Ag Alert Feb. 16, 2022

Organic ‘soil huggers’ promote reduced-till farming ByBob Johnson

ducedor no-till farming, while embracing what the soil has to offer. “Weweresoil huggersandmicrobewor- shippers fromday one,” said TomWilley, who grew 75 acres of mixed organic veg- etables in Madera with his wife Denesse under thenameTDWilleyFarms fornearly 40 years. Since retiring, Willey has joined oth- er legacy farmers and researchers from University of California Cooperative

Extension andCalifornia StateUniversity, Chico, in a study of adapting reduced till- age to organic systems. “We question the violent disturbance our tillage practices brought to themicro- biome,” he said. The central tool in no-till systems is the roller crimper, developed by the Rodale Institute tomanage cover crops and crop residue. This implement incorporates cov- ercropswithoutchemicalsandwithout the

soil disturbance that comeswithdisking. If allowed to thrive, the soilmicrobiome can help ward off crop diseases, absorb and holdmore water, and cycle nutrients more efficiently. “We maintain live plants and roots as manyweeksof theyear aspossible,”Willey said. “Andwe add livestock to addorganic matter throughmanures.” Willey made his remarks in December as a panel of researchers at Organic Grower Summit in Monterey discussed challenges climate change presents for California agriculture and what farmers can do to respond. While the average California tempera- ture has risen 2 degrees since the early 1900s, somemodels forecast anadditional rise of as much as 8 degrees by the end of this century. Such a steep rise in temperatures would reduce snowpack by up to 65%and cause more frequent intense heat waves, droughtsandfloods,accordingtoUCCEor- ganicproductionspecialist JojiMuramoto. “Severe drought and flooding will in- crease 50%,”Muramoto said. Elevated temperatures could reduce fruit quality and could make some im- portant crops unsuitable for commercial production intheCentralValley, including peaches, apricots, walnuts, kiwifruit, nec- tarines and plums. As temperatures rise, scientists say, water will be scarcer and less depend- able, insect pest populations will multi- ply more quickly, and disease pressure will be more challenging. Evencrops that remainsuitable inahot- ter California will contend with different andmore intense pest pressure. “Unfortunately, climate change will mostly exacerbate arthropod pests and diseases,” Muramoto said. “It should in- crease biocontrol, which is good news.” The organic approach to pest control that Muramoto said lends itself to climate adaptation relies on crop rotation, agri- cultural biodiversity, biocontrol, resistant varieties and soil health. He characterizedorganicproductionas locationspecificandknowledge intensive, comparedtoconventional systems thatare location general and chemical intensive. “Many organic growers have already adapted to local ecosystems and have an advantage in adapting to climate change,” Muramoto said. Thecornerstoneof building resilience is soil health.Currently, theOrganicFarming Research Foundation’s website offers re- search articles under its soil health and organic farming reports section. Willeyemphasizes fivecommandments of soil building: Armor the soil; minimize soil disturbance; have adiversity of plants; have continuous liveplants and roots; and integrate livestock into the system. The roots in the soil provide exudates that feed key members of the soil micro- biome, including beneficial mycorrhizal fungi that attach to the roots andmine for waterandnutrients thecropcouldnototh- erwise reach.

Soil-building systems practiced by some organic farmers may hold the key

to the resil- ience need- ed t o pro - duce good crops under difficult cir-

cumstances as the climate warms. Moreorganicgrowersareadvocatingre-

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See SOIL, Page 14

6 Ag Alert February 16, 2022