Making Dollars And Sense
Column By: Jim Barlow,
Published in Grape Grower Magazine,
Nov. 2000, by Western Ag Publishers.
A New Look At An Old Thing For
Higher Yields And Profits.
Farming is business.
The idea is to make a profit that is worth something. With the
perpetual cost-price squeeze, regulatory pressures, labor issues and
record keeping chores growers need to use what works to come out
ahead. For example, there are over a hundred different crops in the
Willamette Valley of Oregon and only a few, like grass seed, wine
grapes and the nursery industry are making much money. Yields
everywhere have to be really high and growers must be efficient to
come out ahead. Our country is blessed with talented crop
consultants and university workers who bring growers the latest
technologies. Everyone is looking for a next new product or method
that growers can use to increase yields, efficiency and profits.
What might that be? Where could we look to find some clues?
Let’s go back to
Oregon for a minute. The Northwest is steelhead and salmon
country. For river fishing, some of the best spots are deep in the
forested canyons far from where most people park their cars. The
hike will take you through timbered country that is mixed blocks of
old growth, maturing second growth and newly replanted clear cuts to
reach pools where the great migrations of salmon and steelhead must
pass on their way up stream. The view from the river is of
mountainsides that are quilted with the mixed blocks of timber.
What you see is a
forest that has a self-sustained momentum of growth in which
millions of trees get steadily bigger for decades…with no
applications of fertilizer. None! Insect and disease control are
seldom needed. The momentum of production is the result of a
natural mechanism that can grow plants with no help from Man.
Around the world, trees in managed forests are planted, protected
for a few years from weedy brush and then seen to grow by them
selves to harvest size on a kind of automatic pilot. That’s the
fact of the matter. Ask Weyerhaeuser and Georgia-Pacific.
The same thing happens
powerfully and elegantly in grassland pastures, sagebrush country
and deserts where plants are healthy and productive with no inputs
of applied fertilizers or pest control. There is a fundamental
mechanism by which plants can make an abundant living because of
what is going on in the soil of the root zone. Humm…could this
powerful but under-appreciated plant-growing machine be of any value
in commercial agriculture? You bet! The best coaches preach
winning by being great at the fundamentals. This plant-growing
machine is a fundamental natural process that occurs in the soils of
all orchards, groves, vineyards, hay fields and farms, but to
varying degrees depending on whether the process is being helped or
hindered by the cultural practices in use. But what is it exactly
and how can it be optimized?
This subject is now a
hot topic of research that is bringing about a renaissance in our
understanding of soil ecology. Dozens of brilliant scientists are
pulling together and publishing a more complete appreciation for the
commercial value of a soil that is alive. Nature’s plant-growing
machine, it has been found, is run by a Noah’s Ark of beneficial
fungi, bacteria and other kinds of microscopic critters that
plants expect to encounter in the root zone. Think of a root
system as an upside down coral reef that, instead of little fish,
should be teeming with microscopic life forms that swim between,
live on, or live within root tissues in symbiotic ways.
When someone mentions
soil fungi and bacteria, many people automatically think only of the
kinds that cause disease. To think this way is like thinking that
the only fish in the sea are sharks. Scientists are showing that
when soils are alive with a diversity of soil microbes there will be
desirable kinds that improve soil structure, eat up herbicide
carryover, suppress the types that cause disease, convert organic
matter to humus, connect roots to fertilizer nutrients and produce
natural plant growth hormones that increase root branching and
overall plant production. The result is a momentum of growth that
uses nutrients efficiently and suffers little pressure from insects
and disease. When these functions are in full operation in
cultivated land, costs go down and yields go up. Sound profitable?
What we see in the lab, however, is that the population counts of
microbes are way low on most commercial orchards, vineyards, groves,
hay fields and farms.
Microbe yield makers
are in your soil, but you do need to encourage them, help them
reproduce and put them in gear. Returning crop residues is critical
because the more “hay” you provide, the populous and more active
will be your “herd” of beneficial soil microbes. You need high
populations to get the best yields. Secondly, the soil activator
products that many people are skeptical of and refer to as “snake
oils” are intended to stimulate blooms of the beneficial fungi and
bacteria to help you achieve the required high populations. Using
effective brands of these products can be a great way to keep
microbe populations high. I know from my experience as a partner in
a soil ecology lab that some of these soil activator products really
work and give great value to the growers who use them!
As a result of the
encouraging research at universities and supportive publications
from the USDA and the National Academy of Sciences, attitudes are
changing. Some well-intentioned manufacturers are formulating
next-generation soil activator products that work. Many of the
dealerships that supply growers with fertilizers and chemicals are
evaluating brands of these “biological” products and are beginning
to offer the best of the bunch. Try asking your soil, plant
pathology and nematode labs if they have seen any good activator
products. You can also respond to ads, speak with the person who
knows the most about your area and set out some test plots. With a
little effort, you can find the new thing you have been looking for
to boost yields and profit in a natural mechanism that is as old as
the hills. |
