Organic growers face major transition

摘要

Tom Jones builds soil fertility on his 12-acre strawberry ranch outside Salinas with pre-plant applications of blood meal and gypsum. He recently began using liquid fish and seaweed products to fertilize his crop through the drip lines. Flowers planted at the ends of his rows provide a habitat to attract beneficial insects like lacewings, ladybugs, and big-eyed bugs. The flowers also serve as a trap crop for lygus, giving the pests a place to eat before they travel to the organic berries Jones grows for Driscoll Strawberry Associates, the largest strawberry grower-shipper in the world with 6,500 acres in California, Florida and Mexico. A few miles from Jones' farm Tanimura & Antle has completed the second year of its trial marriage between big time agriculture and organic fanning on the Storm Ranch property. The blocks of lettuce, parsley and endive look every bit as productive as conventional fields. But the crop is fed, not by synthetic fertilizers, but instead by chicken pellets, fish emulsion, compost, cover crops and a material called Biolizer. Tanimura & Antle is converting 500 acres in the Salinas Valley, and an additional 1,000 acres in Yuma, Arizona, to organic production.