Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
”If you want to do it right you have to do ten to twenty varieties, and we are
talking four replications, and sampling, and we are talking a long term,
$600,000 four year grant to do the right research to have good data.” This is an
example of the kind of research that could be a tremendous help for growers
interested in agroecological strategies, but is perceived to be too repetitious by
UC scientists. It is too applied to be of scientific interest.
23. Ingels et al. 1998 is the best source of information on cover crops in
California.
24. Ingels and Klonsky (1998) informally surveyed UCCE Farm Advisors, ask-
ing them to estimate the percentage of all vineyard acreage cover cropped. North
Coast winegrape growers were more likely to use cover crops.
25. Some vineyards on the Central Coast are planted on hillsides particularly
vulnerable to erosion, and the Central Coast Vineyard Team has emphasized the
importance of cover crops to protect soils.
26. This refers to the “Westside BIFS” in western Fresno County. See Mitchell et
al. 1999 and Mitchell 2001.
27. CAFF 1995.
28. “. . . a farmer's role is not solely to tend the crop and defend it from pests,
but also includes being a resource manager: building the soil, enhancing habitat,
nurturing beneficial organisms, and monitoring orchard interactions. In this way
they derive economic benefit from the products of naturally occurring processes,
such as nutrient cycling and biological control.” (CAFF 1995, p. 11)
29. The prune partnership and Sun-Maid BMP manuals consist of decision rules
for individual practices, and do not relate the benefits of farming systems inte-
gration.
30. Jenny Broome, then a scientist working for the California Department of
Pesticide Regulation, recommended that the group develop a point system for
monitoring the adoption of practices.
31. The process of creating the Positive Points System forced them to be specif-
ic about what they really meant by sustainable farming, and to evaluate the
relative importance of different agroecological practices. They had to arrive at an
objective number for evaluating the relative sustainability of their activities—
pest, soil, and water management, and viticultural, wine quality, and continuing
education practices—as applied to the diverse geographic contexts of the Central
Coast. As a management tool, the PPS provides an objective guide for growers'
annual inventory of their practices. Growers report their scores to the Central
Coast Vineyard Team, and they usually increase during the first few years use
because it asks growers to consider dimensions of their farming system to which
they may have previously given little attention. The CCVT has continued to
update the PPS. See Central Coast Vineyard Team 2003 and McDavit and
O'Connor 2004.
32. The workbook is presented in “workshops” at which growers/managers
score their performance in six thematic areas on 109 questions on a point scale
of 1-4, with 4 representing greater sustainability. Ohmart credits the Central
