A campus garden becomes a center for organics research
By Bob Johnson During the tumultuous 1960s, Shakespearean actor and accomplished gardener Alan Chadwick was invited
supplemented by a 30-acre farm, divid- ed into one area to teach hand-tool urban scale farming and another to teach larger scale mechanized techniques. “The interest and demand exceeded the 3 ½-acre space, so people asked the cam- pus to create a larger space,” said Christof Bernau, farm and garden manager for the UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology. The center manages the farm with a focus on research projects on improving organic farming and inspiring sustainable agriculture, including no-till systems for climate-smart vegetable production at small farms and urban gardens. “Because we are a research farm, we have a little bit of a lot of things here— apples, plums, blueberries, lemons, Mandarins, strawberries and vegetables,” Bernau said during a tour in advance of the 44th Annual Ecological Farming Conference held last month at Asilomar in Pacific Grove. UC Cooperative Extension assistant or- ganic production specialist Joji Muramoto, who is stationed at the farm, is the only ad- visor in the UCCE system devoted exclu- sively to organic farming. Muramoto conducted his first studies of anaerobic soil disinfestation, the most effec- tive way for organic strawberry growers to rid
to build a garden to offer a source of se- renity on the campus of the University of
California, Santa Cruz. The garden carved out of a hillside next to Merrill College proved so inviting that students, faculty and serenity seekers from the nearby town asked campus ad- ministrators to allocate a larger piece of ground for a farm devoted to sustainable organic agriculture. Since the 1960s, the actor’s garden has grown to become the largest organic re- search farm in the UC system. In 2022, it was formally named as an ag- ricultural experiment station, joining UC Merced as the first California campuses to earn the designation in 50 years. The other campuses with the designation are UC Davis, UC Riverside and UC Berkeley. The designation recognizes university scientific research in developing new ap- proaches or technologies for agriculture, health or natural resources. Chadwick’s modest garden has been
Inspired by a decorative garden built on campus, the farm at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has since become an agricultural experiment station focused on sustainable organic farming.
their soil of diseases, at the Santa Cruz farm. More than a decade ago, 15 blueberry varieties were planted on the farm at the request of a UCCE farm advisor in nearby Santa Clara County who wanted to know if the crop could be grown in the area. The trial showed that some blueber- ry varieties can be grown successfully in Santa Cruz County. The research plots are now grown for production. “Blueberries are one of our more pop- ular crops,” Bernau said. “We inject 20% vinegar in our irrigation water to create a more acidic environment.”
Although blueberries can be grown in Santa Cruz County, they cannot be in- sured because the U.S. Department of Agriculture has said there is not enough data to show they can be grown in the area. “I grow 2 acres of blueberries outside Watsonville, and they are delicious,” said Javier Zamora, who grows 200 acres of organic berries, vegetables and flowers under the name JSM Organics. “But I can’t get insurance because the federal government doesn’t think you can grow blueberries here.”
See GARDEN, Page 12
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February 14, 2024 Ag Alert 11
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