Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Cultivating the Agroecological Partnership
Model
The almond orchard was full of life. Glenn Anderson managed it so that
it would be. He believed that increasing the diversity of ecological organ-
isms in his orchard would, over the long run, please his almond trees. He
grew beautiful cover crops of clover and vetch, and nurtured a wide
range of beneficial insects, including convergent ladybird beetles
(
Hippodamia convergens
, a relative of the vedalia beetle), lacewings
(
Hemerobius
spp. and
Chrysopa
spp.), assassin bugs (
Zelus
spp.), and
many species of spiders. His neighbors thought Anderson was crazy
letting all those weeds overrun his orchard, but over time they began to
notice the diversity of the insect visitors he was attracting.
The Anderson orchard was the first anchor point in a web, capturing
the interest of a wide range of growers, scientists, public officials, and
environmentalists. A single orchard would have been an anomaly, but
paired with his brother's neighboring conventional orchard and observed
over many years, this orchard persuaded many that ecological organisms
and relationships could provide economic benefit. The creators of the
Biologically Integrated Orchard System (BIOS) spun a network out from
Anderson's almond orchard.
1
Farm Advisor Lonnie Hendricks was intrigued by the multi-year com-
parison data Anderson and his brother had brought to his office.
Hendricks had been interested in biocontrol and in integrated pest man-
agement ever since the beginning of his career. He had traveled the San
Joaquin Valley with Robert van den Bosch, releasing walnut aphid par-
asites, and he had shared his perspectives with growers and pest-control
advisors at monthly IPM breakfasts in Merced County. By the time the
Anderson brothers came to him, in the late 1980s, Hendricks was estab-
lished in his profession and in his dedication to IPM. The funding he
