Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
conditions just as Kupers and the ACIRDS partnership did in
Washington. The major thrust of the Rice BIFS was to research and
demonstrate alternative soil and water management strategies to take
advantage of rice straw nitrogen and reduce the need for herbicides. The
fundamental goal of Dairy BIFS was to optimize the use of manures to
fertilize their forage crops. Producers have to be able to see manure as a
genuine fertilizer, and then be able to re-structure their manure pond
plumbing so as to take advantage of it. The practices developed by dairy
BIFS appeal greatly to producers who could manage manure without
major capital investment.
Partnerships appeal to growers by providing opportunities to experi-
ment with innovative soil, fertility and irrigation techniques, but these
techniques often require the grower to re-think assumptions about how
their farming system should function and appear. These cases illustrate
the difficulties and opportunities cover crops present. To deploy them
successfully requires growers to re-think some assumptions about indus-
trial monocrop agriculture. This can best be accomplished by helping
growers and PCAs think about their operation as an integrated farming
system.
Partnerships Facilitate Integration of Farming Systems
The agroecological strategies of most partnerships distinguish their col-
lective efforts from traditional IPM projects. Twenty-two partnerships
facilitate agroecological learning, either by helping growers develop an
integrated farming system management plan, or by promoting a systems
approach with a manual or farming system assessment guide. Fifteen
partnerships helped growers develop management plans, and twelve cre-
ated partnership manuals. These strategies are designed to help growers
take advantage of beneficial interactions between the components of
their farming systems, such as optimal soil and nutrient use by crops to
reduce insect pest susceptibility. These represent the most sophisticated
use of agroecological principles in conventional California agriculture,
and manifest the meaning of “integrated farming systems” here.
The BIOS pioneers developed the strategy of a management team farm
visit to provide input for an integrated farming system management plan.
Growers' appreciation for these plans appears to have varied widely
