Organic Farmers on the Ground - Good Growing: Why Organic Farming Works - page 139

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[139], (49)

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Ph il Foster making a marketing call. (Credit: author)

in that some of his land had not been conventionally farmed previously. “So
w e started everything in the process, and we had some parcels of land that
co uld go into certification right away and some that had to transition from
pr evious history. The fifty acres of tomatoes that I had farmed convention-
al ly - and actually toward the end of that tomato crop, I started managing
it and we did our last aphid spray with soap. So our last prohibited material
w as much earlier in the season. This thirty acres here was planned for a sub-
di vision, and they had put in cherries five years earlier. Well, the subdivision
ne ver materialized, so it was an abandoned situation and we were able to
tr ansition this piece into organics, certified organic the first year. And then
w e rented twenty acres next to us, and we had to go through a three-year
tr ansition on that parcel. We are farming on a total 250 acres now.”
As in many parts of the western United States, water availability is an
issue. Here, the farm relies on well water, and it is sufficient. “Since we have
small blocks, and do succession plantings, and utilize the winter for crop
production, we can crop year-round with different crops. Maybe some of it
is fallow on certain years; it just depends on what is going on. We are on drip
irrigation, so we can make the water last longer. We watch how much we
have going on. We can sprinkle at night, drip during the day. The orchard

[139], (49)