Organic farming combines conservation-minded methods with technology, but does not use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Instead, organic farming relies on enhancing and building soil fertility. Still, for a farm to survive in a market economy, it has to be...
News
Microbes Carry a Lot of Carbon to Their Graves
My newsletters are consistently about improving soil fertility, and carbon sequestration is a key part of that process. What’s interesting is that carbon sequestration is still poorly understood despite years of research. I believe that where technology is making its...
What Can We Learn from Soil Management?
I met a grower down in the Oxnard area that grows over 600 acres of blueberries in substrate (pots) and is very successful selling his organic product to Driscoll. One of his primary challenges is growing during the winter. The pots cool off each night much more...
Great Grapes: Accelerating Vineyard Maturation
As we get closer to grape harvest, many of you have been asking us about options for increasing the maturation of vineyard blocks. The question is, how can you accelerate improvements in color, sugar and phenolic levels? The last 30-40 days prior to harvest is when...
Soil – It’s All About the Carbon
I was visiting an organic lemon grower recently. His lemon trees were full of fruit, rich in color and uniform in size. After I toured the property, we stopped and he dug a bit to show me the thick dark brown soil. He invited me over to smell it and it was musty, damp...
Do Amino Acids Work?
Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, continue to get a lot of attention in agriculture. Proteins are one of the major components of the structure and the chemistry of living things. Amino acids may be linked together to form more than 50,000 different...
Listerine in Agriculture
Inspired by Louis Pasteur's ideas on microbial infection, the English doctor Joseph Lister demonstrated in 1865 that use of carbolic acid on surgical dressings would significantly reduce rates of post-surgical infection. Lister's work in turn inspired St. Louis-based...
Why Micronutrients Are So Important
Let’s talk about micronutrients – copper, magnesium, iron and zinc – that are among the essential elements for building phytochemicals, enzymes, and proteins in plants. They’re also important for our own bodies. Researchers have connected a wide range of human health...
Microbes Fuel Agricultural Moonshot
I read an interesting article from the Washington Post of few days ago talking about how agricultural practices will have to change given the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050. With global population skyrocketing, plus climate change and shifting diets, ...
Heat Wave Impact and Options
This current heat wave and others to come put a considerable amount of heat stress on various crops. When crops are under stress, they become less efficient in processing nutrients as their metabolism (photosynthesis, respiration, and the synthesis and degradation of...