Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
working with the BIFS program, he developed a relational database that
generated a complete data sheet for participating growers. During the
workbook phase, he improved the database so that it stores and presents
multi-season insect monitoring data, and integrates it with irrigation, fer-
tility, and soil information, offering growers a complete set of vineyard
indicators. He regularly extols this “data-driven approach.”
Ohmart presents painful but necessary information about pesticide
use. Because leading growers and the commission have created a social
expectation that pesticide reduction is genuine goal, the original BIFS
growers in this district continue to annually review as a group their pes-
ticide use on their original BIFS blocks, with the growers' names
attached. These data are generally arrayed in something of a bell curve,
with some growers using virtually no pesticides and a few growers using
much more than the average. This degree of sharing documentation of
pesticide use with growers' names attached is highly unusual in agricul-
ture. Just as dentists repeat the instruction to brush and floss, Ohmart
repeatedly stresses the importance of conducting monitoring and evalu-
ating economic damage thresholds before turning to pesticides.
At a meeting in March of 2004, Ohmart and his associate Chris Storm
shared (anonymous) data comparing pest counts with pesticide use, and
this too revealed a few growers had sprayed far below any economic
threshold. In one case, an insecticide was applied when just one leaf hop-
per was found. Storm also discussed a situation in which one grower
sprayed for leaf hopper pests when only the invulnerable adults were
present, not the vulnerable eggs, and at a time when only beneficial
insects were likely killed. The grower had to spray again later in the
season. With the active consent of growers, Ohmart and Storm made vis-
ible bad farming decisions being made in the district. They do not shame
individuals, but establish a tone that presses against irrational pesticide
use with statements like: “this grower was throwing his money away.”
Ohmart repeatedly offers affirmation to the growers for the progress
they have made but he also travels throughout California as an ambas-
sador for sustainability, both within the winegrape industry and to
agriculture in general. He gave 26 talks about the commission's
approach to sustainable farming 2002-2003, and his efforts to promote
this approach are broadly perceived to be integral to the overall commis-
sion's success. Ohmart in turn gives credit to the district's growers, and
