s lots of trial and error and learning from mistakes and experiences,” said farm manager Jeff Quiter. “There’s not a lot of research on stuff that we grow.” A handful of farms have adopted Hedgerow’s model. But for years, accord- ing to land managers, Hedgerow Farms was on its own in producing native plant seed in California, and it continues to lead the way.
“They were out there alone forging the way for restoration,” said Stacy Martinelli, environmental scientist for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department, which must go through a bidding process before making purchases, had to write special contracts
See SEEDS, Page 8
July 10, 2024 Ag Alert 3
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