CALIFORNIA
Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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Eric Morgan, vice president of environmental science and resources for Braga Fresh, says cover crops in its fields reduced flooding impacts and helped speed planting after heavy rains.
Grower credits cover crops for curbing toll of storms By Caitlin Fillmore
He noted that after the storms, acreage with cover crops was in better shape for planting, even after the time required to terminate cover crops on large parcels. Once planting was able to begin, cover-cropped beds had a two-week head start over other acreage impacted by heavy rains, Morgan said. “What we found was where we had the cover crop planted in the beds, where vegetation was present, we were able to resume tractor work two weeks sooner than bare beds and tillage,” Morgan added. Tim LaSalle, co-founder of the Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems at California State University, said the basics of regenerative agriculture lie in building soil life and fungal dominance as rapidly as possible to create a thriving natural ecosystem that can adequately regulate itself. “This is the wisdom of nature we are learning to support and get robust agricultural yields and increase profits for the farmer,” LaSalle said. “The beauty is it creates a profit margin for the farmer that they are in control of because they need fewer input costs.” Morgan estimates Braga Fresh saved $500,000 by going with alternative tillage tech- niques, especially as it nurtures the first year of a 500-acre tomato commitment with Morningstar Farms. The tomatoes are grown in a multi-layered regenerative agriculture strategy, using
Small investments in regenerative agriculture are showing early results for a Central Coast organic grower. Researchers say the approach shows the resiliency of a traditional farming philosophy amid a challenging growing season.
Eric Morgan, vice president of environmental science and resourc- es for Braga Fresh, said the firm endured widespread flooding from this year’s atmospheric river storms in California.
But the nearly 100-year old farming operation, which grows produce on 20,000 acres in the Central Coast and near Yuma, Arizona, reports a robust growing season. It credits its use of cover crops and other regenerative agricultural practices. “We had our nicest field of organic cauliflower harvest in March after 30 inches of rain, which is bizarre,” Morgan said, referring to storms that drenched its California fields. Braga grows vegetables, including lettuces, broccoli and cabbages, and it markets a value-added line of salad kits and veggie trays. About 70% of Braga Fresh crops are organic. The company employs cover crops on one-third of its California land, Morgan said. He credits the cover crops with reducing flooding impacts. “If we would have had (an additional) one-third of our fields running water off, it would have been one-third more problems to clean up,” Morgan said. “It was fully taxing to us as it was.”
See COVERS Page 14
June 21, 2023 Ag Alert 13
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