Using liquid nitrogen tanks to preserve semen from imperiled subspecies, WSU researchers plan to develop a sperm bank repository for honey bees. Photo by Bob Hoffmann.

Honey bees face a lot of challenges, according to Steve Sheppard, professor of entomology at WSU. Invasive mites can sap a brood’s strength and vector viruses. Pesticides can build up in the brood comb and gradually weaken the bees. And while the agricultural practice of monoculture provides a lot of food, it offers little of the nutritional variety that bees need. Some of these threats may weaken or kill a hive on their own, but a combination of factors is thought to be the cause of colony collapse disorder, in which the worker bees abruptly disappear and the entire local population is doomed.

Concerns over honey bee safety in the United States are not new. In 1922, shortly after tracheal mites were identified as the likely cause of bee kills on England’s Isle of Wight, the United States restricted the importation of live honey bees.

“The ban was fairly effective,” said Susan Cobey, a WSU research associate working with Sheppard. “It prevented tracheal mites from reaching our shores until 1984.” Just a few years later a more serious threat, the Varroa mite, with the suitably ominous scientific name Varroa destructor, entered the United States. “The Varroa mite feeds on the developing bees, or brood, and also introduces bacteria and viruses that damage the health of the hive,” Cobey said.

“Varroa mites will normally kill a colony within two years without intervention by a beekeeper,” Sheppard explained. Intervention often comes in the form of chemical miticides, which are tolerated by bees in the short term, but cause harm over the long term as chemical residues accumulate in hives.

Creating Smarter, Stronger Bees

Plant and animal breeders often seek to overcome challenges by finding resistant specimens to selectively breed, incorporating the resistance into the overall population. However, for bees, U.S. entomologists must also contend with a limited honey bee gene pool because of the import ban.

“Honey bees, Apis mellifera, have 28 recognized subspecies in Europe, Africa, and Asia–the general vicinity of where honey bees are thought to have originated,” said Sheppard. Evaluation by U.S. bee breeders of this extensive genetic diversity (such as for genes that may help honey bees adapt to differences on our continent) was effectively halted by this country’s import restrictions.

In an effort to find and utilize the needed genes, the USDA granted WSU a permit in 2008 to import honey bee semen for breeding purposes, subject to strict screening for viruses. To meet the various goals of beekeepers in different climate zones across the U.S., Sheppard and his colleagues identified three subspecies for import.

Click to watch and learn more about challenges facing honey bees and WSU efforts to expand the gene pool.

Commercial beekeepers in southern states often want bees that reproduce quickly to provide maximum pollination of early blooming crops like almonds. WSU plant breeders have been collecting semen from Italian honey bees for this trait. Beekeepers in colder climates want bees that are more reluctant to reproduce during the first warm spell in spring, because a cold snap afterwards could kill the vulnerable brood.

To find appropriate genetic stock, Sheppard and colleagues have been collecting semen from Carniolan bees of the eastern Alps and Caucasian bees from the mountains of Georgia (formerly part of the Soviet Union). The semen is imported by special permit and tested for viruses. Queen bees inseminated with approved semen can then be released to queen bee producers.

The question of how to store honey bee genetic material for years, as is already the practice for other animals of agricultural importance, has been solved with the help of Sheppard’s graduate student Brandon Hopkins. While semen extraction and insemination of honey bees is known technology, preservation of the semen has always been a challenge. But Hopkins discovered that liquid nitrogen maintains the semen viability for decades, allowing the preservation of imperiled subspecies in a honey bee genetic repository.

Sheppard and Cobey discuss the challenges facing honey bees and the efforts to expand the U.S. honey bee gene pool in a video at http://youtu.be/Lm2kibnKYnU.

-Bob Hoffmann

Vegetable Grafting to Increase Nicaragua’s Crop Yields

Members of Nicaraguan farmer cooperatives can improve crop yields as a result of grafting techniques taught by Carol Miles (row 2, third from left) and Patti Kreider (row 2, second from right). Photo courtesy of Carol Miles.

Nicaraguan farmers may soon be able to double their produce yields thanks to a series of grafting workshops offered there this spring by a WSU vegetable horticulture team. “If they are able to get rootstock, they now have the potential to overcome the primary production-limiting issues, which are disease and heat,” said Associate Professor Carol Miles, who, with Technical Assistant Patti Kreider, recently returned from a two-week trip focused on teaching vegetable grafting techniques to 88 Nicaraguan farmers at seven sites around that Central American country’s capital city.

The series of workshops, held April 8—22, focused on women subsistence farmers, including many single mothers who rely on home-grown vegetables to feed their families. The mostly church-sponsored workshops were aimed at helping the women farmers improve production, increase nutrition, and create economic prosperity in their communities. “A conservative estimate would be that they now have the opportunity to increase their vegetable production by 50 percent,” Miles said, referring to the grafting techniques she and Kreider shared with the Nicaraguan farmers. “They’re very tech-savvy, even at the village level where they don’t have access to formal education.”

An Effective Pesticide Alternative

Grafting is the process of joining the scion (a live cutting) of a market-desirable variety to the stem of a rootstock variety that is in the same family as the scion but has disease resistance or another desirable trait. Grafting is used to create a healthier, more vigorous, disease-resistant plant that is able to thrive under difficult growing conditions. According to Miles, grafting is both more affordable and sustainable, as well as safer, than using agricultural chemicals–especially in a country such as Nicaragua where chemicals are very expensive and often misused because of label misinterpretation.

“In our research program here at WSU Mount Vernon, we have developed simple grafting techniques for tomatoes that have 98 percent success rates and don’t require high technology,” said Miles. “So this information is easily transferable to a country like Nicaragua, where subsistence farmers are the primary agricultural producers.”

Collaborative Education Opportunities

Miles is optimistic about the potential for increasing Nicaraguan subsistence crop yields. She thinks that the culture of farming cooperatives there will likely result in the spread of grafting knowledge beyond those who participated in the workshops. “Cooperative groups are a real part of their social system,” she said. “They share knowledge and information and organize work parties. They are extremely hard working; everyone works from dawn until dusk. And they are very good farmers who readily receive and adopt new information.”

Miles said she was encouraged by the farmers’ generosity and warm welcome in light of the difficulties they face on a daily basis. “Just getting through life for some of these women is hard, but there was no anger or discontent,” she added. “They often have to carry in firewood and water, even in the towns. And although Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America, we found the people there to be wonderfully generous in spirit. Their reaction to our workshops was all positive. It was an amazing place to share our knowledge.”

The Florida International Volunteer Corps, under its Nicaragua Professional Exchange Program, sponsored the trip. The volunteer corps is funded through a Florida state appropriation to support missions to Central America and the Caribbean. Approximately 100 volunteer missions each year provide training and technical assistance to improve environmental, social, and economic conditions in the region.

For more about international research and agricultural development generated by WSU scientists, see http://ird.wsu.edu.

-Cathy McKenzie

Anaerobic Digestion: Beyond Waste Management

Click to watch the recently released video about how state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion systems can benefit the world. By Sylvia Kantor.

Organic waste, be it municipal or industrial solids and liquids or manure, has long been a source of air and water pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions. Anaerobic digestion, a biological process of breaking down organic waste material, is no longer used only to reduce odors and produce electrical power. Anaerobic digestion centered within a system of complementary technologies offers much more. Working with commercial partners, researchers at Washington State University have transformed an environmental concern in agriculture into an environmental, economic, and social solution. WSU researchers have expanded the capacity of anaerobic digestion to address problems of nutrient management to produce transportation fuels, and much more.

A new 7.5 minute video shows how state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion systems can offer multiple benefits to society. The video is produced by the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR) at Washington State University: http://youtu.be/Ei49Z4oeUtY.



Save the date! July 10, 2013 WSU CSANR will host an Anaerobic Digestion Systems Field Day near Lynden, WA for more information visit http://csanr.wsu.edu/pages/2013ADFieldDay.

-Sylvia Kantor

Imagining Tomorrow

Simply placing a water wheel in sewer pipes can generate energy, these students from Silverdale, Wash., demonstrated. Photo courtesy of WSU News.

The 2013 Imagine Tomorrow Competition recently brought more than 500 students to WSU from Idaho, Montana and Washington to find innovative ways to fuel the future. Students involved in the event teamed up to influence behaviors, rethink policy, reengineer technologies, and redesign communities, following the theme, “Redesign. Reform. Refuel.”

“All of you are doing such incredible things at such a young age,” said keynote speaker Robert Peters, Washington state president for Bank of America. “At a time when many kids are distracted by the prospect of getting their first car, you’re thinking of creating a carbon-neutral car.”

Teams were tasked with researching their ideas rigorously and presenting proposals to judges who hail from the top ranks of academia and industry. Students with interests in all subjects were invited to compete. First place winners in each of four challenge categories — behavior, biofuels, design and technology — raised the bar for presenting creative, thoroughly researched ideas to solve energy problems.

A team of students from Sentinel High School in Missoula, Mont., won the behavior challenge by designing a video game that influenced players to recycle—in real life. The top award in the biofuels challenge went to students from Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Wash., who discovered that combining biodegradable plastic with cow manure in an anaerobic digester yields significantly more biogas than when manure is digested alone.

Students from STEM School in Redmond, Wash., conquered the design challenge with an affordable way to retrofit existing homes with renewable energy technologies. A team from Union High School in Camas, Wash., developed an easy, affordable way to control and monitor home energy usage and nabbed the top award in the technology challenge.

“This year we saw a number of projects that demonstrated extraordinary creativity,” said M. Grant Norton, Imagine Tomorrow co-chair and dean of the WSU’s Honors College. “Some of the students had ideas so innovative and so well-researched that they could even begin steps toward commercialization.”

- Marilyn Reed

Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW 590)


This month it’s hard to imagine our lush green yards and landscapes being fuel for fire, but now is a great time to replace junipers and other “fire fuelish” plants, and create defensible spaces around our homes. Fire-Resistant Plants for Home Landscapes (PNW590) is a publication for Washington, Oregon, and Idaho that shows homeowners how to plan a fire-resistant landscape and select plants to reduce the risk of damage from wildfires. Available for $3 (plus shipping) from WSU Extension, this booklet depicts over 100 trees, shrubs, and ground cover plants in full-color photos with descriptions of their size, shape, growing requirements, and more. For more details, including ordering information, visit http://bit.ly/16HMLKA.

Chockfull of science-based answers, this short book was written by experts specifically for home landscapers in the Pacific Northwest. It’s just one of hundreds of helpful publications available from the WSU Extension Online Bookstore: https://pubs.wsu.edu/Default.aspx.

Lessandro Gontijo, a doctoral student in the  entomology department, sweeps for bugs.

Washington State University researchers have found they can control one of fruit growers’ more severe pests — aphids — with a remarkably benign tool: flowers.

The researchers recently published their study in the journal Biological Control. They found that plantings of sweet alyssum, a popular annual with small, white, sweet-smelling flowers, attracted a host of spiders and predator bugs that, in turn, preyed on woolly apple aphids, a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.

“The results were striking,” said lead researcher Lessando Gontijo, a doctoral student in the WSU Department of Entomology. “After one week aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots, and these differences were maintained for several weeks.”

To select an appropriate flower for the study, the researchers screened six candidates, including marigolds and zinnias. They chose sweet alyssum because it attracted the greatest number of hoverflies, or syrphids, which have larvae that often feed on aphids. Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of both pollen and nectar.

Alyssum attracts beneficial insects that eat and help control wooly aphids.

Researchers compared plots of apple trees with interplantings of sweet alyssum to tree plots without flowers. While the sweet alyssum attracted hoverflies as desired, Gontijo and colleagues found few hoverfly larvae, indicating that the hoverflies were not the primary biological agent of control for aphids in the test orchard.

The mystery of the disappearing aphids seemed solved when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory bugs in the plots with sweet alyssum. But was it really the flowers that attracted these aphid predators? The scientists sprayed protein markers on the sweet alyssum and later captured bugs at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the creepy-crawlies tested positive for the proteins, proving that they had visited the flowers.

Betsy Beers, WSU Research/Extension Entomologist, mentor of Gontijo and co-author on the paper, notes that “the woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid, attacking tree shoots and roots. The aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew, which can coat the apples, causing much annoyance during harvest.”

The aphids were previously kept at bay when orchardists sprayed pesticides to control codling moths. Since the phase-out of organophosphate insecticides used for codling moth, the woolly apple aphid has been making a comeback in central Washington and elsewhere.

The researchers say that the use of sweet alyssum for biological control can be easily integrated with standard orchard-management practices, but should be even more appealing to organic growers who have fewer insecticide options.

The article, “Flowers Promote Aphid Suppression in Apple Orchards,” was published in the July 2013 issue of Biological Control, and is available online at http://bit.ly/165spKS. WSU entomologist William Snyder was also a co-author.

-Bob Hoffmann

High-Residue Farming in the Columbia Basin Keeps Soil in its Place

“No till,” a high-residue farming practice, reduces soil erosion. If you’ve ever eaten a Taco Time burrito, you’ve sampled no-till beans grown by Central Bean Company.

A growing number of farmers in the Columbia Basin who grow crops under irrigation are adopting tillage practices like no till, minimum till or strip till that leave crop residues on the soil surface and leave soil undisturbed. These high-residue farming practices reduce soil erosion, build soil quality, and more. Increasingly, producers find high residue farming not only improves soil and keeps it in place, but it’s the neighborly thing to do (less dust) and it can improve their bottom line. A win-win-win.

Many Pulses

For the last eight years, McGuire has been helping farmers in the irrigated Columbia Basin learn how to leave crop residues on the ground. In irrigated areas, crop yields are generally higher than in dryland farming, but, as McGuire points out, “More residues are produced, but because of our low humidity the residues above the soil don’t decompose quickly. Residues need to be carefully managed to get the soil benefits but not have residues get in the way of planting seeds and allowing seedlings to emerge.”

A significant benefit of high-residue farming is that it helps minimize erosion caused by the high winds that blow through the area. “Wind is a big factor in the Columbia Basin. Residues left on the soil surface keep soil particles from being carried away and protect emerging crop plants from wind damage,” McGuire says.

Tom Grebb agrees. “The main thing for me is tying down the soil as quickly and as long as you can. Soil with no residues blows out.” After leaving residues in place, he has noticed changes in soil organisms as well. “No till is also better for beneficials in the soil. I had never seen the number of earthworms until we started using minimum till. We also see more evidence of mycorrhizal activity,” Grebb said. Mycorrizal fungi live in the soil among plant roots, helping plants take up water and nutrients.

Grebb also finds that, because he needs to make only one or two passes across his fields with no-till equipment, not only does more soil stay in place, but he uses less fuel. However, because of the investment in the equipment, which is often more expensive than convention tillers, he isn’t prepared to say he saves money overall. In some cases, though, Grebb has enjoyed higher yields with no till.

McGuire notes some additional motivations for adopting high-residue farming practices. “Besides being a good neighbor by controlling dust, some farmers find they can double crop: grow one crop and then another short-season crop. And in deep-well areas, farmers who have to pay for water are interested in the water savings.”

Plenty to Learn

McGuire’s goal is to help farmers increase their profits while addressing environmental concerns. His research has resulted in a number of resources to help growers with high residue farming, but he finds there’s always more to learn, especially when it comes to adapting practices to conditions in the Pacific Northwest.

How much benefit does high residue farming provide for soil? Does growing crops like potatoes undo the benefits of leaving soil undisturbed? How well will high residue farming work with crops like alfalfa, timothy hay, or buckwheat? What about specialty crops? In California, McGuire pointed out, it took ten years to figure out how to successfully adapt high residue farming for tomatoes and cotton. Can it work for crops like carrots in the Pacific Northwest?

For more information about growing crops sustainably in Washington, check out the Perspectives on Sustainability blog at: http://bit.ly/uDDtUu.

-Sylvia Kantor

Learn Mushroom Cultivation and Grow Your Own

During a recent mushroom cultivation workshop, Jim Freed of WSU’s Forestry program demonstrated ways to inoculate small logs with edible mushroom spawn. Photo by Kate Halstead.

Whether you have a tiny backyard or hundreds of acres, growing gourmet mushrooms can be a satisfying and tasty venture. In the Pacific Northwest, there are about a dozen species including oyster, shiitake, and maiitake, which can be grown using many of our native tree species. However, ensuring success with this type of backyard farming involves developing a good understanding of the process and knowledge of the techniques involved.

Join us Saturday, June 1, 2013, from 10am to 2:30pm at Ed’s Apples to learn about the different types of edible mushrooms that can be grown in our area and how you can start your own ‘fungi farm’. Ed’s Apples is at 13420 339th Ave SE in Sultan, just off SR 2.

Topics covered will include the different species that grow well in our climate and forests, plus various growing media such as log, stump, and sawdust culture. Demonstrations will include how to prepare and inoculate logs; care and harvest procedures to encourage optimum production; and low-tech processing and cultivation of oyster mushrooms using pasteurized wheat straw for indoor production. This cultivation method will appeal to people wanting to produce mushrooms in a very short time with minimal equipment. All participants will receive a packet of shiitake plug spawn with complete instructions for cultivating your own outdoor mushroom logs.

Instructor Jim Gouin is a staff mycologist and consultant with Fungi Perfecti, an Olympia-based company that specializes in home and commercial mushroom growing supplies. Jim has a forestry background and teaches forest fungi cultivation workshops throughout North America.

The cost is $65 per person, which includes the workshop, handouts, a catered box lunch, and 100 shiitake plugs to take home. Space is limited and your paid registration must be received by May 30 to ensure a spot. Register online at http://bit.ly/12srGg8. You can also download the form at http://bit.ly/11Yrntq and mail with your check. For registration information, contact Karie Christensen at (425) 357-6039 or e-mail christensen4@wsu.edu.

For more information on the course, contact Andrew Corbin, corbina@wsu.edu, (425) 357-6012.

-Kate Halstead

New Resources for Small Farms: English, Spanish, and Hmong

The Extension WSU Small Farms Team has put together four narrated slide shows, now available online, for small farmers in English, Spanish, and Hmong. These resources provide insights and information on market and consumer analysis, soil quality and fertility, getting started in Cooperative CSAs, and doing business professionally in agriculture. These resources are free to share with farmers and co-workers at http://bit.ly/14tneAc.

The grain-like seed crop quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is growing in popularity and very likely will soon be grown more widely in the Pacific Northwest, thanks to a $1.6 million USDA grant recently awarded to a team of Washington State University researchers.

Quinoa is in high demand by consumers because it is a highly nutritious, high-protein (and gluten-free) alternative to grains and rice.

Kevin Murphy is leading an effort to develop new varieties of quinoa to meet a growing domestic deman. Photo by Brian Clark, WSU.

Kevin Murphy, the project’s lead scientist and a plant breeder for the WSU research project, says that current and growing demand in the US outweighs production from traditional quinoa producing countries like Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. “Demand is driving distributors, wholesalers, and retailers to seek out domestic, reliable sources of quinoa and this spells opportunity for Pacific Northwest farmers,” Murphy said.

Organic farmers and quinoa distributors and retailers alike are expected to benefit from this research. “Consumers want organic and local sources of quinoa,” Murphy says. The project aims to identify the best varieties suited for organic production in the region, develop best management practices for production, and assess market demand and future marketing options for quinoa growers and sellers.

Varieties of quinoa grow in plots at WSU’s organic farm in Pullman. Photo by Brian Clark, WSU.

The research project ties into a larger global focus on the potential of this nutritious crop. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. According to International Year of Quinoa website, the goal of the campaign is to “focus world attention on the role that quinoa´s biodiversity and nutritional value plays in providing food security and nutrition and the eradication of poverty.”

Quinoa’s potential to increase options for regional farmers and locavores as well as to address global food security lies in its adaptability to marginal growing conditions. “Compared to other crops, quinoa has excellent drought and salinity tolerance,” explains Murphy. “Quinoa can adapt to many environmental and climatic conditions. It thrives in a wide range of soil pH and tolerates light frost and late rains.”

One area that needs improvement is developing varieties with greater heat tolerance. So far, Murphy’s variety trials indicate that varieties bred from Chilean germplasm are best adapted to high maximum temperatures of the Pacific and Inland Northwest regions.

WSU will host an International Quinoa Research Symposium August 12-14 in conjunction with the International Year of Quinoa. Researchers from around the world will gather in Pullman, Wash., to learn about current research and view demonstrations of variety and breeding field trials.

-Sylvia Kantor

Weed Scientist Synergizes ‘Superfruit’ Study with Scottish Berry Breeders

Raspberries are one of the “superfruits” being studied this summer by WSU Mount Vernon weed scientist Tim Miller and his colleagues in Scotland. Photo by Tim Miller, WSU.

When WSU weed scientist Tim Miller first teamed up with fruit researchers in the United Kingdom last summer, he was hoping to learn how weeds affect the quality and nutritional value of raspberries. Now he is traveling to the James Hutton Institute in Invergowrie, Scotland, for a second year of berry trials, May 14-23, and when he returns, his findings may help growers produce a higher-quality “superfruit.”

Miller developed the series of trial projects in order to find out whether weeds, or the herbicides used to control them, produce berries with less of the vitamin C and other antioxidants and nutrients which make berries so healthful and appealing to consumers. His research complements that of UK researchers who have perfected the method for measuring the amount of many compounds in raspberry and black currant, two so-called “superfruits” which contain large amounts of antioxidants.

Antioxidants are vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that protect and repair our bodies’ cells from damage caused by free radicals that can impair the body’s immune system. Superfuits are believed to help fight off that damage by boosting the immune system, enabling the body to better ward off colds, flu, and other infections.

“Since we both grow berries, it was a natural thing for a Pacific Northwest weed scientist and the small fruit breeders in the United Kingdom to team up and see what some of the factors are that affect berry quality,” said Miller.

For raspberries, one common factor may be how weeds are managed. “Producers in the Pacific Northwest, as in Scotland, use herbicides to manage cane growth and control weeds,” Miller said. Their research may determine — for the first time — whether weed control also influences berry quality, sugar content, color, and antioxidant level.

According to Miller, last summer’s initial Scottish berry-trial results linked the presence of some hard-to-control weeds like broadleaf dock, fireweed, and quackgrass to negative impacts on berries such as lower sugar and vitamin C content and reduced color and juice sweetness. He said this year’s trials will provide even more useful information for berry growers and consumers across the globe.

“A better understanding of the potential effects of management decisions will give growers one more tool to improve not only the yield of their fruit, but also the quality of those fruits for consumers,” Miller said. “Whenever you test living plants in the real world, you can expect some variation in the results from year to year. If berry quality factors respond the same way two years in a row, it’s a good indication that you are looking at a true response rather than simply a response due to temperature or some other environmental factor.”

-Cathy McKenzie

When, How, and Why to Grow Your Own Vegetables—and More

Just in time for the spring growing season, one of the founding publications in WSU’s Home Garden Series is now available to help Washington State gardeners transform their yards into edible landscapes.

Whether you’re looking to participate in local farmers markets, trim a food budget, or simply start growing your own food, Home Vegetable Gardening in Washington can be consulted for everything from building garden beds and planting seeds to pest management and harvesting. It also offers growing details for more than 70 vegetable crops, including quality differences between home-grown and store-bought produce, production per square foot, and monetary values.

One of the most important factors to consider when selecting vegetable crops is climate, says the manual’s lead author Carol Miles, a WSU Extension vegetable specialist and Master Gardener educator. She and her coauthor specialists in horticulture and entomology added color-coded maps to the publication so that new growers can easily match their vegetable garden site to planting zone dates and temperatures.

The peer-reviewed and professionally edited and designed gardening guide is available at http://bit.ly/10zjBpb. Visit the WSU Extension Online Store home page at https://pubs.wsu.edu/ for the latest releases, and enter “home garden series” in the search box for more science-based growing advice. Another useful site for home gardeners ishttp://vegetables.wsu.edu/, where you can find links to research on plant diseases and pests, organic agriculture, food safety, and much more.

Upcoming Farm Walks

April 22: Vineyard Habitat Restoration, Klickitat County

Robin Dobson and Kathleen Perillo are engaged with ecodynamic farming in their 12-acre vineyard. They have introduced native flora into the farm and among crop plants to encourage biodiversity that lets the good bugs out-compete harmful pests. Learn how they manage the habitat, their grape harvest, and making wine by hand. Participants will also tour their winery where they use no external inputs and let nature do its work. Wine tasting included.

May 6: Grade A Goat Dairy Farm Walk Near Spokane

Heron Pond Farms, located at the base of Tower Mountain in Spokane, is a small, sustainable, family-owned farm providing quality artisanal cheeses and heritage pork to local consumers, markets, and restaurants. Heron Pond is dedicated to humanely raising healthy, happy, hormone free, dairy goats and large black hogs in a pasture-based setting that encourages the animals to behave naturally. During this farm walk, visitors will have the opportunity learn what goes into creating a Grade A dairy products. Participants will see the entire operation, starting with the milking room and ending at the cheese cave. Meet the happy goats and pigs that make Heron Pond Farms their home! Cheese tasting included.

The Heron Pond Farm walk is offered by Tilth Producers and the WSU Small Farms Program. Register for the walk, and check out other upcoming events, at http://tilthproducers.org/events/, or call Jacqueline Cramer, Tilth’s educational programs coordinator, at 206-632-7506.

Whatcom County Farm & Food Finder

Sustainable Connections has published the 2013 edition of the free Whatcom Food & Farm Finder, the region’s comprehensive guide and map to local food and agriculture that helps connect Whatcom County visitors and residents alike with local farms, restaurants, grocers, and other resources.

The Whatcom Food & Farm Finder also includes a wealth of information and resources to help shoppers find out how to eat with the seasons, find u-pick and farm stands, celebrate at local events, find organic farms and learn about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, source products directly from fishers and ranchers, and learn about the importance of our local food and agriculture.

The 2013-2014 Food & Farm Finder is available online at eatlocalfirst.org as well as at locations around the Puget Sound.

Phosphorus recycled from human and animal waste for plant fertilizer could ease demand for the dwindling, increasingly expensive rock-mined element. Scientists at WSU have found plants flourish with struvite, a waste ingredient composed of magnesium, nitrogen, and phosphorous. Teamed with Multiform Harvest, a Seattle phosphorous recovery company, the researchers are fine-tuning the application and proportion of essential components in the fertilizer with the goal of marketing a product and ultimately adding security to the world’s food supply.

Adding fertilizers to marigolds and peppers in the greenhouse.

“You can’t continue mining a finite resource forever,” said Rita Hummel, a scientist at the WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center. “But as long as we can reclaim struvite from animal manure and sewage, we have a sustainable resource. We’re figuring out how to use it effectively and safely.”

Local Benefits

Hummel is using Multiform Harvest struvite from wastewater treatment plants at Yakima, Washington, and Boise, Idaho. She and her fellow researchers hope to include struvite extracted from manure from area dairy farms to develop regional nutrient recycling.

“When you feed a cow, about 20 to 25 percent of the phosphorus the cow eats ends up in the milk carton,” said Joe Harrison, Hummel’s scientist colleague at WSU. “That means about 75 to 80 percent ends up in the manure.”

Marigold from early experiments with (l-r) no phosphorus, struvite, and triple superphosphate.

Hummel is using Multiform Harvest struvite from wastewater treatment plants at Yakima, Washington, and Boise, Idaho. She and her fellow researchers hope to include struvite extracted from manure from area dairy farms to develop regional nutrient recycling. “When you feed a cow, about 20 to 25 percent of the phosphorus the cow eats ends up in the milk carton,” said Joe Harrison, Hummel’s scientist colleague at WSU. “That means about 75 to 80 percent ends up in the manure.”

Not only could reclaiming struvite from waste localize production and distribution, it could also help mitigate water pollution problems such as overloading phosphorus in agricultural soils. “The research being performed at WSU is central to us generating the hard data we must have to get this recycled phosphorus into the agricultural market, from large fields to specialized greenhouses and nurseries,” said Kevin Fullerton, product developer for Multiform Harvest.

Encouraging Results

Tomato from early experiments with (l-r) no phosphorus, struvite, and triple superphosphate.

In previous greenhouse crop studies, Hummel discovered struvite had a similar effect on plants as the commercial phosphorus source, triple superphosphate. Crops like basil, cucumber, marigold, and tomato barely sprouted without phosphorus, but flourished with struvite from King County municipal wastewater.

With support from a USDA small business innovation research grant, Hummel will experiment with different rates and ways of applying the struvite–adding it to the potting mix, sprinkling it on the surface, and placing it beneath the plant–to determine the rate at which it is released.

“One of the things we need here in western Washington is a slow-release product so it doesn’t leach out the bottom of pots and run down drains and into streams, rivers, and the Puget Sound,” Hummel explained.

Reliable Recycling

Most phosphorus in the United States comes from Florida, but this production could decline sharply in the next 30 years, Fullerton said. Current practices indicate such a loss would lead to dependence on the other known stockpiles in Morocco, China, South Africa, and Jordan.

“If we can take a waste disposal problem and turn it into a fertilizer that actually replaces something we have to mine and are running out of-–that’s sustainability,” Hummel said.

-Rachel Webber

Rain Garden Mentors Help Put a ‘LID’ on Stormwater Runoff

Stormwater runoff is the number one cause of pollution in Puget Sound – it’s not good for fish and wildlife and it’s not good for people. Every time it rains, polluted runoff washes into streams and rivers and, ultimately, the Sound.

Thanks to the inaugural graduating class of WSU Rain Garden Mentors, homeowners in Clallam County will soon have more options for protecting Peninsula creeks, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound from stormwater pollution. Rain Garden Mentors will begin reaching out to Clallam County homeowners starting in May.

Rain gardens are beautiful landscape features that mimic natural processes to help filter and slow stormwater that flows off roofs, driveways, patios, and landscapes before it enters Puget Sound. Planted with native plants and flowers, rain gardens also attract birds, butterflies, and wildlife. Rain gardens are part of a suite of techniques for managing stormwater runoff called low-impact development (LID).

Matches Made in Rain Garden Heaven

The City of Port Angeles encourages homeowners to install rain gardens and other stormwater filtration systems and even discounts part of their utility bill for doing so. WSU Rain Garden Mentors provide rain garden installation and planting advice while the City of Port Angeles provides incentives and engineering expertise.

A newly planted and established rain garden, in Puyallup, WA. Photos courtesy Rain Dog Designs, LLC.

Jonathan Boehme, a City of Port Angeles Stormwater Engineer, is enthusiastic about the partnership with WSU. “We’re just on the beginning of the LID wave,” Boehme said. “This summer we have a proposed rain-garden rebate program that would provide a $250-$500 rebate for the cost materials.” According to Boehme, Port Angeles has plenty of existing infrastructure (homes and buildings) and not a lot of new development where LID techniques can be implemented. Getting existing homeowners excited about installing rain gardens is where the opportunity for real impact lies. “Rain Garden Mentors are going to be a great resource for the community. We’re excited to work with them to help roll out our LID programs in the city,” Boehme said.

Master Gardener Program Coordinator, Laurel Moulton, is excited about the win-win nature of the program. “With the extreme budget cuts we’ve had, this program has potential to fill gaps and help the city, the county, and the Clallam Conservation District address this serious water pollution problem,” she said.

With Rain Garden Mentors providing education, Clallam County is prepared to consider rain gardens as an alternative to downspout drywells (underground pits filled with gravel) which are standard for new construction in the county. County engineer Ross Tyler is also hopeful about the program. “Rain gardens are much more efficient in terms of mitigating both the quantity and quality of stormwater runoff.”

Hands-on Design and Build

The WSU Rain Garden Mentor Program teaches Master Gardeners volunteers how to assess a potential garden site and design a rain garden. Trainees gain hands-on experience while installing rain gardens, and they learn about incentive and grant programs which they then help homeowners access.

Rain Garden Mentor volunteer, Doug Ridgeway, is a retired California flood control construction manager who had never considered anything like a rain garden before. “I now see them as a very effective way of dealing with stormwater,” Ridgeway said. He also sees rain garden construction as an economic opportunity for small contractors and is happy sharing his knowledge of rain gardens with people in Clallam County.

12,000 Rain Gardens

The WSU Extension Rain Garden Mentor program in Clallam County is part of the 12,000 Rain Gardens Campaign which aims to install 12,000 rain gardens in 12 counties surrounding Puget Sound by 2016–a charge headed up by WSU Extension and the nonprofit Stewardship Partners.

WSU Master Gardeners have long emphasized water quality protection through gardening practices like reducing pesticide and fertilizer use, composting, mulching, and using groundcovers to reduce erosion. Now homeowners in western Washington communities have another tool to help them garden as an act of stewardship.

The WSU Rain Garden Mentor program in Clallam County is the result of a unique partnership between WSU Extension, the Clallam Conservation District, the City of Port Angeles, and Clallam County. Learn more at www.raingarden.wsu.eduor contact Laurel Moulton at lmoulton@co.clallam.wa.us.

-Sylvia Kantor

Alternatives to Polyethylene Plastic Mulch Explored in New WSU Extension Publication

“Using Biodegradable Plastics as Agricultural Mulches”

Widely used for crop production worldwide, polyethylene plastic mulch controls weeds, conserves soil moisture, increases soil temperature, increases crop yield and quality, has a relatively low cost, and is readily available.

But the use of polyethylene mulch raises many concerns. Polyethylene mulch is manufactured from non-renewable, petroleum-based feedstock, is neither biodegradable nor recyclable, and typically has an operational life of only one growing season before it gets thrown away. In 2004 alone, 143,000 tons of plastic mulch was thrown away in the U.S., either in landfills or burned on site. This amount of plastic mulch, typically measuring four feet wide and 1 mil thick, would wrap around the earth over 100 times.

Biodegradable plastic products are more desirable because they can reduce non-recyclable waste, conserve resources, and decrease environmental pollution. In agriculture, biodegradable plastic mulches offer an alternative to polyethylene mulch production and disposal.

Organic farmers in the U.S. are not able to use currently available biodegradable plastic mulch products because they do not conform to current NOP standards. Currently, certified organic farmers are allowed to use polyethylene mulch if it is removed at the end of the growing season. To some people, such use represents a contradiction between the resource conservation goals of sustainable, organic agriculture, and the waste generated from the use of polyethylene mulch.

“Using Biodegradable Plastics as Agricultural Mulches” explains how biodegradable plastic mulches are made, what constitutes biodegradability, and the advantages and disadvantages of plastic mulch in general. This WSU Extension publication is also useful in informing the conversation between agricultural professionals, farmers, and policy makers about the current research on biodegradable plastic mulches for agricultural uses.

“Using Biodegradable Plastics as Agricultural Mulches” is available as a free PDF download at http://bit.ly/biodmulch.

Teaching the Teachers: Environmental Education Is Focus of March 30 Workshop

Washington State University Extension will offer Project Learning Tree Training for teachers and informal educators 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., March 30, at the Snohomish County Extension office, 600 128th St. SE, Everett.

The workshop will use the acclaimed Project Learning Tree curriculum to give participants access to hundreds of simple activities for integrating environmental education into a classroom, club, or after-school program. Activities address Washington’s four Essential Academic Learning Requirements for science, with an emphasis on experiential learning and getting kids outside to explore science and nature.

The training costs $45, and includes the Project Learning Tree Environmental Education Activity Guide, lunch, and six clock hours of instruction. Registration information is available at http://bit.ly/156vXpW or 425-357-6023. Information on a second workshop, to be offered May 18, is available at 425-357-6023.

Farm management practices such as crop rotation and tillage can provide a real—though modest—contribution to carbon sequestration in the Pacific Northwest. This is the conclusion suggested by two recently published studies by WSU researchers in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the Department of Biological Systems Engineering.

Soil plays an essential role in the complex global carbon cycle. To understand this, consider that globally, carbon moves between the land (including soil, plants, trees), the atmosphere, and the oceans. Throughout the cycle, carbon is stored in various places in the system, including living plants, fossils, the deep ocean, the atmosphere – and soil, where it may be stored in residues of plants and animals, as well as in inorganic minerals. Stored carbon can be released into the atmosphere through natural process (such as microbes decomposing organic matter) as well as human activities (fossil fuel burning). Carbon stored in soil accounts for roughly three times the amount stored in the atmosphere and more than four times the carbon stored in living plants and trees.

The carbon cycle, along with similar cycles for water and nitrogen, contributes to an intricate web of interactions that are crucial to sustaining life on the planet. Change in one part of the system can have significant and sometimes unexpected impacts in another part. For example, a relatively small change in the amount of carbon stored in soil (for instance, due to tillage) could significantly influence greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.

Simplified representation of the global carbon cycle. Changes are measured in gigatons of carbon per year (GtC/y). Numbers in parentheses refer to stored carbon pools. Yellow numbers refer to natural carbon emissions. Red indicates carbon from human emissions. Graphic courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy Genomic Science Program, http://genomicscience.energy.gov.

How does carbon storage in agricultural soil work? Basically, the more productive the soil—that is, the more plant life or biomass it can support—the more carbon the soil can potentially store (at least until it reaches a state of equilibrium, at which point the soil is holding all the carbon it can). Soil productivity is influenced by several key factors including precipitation, fertilization, crop rotation, the use of perennial crops, organic soil amendments, and tillage. Tillage reduces the amount of stored carbon by exposing crop residue to air. Once exposed, the carbon in the crop residues combines with oxygen, thus releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. That’s why evaluating the impact of alternative practices such as reduced-till and no-till farming is of great interest to scientists, growers, and policy developers alike.

According to Georgine Yorgey of the WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR), it’s difficult to produce an exact number for the amount of carbon that can be stored in Pacific Northwest soils, but the “modest” contribution is in the range of less than one percent of Washington’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Nonetheless, the promise of soil carbon sequestration is real enough (and the situation serious enough) to warrant further investigation. While this is a small fraction of the region’s greenhouse gas footprint, storing that much carbon in our soils would make a substantial contribution to the sustainability of regional agriculture.

Given the complexity of the interrelated processes at work with agriculture and climate disruption, the tradeoffs between different management practices must be evaluated. For example, using nitrogen fertilizer can increase nitrous oxide (a potent greenhouse gas) emissions and thus counteract the positive benefit of soil carbon sequestration, while including legumes in a cropping system requires less nitrogen fertilizer but produces less biomass and therefore stores less carbon than cereal-based crops. And then again, organic farming systems tend to be more dependent on tillage to control weeds, and tilling soil requires fossil fuels and releases stored carbon.

Soil from an annual wheat field (left) compared to that from a perennial wheatgrass field (right). Perennial crops can store more soil carbon than annual crops. Photo courtesy of The Land Institute.

Chad Kruger, director of CSANR director, cautions that “before we promote a given system or practice as ‘good for the climate’ we need to more fully quantify the total impact.” Science-based information will be critical for developing policy, carbon markets, and sound farm management practices. Studying soil carbon storage offers plenty of opportunity to contribute to the evolving science behind the relationship between agriculture and climate change.

More to explore

This article was inspired by these resources:

“Soil carbon sequestration in the dryland cropping region of the Pacific Northwest” by Brown and Huggins 2012; available online at http://bit.ly/YtFHs4.

“Carbon storage and nitrous oxide emissions of cropping systems in eastern Washington: A simulation study” by Stöckle et al. 2012. Available online at http://bit.ly/UzmpUr.

Webinars on PNW Agriculture and Climate Change including “Soil Carbon Dynamics and Climate Change Mitigation in the Inland Pacific Northwest” by Georgine Yorgey, WSU CSANR. Available online at http://bit.ly/PXldrv.

Perspectives on Sustainability blog post “Can soil carbon storage really make a difference to our climate? Do we have the right data to answer?” by Chad Kruger, WSU CSANR. Available online at http://bit.ly/12Z6ZfF.

Check out a short video on no-till farming practices and how they can retain significant amounts of carbon in the soil, which is beneficial both for crops and the atmosphere: http://bit.ly/Y3zDGQ.

WSU offers numerous educational avenues for those interested in exploring the interplay of climate and agriculture. The departments of Crop and Soil Sciences and Biosystems Engineering are good places to start your exploration.

–Sylvia Kantor, with additions by Chad Kruger and Brian Clark

Natural Soil Antibiotics Offer Alternative to Farm Chemicals

Several naturally occurring antibiotics can control root disease and promote crop health, offering an alternative to chemicals used in farming.

Linda Thomashow, a U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service geneticist and adjunct professor in plant pathology at WSU.

“All you have to do is make your microbial community happy,” said Linda Thomashow, a U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service geneticist and adjunct professor in plant pathology at WSU. Thomashow said the door is open for scientists, farmers, and industry to develop commercial applications of root bacteria that can protect the rest of the plant. Thomashow was speaking to fellow scientists and media at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston.

But typically, science has concentrated on treating the above-ground parts of a plant, she said. “So much less is understood about the plant mechanics for defense that are available underground.”

In recent years, Thomashow said, the tools of molecular biology have helped scientists understand the microbial and molecular workings of bacteria in the rhizosphere, the layer of soil next to roots, including how antibiotics there can suppress plant diseases. “They are a first line of defense,” she said.

Certain bacteria produce antibiotics that protect crop plants.

One particular disease, Take-all, causes more than $1 billion per year in losses by rotting roots and depriving plants of water and nutrients. It’s often found in soils that are continuously replanted in wheat, whose money-making potential discourages farmers from planting alternative crops that might break disease cycles.

In some areas of eastern Washington, said Thomashow, farms have seen several decades of continuous wheat. Those same soils have in turn seen high densities of the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens producing a compound called DAPG that can suppress the Take-all fungus. Such beneficial bacteria create what are called “suppressive soils.” In a variety of circumstances, said Thomashow, they help control soilborne pathogens with minimal use of commercial fungicides and other chemicals. It should be possible to get similar results with a commercially available soil amendment if scientists, industry members, and farmers rise to the challenge and expense of bringing a living thing to market.

“If you balance that against the expense of developing a new chemical, it really doesn’t cost any more,” she said, “and it’s a sustainable alternative to the use of chemicals.”

Learn more about Take-all at http://bit.ly/15qn2CW. Learn more about how plant pathologists are discovering alternatives to chemical pest and disease control by visiting the WSU Department of Plant Pathology website at http://plantpath.wsu.edu/.

–Eric Sorensen

Eat Your Veggies: WSU Master Gardener Program Helps Residents Grow Own Vegetables

Rebecca Branderhorst

Rebecca Branderhorst went a little crazy in her vegetable garden last spring. The Longview, Wash., resident planted pole green beans, Oregon pea pods, lima beans, three kinds of lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, carrots, bunching onions, white Spanish onions, chives, celery, cilantro, and beets. All of it in a single 4-by-8-foot box. By mid-summer, Branderhorst’s garden looked like a mini-jungle of edible delights.

But that kind of enthusiasm was what WSU Extension’s Gary Fredricks wanted to see. He started a new program last year in Cowlitz County that promotes local food production through vegetable gardening while helping people financially or physically challenged to raise their own produce.

“Home VEG (Vegetable Educational Garden) removes some of the barriers that stop people from starting a garden,” Fredricks said. “It’s a great success. All 10 families that participated grew great gardens, learned from their mistakes, and expect to produce even more in 2013.”

The program pairs WSU Master Gardener volunteers with local residents who apply for the program and are accepted. The Master Gardeners build raised beds and provide soil, seeds, plant starts, and advice. Participating growers maintain the garden for three years, attend a class on vegetable gardening, and do all the work to maintain the garden.

For Branderhorst, the raised bed was the best part. She had knee replacement surgery in September 2011, effectively preventing her from digging in the dirt on her hands and knees. The bed had other benefits as well. “There were no slug problems, far fewer weeds, and with my knee replacement, the access to weeding, planting, and tending was so nice,” she said.

Branderhorst was so inspired by her experience that she planted root vegetables in her gardening bed over the winter, banking on Longview’s tendency toward rain for another chance to stock up her larder. “So far, it looks like some of them are doing okay,” she said. “I’ve got little potatoes out there that I hope to throw in a soup or stew.”

Barbara Byker of neighboring Kelso liked the raised beds for a different reason. “Living on dredge spoils [the sand, sediment, and debris from dredging that are transported to land to dry out], we have had poor results from previous gardens,” Byker said. “We planted corn, beans, peas, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkins, and yellow crook-neck squash. We ate better and enjoyed trying new veggies.”

Master Gardener mentors like Jon Griffin enjoyed helping program participants uncover their green thumbs. Griffin worked with Bob Griffith last year and found the Longview resident very willing to try new things—and learn that even one zucchini plant was too much.

“I can see the information Master Gardeners supply connects in a very important way with many members of our community,” Griffin said. “I think this program is a very helpful, healthy teaching program.”

Master Gardener Phyllis Hull, who worked with Longview’s Pam Atkinson, also appreciated helping others learn to grow their own food. But nothing beat the feeling Hull got when she visited Atkinson’s garden one day to take some pictures of her harvest.

“The garden was pretty well picked clean,” Hull said. “I asked Pam what happened to her vegetables. She proudly raised her head high and with a sly grin proclaimed, ‘I ate them.’ I was never as happy as I was for her that day. Her success and feeling of accomplishment were plastered all over her face–along with a little tomato juice.”

For details about the Home VEG program, contact Gary Fredricks at 360-577-3014, Ext. 3, or at garyf@wsu.edu.

—Nella Letizia

Upcoming Beekeeping Events

WSU beekeeping and queen-rearing workshops are coming up in June and July – and are filling up fast. Sweeten up your calendar by registering early for these workshops at http://bit.ly/apis-events-2013.

The queen-rearing workshops will provide an understanding of what it takes to raise high quality queen bees. Basic biology and methods of queen rearing will be presented in hands-on workshops. Beekeepers will be involved in the various steps: setting up cell builders, grafting, and establishing mating nuclei. A queen-right and a queen-less system will be demonstrated. Participants need to bring a bee veil and whatever protective clothing they are comfortable in. The queen-rearing workshops are being offered in both Pullman (June 12 and 13) and Mt. Vernon (July 19).

The WSU Beekeeping Short Course will run June 14 – 15 in Pullman. If you’re curious about what this short course has to offer you, check out this short video from a related program: http://bit.ly/VAq2ei.

Got Credit?

The HumanLinks Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to systematic improvements in education, healthcare and sustainable agriculture, is offering a micro-loan program to sustainable farmers to help strengthen the Washington state farming community.

Beginning in March 2013, HumanLinks Foundation will enable credit access to farmers who may not have been able to secure a loan through a conventional bank. Partnering with Banner Bank, the foundation will give local, sustainable farmers the ability to borrow funds at a favorable interest rate of three percent (3%) for up to two years. The minimum loan size is $2,500 and the maximum loan size is $25,000.

Please email nancy@humanlinksfoundation.org or call 206-830-0083 for more information.

As “green-collar” jobs continue to emerge, a three-year, $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation brings together Washington State University and several Puget Sound community colleges to support undergraduate students interested in pursuing educational opportunities in sustainable agriculture and working on small urban farms.

Edmonds Community College leads the SAgE (Sustainable Agriculture Education) collaborative project, which builds on a previous grant that successfully introduced a sustainable urban agriculture program to Seattle Central Community College, said Jason Niebler, project director and co-principal investigator on the NSF grant. Part of the focus is to streamline transfer options from high school to two-and-four-year colleges, including EdCC, SCCC, Skagit Valley College and WSU. As the collaboration extends throughout the Puget Sound, students will also dive into service-learning and internship programs.

“WSU is helping shape what we hope will be a bioregional consortium of colleges making course agreements, and funneling students who want to continue on and can matriculate into WSU programs, specifically the organic agriculture major,” Niebler said.

Considering that recent USDA census data estimates the average Washington State farmer is 57 years old, the grant also helps address the challenge of educating the next generation of farmers about science-based methods for sustainable agriculture.

Community college students will have opportunities to work with WSU graduate students and faculty at the WSU Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center in Mount Vernon. Field internships, with a production-based “seeds-to-sales” learning lab, will provide educational opportunities for students. Through partnership with Viva Farms in the Skagit Valley, students will also have the chance to sell their produce at roadside stands and farmers markets. Based on the Viva Farms incubator model, the grant will help establish a student farm in the Sammamish Valley near SCCC and EdCC.

Both the lab and fieldwork will give community college students real-world experiences while providing a taste of what their education could look like at a four-year university, said Brad Gaolach, co-principal investigator on the NSF grant and WSU Pierce County Extension director.

“Fundamentally, what changed my own education and career path was something like SAgE,” Gaolach said. “Whether at a two-year or four-year college, the ability at an early career stage or as an undergraduate to get hands-on practice is what makes a world class education face-to-face.”

-Rachel Webber

Get Certified

Check out the video on the organic ag certificate page to learn more about the program.

Whether you’re a farmer or a food industry manager, WSU’s online certificate in organic agriculture can help you hone your skills.

The certificate provides training in the agricultural sciences, including complex agriculture and food systems.  Students take two core soil science courses and at least three food, farming, and ecosystem elective courses, as well as a three-credit “on-the-ground” internship, for a total of 18 semester credits.

The certificate is designed for agriculture professionals wanting to learn about organic methods, anyone interested in beginning a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm, home gardeners, WSU agriculture students, and others with an interest in organic agriculture. Check the website for more information and a short video about the program.

Organic Ag Major

Organic food production is one of the fastest growing segments of agriculture, with retail sales increasing by 10 percent annually since 1991. With both educational and research programs, Washington State has been a leader in this burgeoning new industry. The revolutionary organic ag systems major is the first of its kind to be offered in the United States. Students in this major take a diverse array of courses in the natural, environmental, economic, and social sciences, as well as a number of courses focused on organic production practices.

Students wanting a hands-on degree experience thrive in the organic major. WSU has a four-acre certified organic teaching farm, which is expanding to become a 30-acre multi-disciplinary organic farming operation and community center. This farm is an invaluable tool where students learn to produce certified organic vegetables, fruit, herbs, and flowers that they distribute through local food banks, on-campus food service, a 100-member CSA (community supported agriculture), and a local farmers market.

It’s Time to Get Serious about Soil

Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University. Photo by Jack Dykinga/USDA ARS Image Gallery.

The U. S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology’s list of the top scientific challenges facing agriculture includes “the need to manage new pests, pathogens, and invasive plants; increase the efficiency of water use; reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture; adapt to a changing climate; and accommodate demands for bioenergy – all while continuing to produce safe and nutritious food at home and for those in need abroad.” All are challenges that WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (CSANR) has tackled in its first 20 years.

But David Montgomery, a University of Washington geomorphologist and author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, argues that saving our soils is missing from that list. As part the recent 20th anniversary celebration of CSANR, Montgomery told the story of how fundamental soil is for sustaining civilizations and how agricultural practices throughout history have accelerated the loss of this life-sustaining resource.

Under natural conditions, soil is generally produced as fast as it erodes. But with the introduction of the plow, agricultural soils erode much faster than they are generated. Though the implications are grave, Montgomery contends that society as a whole is not talking about this critical issue. Soil erosion, he argues, occurs at an alarming pace, geologically, but on the human time scale it occurs so slowly that it is difficult for us to observe the loss until hindsight reveals its often devastating impacts. Consider Montgomery’s extreme example where, between 1911 and 1961, soil on the Palouse disappeared at the rate of about an inch per year. What may not seem significant over the course of a single year added up to the loss of about five feet of soil over the course of 50 years.

In 1937, Franklin D. Roosevelt said that “a nation that destroys its soils destroys itself.” Without soil we will be unable to feed the world’s burgeoning population. Montgomery stresses that preserving soil resources and rebuilding soil is fundamental to sustaining agriculture and human civilization. He offers the hope that a deeper and more public understanding of soil as an ecological system may foster a new agriculture that feeds the world based on ecological processes such as nutrient cycling.

Montgomery argues us that building a new agriculture based on soil ecosystem dynamics is more important than ever. It turns out that soil does earn a short paragraph in the Presidential Council’s 47-page report. CSANR researchers and their community partners have long understood the implications of soil building and as the Center looks ahead to its next 20 years the research agenda will continue to focus on such critical issues.

For more information on WSU soils research, check out these articles previously published in Green Times:

Riding the Nitrogen Cycle – soil scientist Doug Collins is working to develop cheap and easy-to-use tests to help farmers determine when to add fertilizer to soils.

Soil Testing Guide Available - soil scientist Doug Collins recently published a guide on soil testing for vegetable farmers.

Saving African Soils - WSU scientists have an innovative idea, called “perenniation,” for reinvigorating ancient, depleted soils.

This article was originally published on WSU’s Perspectives on Sustainability blog, where WSU organic and sustainable ag experts from the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources post opinions, ideas, and updates about their work and current issues. Check out a short video about CSANR on Perspectives on Sustainability.

-Sylvia Kantor

Social Sciences Degree + Organic Ag = Successful Career

Haley Paul is a WSU alumna, a holder of the WSU organic ag certificate, and now an Arizona Extension urban agriculture educator.

Organic agriculture certification from WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences can spell career success for even non-agriculture majors. Just ask anthropology graduate Haley Paul. The new assistant in extension for urban agriculture at University of Arizona Cooperative Extension in Phoenix, Paul credits her college preparation in organic agriculture and an internship at the WSU Organic Farm for placing her on the path to where she is today. And her organic agriculture exposure blended perfectly with her anthropology bachelor’s degree, which she received in 2008.

“Organic agriculture is a method of growing food that has the potential to lessen the impact on the environment,” Paul said. “What I focused on in my anthropology course work were the questions, ‘How do humans use their natural resources, and how can they do it better so they do not deplete the very resources that sustain life?’ My organic agriculture internship combined with my anthropology degree contributed to what I ultimately ended up researching and writing for my Honors College thesis.”

That thesis, titled “Bigger, But Better? An Examination of Food System Scale and Its Connection to Long-Term Sustainability,” earned Paul runner-up honors in WSU Libraries’ Student Research Excellence Awards in 2008.

Paul worked at the WSU Organic Farm in her senior year and found the hands-on work an invaluable experience, she said, given her background before coming to Pullman. “I grew up in Phoenix, a city of over a million people, with no concept of where my food came from.”

She was initially drawn to organic agriculture when she discovered that the good food she ate equated to good results in her WSU cross-country and track running. Over time, Paul learned about the impacts of agriculture on the larger community around her.

“I realized that agriculture is an extremely valuable enterprise that can be conducted in multiple ways,” she said. “Watching the daily activities necessary to keep the WSU Organic Farm running smoothly instilled in me an appreciation of what it takes to bring food from the field to the store or farmers market, and ultimately into our homes.”

All too familiar with the arid conditions of the Southwest, Paul also developed a keen appreciation of water as a precious resource through her work on the WSU Organic Farm. “To be a successful grower you, a) need a reliable water source and, b) need to use it as efficiently as possible. It seems a natural progression that I left Pullman after four years and returned home to Phoenix to study agriculture and water policy for my master’s degree in sustainability,” she said. In her first job at UA Cooperative Extension, Paul served as water resources coordinator, managing an urban water conservation program for landscape professionals. In her new post, she works with stakeholders who want to grow food in an urban environment.

“Urban agriculture in Maricopa County includes backyard gardens, school gardens, community gardens, and small-scale farms,” Paul said. “We provide social and technical assistance so that those interested in starting a garden or farm can sustain it in the most efficient manner possible here in the desert.

“There is a significant movement toward eating locally, supporting local growers, shopping at farmers markets, and having a share in a CSA in Phoenix,” she added. “There are even people who want to start urban farms. In fact, my new position was created as a result of the increased demand for urban agriculture efforts in Maricopa County.”

Paul hopes to eventually work as a sustainability extension agent, addressing current social, economic, and environmental concerns by providing practical solutions and applied research to make lives and communities better, she said.

“I think that the land-grant mission and the extension system are as relevant now as they were 150 years ago when the Morrill Act was passed, and in 1914, when the Smith-Lever Act created the nation’s Extension system,” Paul said. “Extension needs to be prepared to serve the needs of an increasingly urban world without losing its credibility within the rural and agricultural communities.”

What would Paul tell a future Cougar considering a major in organic agriculture? While she highly recommends pursuing it, she also believes more students should be exposed to the social sciences.

“In the end you can have the best data that prove facts, but unless you know how people operate and what can get them to change their behaviors to adopt more sustainable practices, it will be an uphill battle,” she said. “I think combining policy studies with organic agriculture would be a fantastic pairing for an undergraduate career.”

-Nella Letizia

Learn to Grow Your Own Groceries

Vertical lettuce wall at the Tulalip Community Garden saves space while boosting production in a small area. Photo by Growing Grocers volunteer mentor Rochelle Taylor.

Whether you have access to just a tiny deck or a huge backyard, you can learn to grow fresh, healthy food with the techniques being taught during the 2013 WSU Snohomish County Extension Growing Groceries Volunteer Mentor Training.

Local and regional experts will share the latest research-based practices on topics including how to choose a site, building healthy soil, starting from seed, compost, irrigation, managing pests, vertical and small space gardening, food safety, and much, much more. The program’s goal is to increase community access to fresh, healthy food by training volunteer mentors to share their food-growing knowledge with others. Teachers can earn up to 32 Northwest Educational Service clock hours by completing the Saturdays-only program.

The 2013 training includes four classroom and hands-on sessions, Feb. 9 and 23, Mar. 9 and 23, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at WSU Snohomish County Extension’s Cougar Auditorium in McCollum Park, 600 128th St SE, Everett. In addition, there are four once a month hands-on, in-the-garden sessions, Apr. 20, May 18, June 15, and July 20, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; locations TBA.

Program graduate Diane Decker-Isle, who donates time and expertise at several community and food bank gardens in Snohomish, related her experience as a Growing Groceries Volunteer Mentor. “I’ve always gardened, so I was surprised at how much I learned not only from the training, but from the other mentors as well. It’s a great network to tap into long after the training ends. I’ve really enjoyed working with people in the community gardens. Families that come in knowing very little go home and plant their own gardens. When I run into these folks later, they share stories about how much they are growing and eating from their new gardens. These stories really inspire me to keep working with our community gardens.”

Since its 2009 inception, the Growing Groceries program has trained over 80 volunteer mentors. Many of these graduates are helping as mentors in over 28 different Snohomish County community, school, church, and food bank gardens. Visit GrowingGroceries.wsu.edu/SnohomishCountyFoodGardens.htm for a growing list of gardens in the area.

Tuition is $135 for those able to volunteer at least 35 hours over the next year or $185 for those not able to make a volunteer commitment. Deadline for application is February 1, 2013. To download an application for the training, visit GrowingGroceries.wsu.edu. For more information about the program, contact Sharon Collman, WSU Snohomish County Extension Educator, 425-357-6025 or email collmans@wsu.edu. For registration information, contact Karie Christensen at 425-357-6039 or e-mail christensen4@wsu.edu.

The WSU Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources celebrates 20 years of science in action Dec. 6. Join us!

From compost trials in orchards in the early ’90s to recent research on bean varieties and microbial inoculates that sustain agriculture in Africa’s ancient soils, WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources has been on the cutting edge of science in the service of a sustainable future for 20 years. Help celebrate two decades of science in action at a public symposium on Dec. 6 in the Ensminger Pavilion.

Created by the Washington State Legislature with the mission to apply science to the challenges faced by farmers, families and communities, the symposium is focused on past results, current projects and future directions.

Attendees will get an update on the recently dedicated Eggert Family Organic Farm, the largest organic teaching farm on a university campus in the United States, beginning at 2 p.m.

Presentations of posters by faculty members, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, will give attendees an opportunity to learn about WSU research efforts in support of sustainable ag and food systems, as well as to network with scientists, students and community members.

In the spirit of environmentally sound agricultural practices, attendees will be treated to locally sourced refreshments beginning at 4 p.m.

A panel discussion on creating a sustainable future for ag and food systems begins at 4:30. The panel features Miles McEvoy, deputy administrator of the USDA National Organic Program.

The evening will wrap up with a keynote address at 5:20 p.m. by David Montgomery, author of “Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations.”

The event is free and open to the public. For a schedule of events from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. go to http://bit.ly/CSANRcelebration.

–Rachel Webber

WSU Chef Celebrates Local Foods in Upcoming Cookbook

WSU executive chef Jamie Callison often uses locally grown and produced foods in his culinary classes and will showcase those foods in his cookbook. Photo: Linda Weiford, WSU News.

Not many chefs can boast of having a cattle ranch, orchard, creamery and organic farm all in their own back yard. But Washington State University’s Jamie Callison can. Callison, an executive chef and instructor with WSU’s School of Hospitality Business Management, is so enthralled by his edible backyard that he’s writing a cookbook that illuminates its offerings.

“I want to showcase the foods produced here on campus and on the Palouse in a big way, and a cookbook seems a good way to do that. We have an amazing array of bounty here,” he said.

Whether Callison is teaching students in his 258 Culinary Fundamentals class how to make poached pear salad or preparing braised beef tenderloin for WSU’s Feast of the Arts dinner series, “I use as many ingredients grown and produced in this region as I possibly can,” he said.

Plateful of Palouse

Callison’s cookbook will be published by WSU and released next year. Among the WSU foodstuffs he’ll sing the praises of? Cougar cheese made at the WSU Creamery, tender beef from the Ensminger Beef Center, ice cream churned at Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe, fruit picked at the Tukey Horticulture Orchard, and vegetables grown at the Eggert Family Organic Farm. As for regional foods? Lentils, of course. Given that the Palouse is one of the largest producers of lentils in the world, and that lentils are protein-laden and easy to prepare, the humble legume should play a bigger role in soups, stews, salads and side dishes, Callison said.

Callison’s professional history with food began as a teenager in 1983 when he worked as a dishwasher at a diner in Carnation. “I remember looking around at the cooks chopping vegetables, frying chicken and pressing hash browns into the griddle and thinking that what they did was meaningful and creative,” he said. “I realized, ‘Hey, that’s what I need to be doing.’”

Chef’s Table, Your Table

Too often, executive chefs’ cookbook recipes are thickly larded with ingredients that we common folks aren’t likely to have. What’s more, elaborate instructions require heaps of concentration, patience, and time. But expect the recipes in Callison’s cookbook to be down to earth, he said. Not only will ingredients be easily accessible, “but I’ll use recipes that readers can relate to. Sometimes chefs talk down to readers in their cookbooks. That’s just not my style.”

–Linda Weiford

Gift of Marrowstone Island Farm Benefits WSU Organic Ag Education and Research

Lisa Painter. Photo by Nella Letizia.

Lisa Painter wore a red baseball cap with an iconic image–Rosie the Riveter flexing her arm and the words “We Can Do It!”–last week when she donated her longtime farm and property to Washington State University.

The hat and words reinforce a lifetime of can-do moxie that helped make the 87-year-old Painter a fixture in this Puget Sound rural community on Marrowstone Island. They also give a glimpse of the kind of legacy the WSU Twin Vista Ranch will mean for future generations of WSU organic agriculture students as a center for educational outreach and agricultural development.

At an Oct. 23 dedication and open house, Painter gave WSU the 26-plus acre Jefferson County farm and property in memory of her partner, the late Jeanne Clendenon, and her parents, Carl and Muriel Painter.

“When Jeanne and I moved here in the early seventies, we were excited to have our own land and to be able to pursue our dream of self-sufficiency by trying out new types of plants, seeing what would grow best and, in general, organically taking care of the land and respectfully raising animals on it,” Painter wrote of her intent in making the gift to WSU. “We both wanted to be sure that this land would always remain as agricultural, organically managed land where the soil and water, all the plants and animals, were treated respectfully and as part of the full, natural cycle of life and death.

“WSU and the Jefferson Land Trust were the answer to my dreams,” Painter added. “Young people can get the training in organic farming through the university. The land trust will ensure that the ranch is preserved in perpetuity and organically managed. I trust that they will do this and wish them well.”

The WSU Twin Vista Ranch will serve as an incubator for FIELD (Farm Innovation, Education and Leadership Development) internship graduates and a research space for germplasm maintenance and breeding for area production systems–in particular fruit and nut tree germplasm as well as dryland production crops. The farm also will be used for classes, workshops, seminars, and educational retreats hosted and sponsored by WSU Extension.

Painter and Clendenon purchased the farm in 1972 and began diversifying management and on-farm operations to include production of beef and small livestock, honey, fruits and vegetables, pasture and hay. They developed the property to be energy efficient by installing solar panels, a windmill and solar water heating systems–all of which are still in use. More recently, the ranch has focused primarily on organic beef cattle production.

–Nella Letizia

Seeding the Future with Genetic Diversity

Concerned about plant genetic resources and the implications for regional, organic agriculture? The recent WSU Symposium, Seeding the Future: Ensuring Resiliency in Our Plant Genetic Resources, offered diverse perspectives on the topic followed by dynamic discussion among the more than 200 farmers, scientists, and students who attended. Glimpse highlights from this event sponsored by WSU and Tilth Producers and discover more about the “genetic commons,” genetically modified organisms, and some proactive responses to the shifting landscape of our plant genetic resources.

Read the article by WSU sustainable ag reporter Sylvia Kantor at http://bit.ly/RZjkKK.

WSU, UI Faculty Address Topics around Probiotics, Prebiotics

The role of probiotics and prebiotics in promoting better health was the focus of a Washington State University/University of Idaho School of Food Science (SFS) symposium November 2 on the Pullman campus.

Probiotics, or “good” bacteria, can contribute to intestinal health and protect the body from harmful bacteria. Together with prebiotics, probiotics can promote better digestion, strengthen the immune system, and more.

WSU assistant professor Meijun Zhu explored the relationship between probiotics and obesity in her presentation.

WSU assistant professor Giuliana Noratto discussed the health benefits of probiotics and prebiotics—specifically those derived from plants—in protecting the colon against inflammation and preventing obesity.

UI professor Kerry Huber described how resistant starch functions as a prebiotic, while UI associate professor Gulhan Unlu closed the symposium with her presentation on kefir as a complex probiotic.

Read Nella Letizia’s complete article on the symposium on the School of Food Science website.

WSU Receives Grant for Collaborative Water Modeling in Columbia Basin

Scientists from WSU’s School of the Environment and the WSU Center for Environmental Research, Education, and Outreach have received a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant to build a collaborative water modeling project in the Columbia River Basin. Assistant professor Cailin Huyck Orr, an expert in inland waters, will lead an interdisciplinary, multi-campus team of social scientists, earth scientists, economists, civil and environmental engineers, agricultural scientists and policy experts in the Watershed Integrated Systems Dynamics Modeling (WISDM) project.

Stephen Bollens, director of the WSU School of the Environment, said, “This is a great example of a pressing, real-world challenge – securing a sustainable water supply – that is simply too large and too complex to be solved by any one investigator, campus, or discipline alone. But as a coordinated, interdisciplinary team, we can make real and meaningful progress.”

Orr said the timing of the project aligns with what is happening with the regional climate. “The intent of this program is to learn how water systems and associated stakeholders will adapt to changes in climate and water availability,” said Orr. Precipitation is already falling more in the form of rain and less in the form of snow than in previous years, releasing water more quickly into the watershed and reducing the more steady availability that snow provides as it gradually melts throughout the spring and summer.

The WISDM project will use collaborative simulations informed by people who live and work in the region. The model will demonstrate how the needs and perspectives of both agricultural and urban users can promote or detract from established and sometimes conflicting goals for water management in the region. Hydrological models will take crop systems into account so producers will be able to see how switching from one crop to another can affect water availability and quality, and stakeholders can plan for future water availability under different scenarios. Additionally, the system will calculate how regional economic changes influence the decision-making of individuals and then forecast the combined effects on water use.

Watch a short video about this project at http://bit.ly/RZoA0M.

–Kathy Barnard

It’s Your Watershed – Water Matters

WSU Jefferson County Extension has now completed a free online resource with accurate and up to date information that helps both professionals and private citizens understand what defines watersheds and how water moves within and through watersheds. Colorful graphics and effective text illustrate and explain the purpose and values of natural systems and processes while showing how people are a part of the system and how we impact the system as we live, work, and play.

The materials on the website have been reviewed by experts and evaluated for use throughout the Pacific Northwest and, in particular, the Puget Sound region. The site is intended for educators and community members to use in their community outreach and education efforts, as well as for residents of the region to use at home. Materials are designed for users to customize with their specific local information.

Visit the Water Matters website at http://bit.ly/U4yeA5.

Charles Benbrook, WSU research professor and CSANR faculty member, is leading a program to develop tools to measure sustainability.

A new WSU program has been charged with developing science-based tools to measure the sustainability of food production systems. The program, called “Measure to Manage: Food and Farm Diagnostics for Sustainability and Health,” or M2M, just received a three- year, $240,000 grant from the Clif Bar Family Foundation.

M2M will develop new, and refine existing, science-based tools to quantify and compare the nutritional quality of food, agricultural and food production safety parameters, and agriculture’s environmental impact. Through web-based and other open-access systems, the tools will be made publicly available, especially to decision makers and their advisors, including food-system professionals, researchers, and policymakers.

“Our new program will strive to improve the return on time and resources invested across the agricultural sector in complying with a growing array of standards and certification programs by measuring performance attributes with clear links to outcomes that improve people’s lives and promote environmental quality,” said Charles Benbrook, M2M program leader and WSU research professor. Resolving conflicts between different sets of standards and certification requirements is a core M2M goal.

Multiple efforts are under way across the agricultural sector and food industry to develop and adopt sustainable farming systems that produce food with benefits like more nutrients and less risky pesticide residues. New standard-setting and certification programs for food quality and safety are emerging at state and national levels and from several international organizations. M2M will address what makes one farming system more or less sustainable than another and how farmers, food companies, and third-party certifiers can quantify improvements in food nutritional quality and safety.

The grant from the Clif Bar Family Foundation will accelerate M2M’s development and provide public access to program results and analytical tools via the M2M website (http://bit.ly/wsu-m2m).

“Our partnership with Washington State University couldn’t be more timely,” said Kit Crawford, president of Clif Bar Family Foundation. “Agriculture has a huge impact on the health of people and the planet. Now more than ever, we need to back the rigorous, scientific study of organic, sustainable agriculture and its many benefits.”

“M2M will serve as a catalyst for enhancing the sophistication of measurement methods within multidisciplinary and multi-institutional teams conducting research on a wide variety of agricultural and food systems,” said Chad Kruger, director of WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, the institutional home of M2M. Sharper quantification of baseline levels of performance at the beginning of projects, along with better ways to track the impacts of ongoing work, will help produce more rigorous analysis of research outcomes.

Several companies striving to enhance product quality, reduce their environmental footprint and document progress toward sustainability have provided startup capital for the program. These include United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and the UNFI Foundation, Organic Valley/CROPP Cooperative, Whole Foods, and Stonyfield, Inc. Additionally, a $25,000 grant from Annie’s Inc. will support work to calculate the embedded environmental and food safety attributes from organic ingredients.

“All of the companies providing core support for M2M recognize the need for more careful research on the impacts of different farming methods and technologies, from organic farming to genetic engineering,” said Michael Funk, chairman and co-founder of UNFI. “Our hope is the M2M program will draw upon the tremendous scientific talent across WSU in creating next-generation, open-access measurement tools to guide innovation and track progress along food value chains.”

Visit the M2M website at http://bit.ly/wsu-m2m for more information on goals, areas of research, and activities. To understand better why agriculture needs tools for measuring sustainability, read sustainability expert David Granatstein’s “Towards a Sustainability Index for Agriculture” at http://bit.ly/T3fh23.

Charles Benbrook recently published a paper on the use of pesticides in GMO soy beans, cotton, and corn. In a post on the Pertspectives on Sustainability blog, he writes, “Without doubt, GE crop technology has profoundly changed corn, cotton, and soybean pest management, but the unintended impact on pesticide use is a harsh reminder that farmers should not put all their eggs in one pest control basket.” You can read a summary of Benbrook’s research results at http://bit.ly/PL8q82, where you’ll also find links to the paper’s key findings and the paper itself.

–Brian Clark

WSU Researchers Propose Way to Save Africa’s Beleaguered Soils

Rhoda Mang’yana of Malawi is one of thousands of African farmers improving their depleted soil by growing trees and annual crops that stay in the ground two years or more. Here she grows maize near ‘fertilizer trees’ to improve her farm’s crop yield and soil fertility. Photo ©Jim Richardson

A WSU researcher and two WSU graduates make a case in the journal Nature for a new type of agriculture that could restore the beleaguered soils of Africa and help the continent feed itself in the coming decades.

Their farming system, which they call “perenniation,” mixes food crops with trees and perennial plants. Thousands of farmers are already trying variations of perenniation, which reduces the need for artificial inputs while improving soil and, in some cases, dramatically increasing yields. One woman quadrupled her corn crop, letting her raise pigs and goats and sell surplus grain for essentials and her grandchildren’s school fees. WSU soil scientist John Reganold wrote the article with Jerry Glover (’97 BS Soil Science, ’98 BA Philosophy, ’01 PhD Soil Science) of the USAID Bureau for Food Security and Cindy Cox (’00 MS Plant Pathology/Phytopathology) of the International Food Policy Research Institute. The article, “Plant perennials to save Africa’s soils,” appeared in the Sept. 20 issue of Nature.

The authors argue that perenniation offers a powerful option for a growing population that struggles to eat. This is especially applicable in sub-Saharan Africa, where one-fourth of the world’s undernourished population lives on nutrient-poor soils that produce one-tenth the yields of crops in the U.S. Midwest. Farmers often make these lands worse by adding conventional mineral fertilizers without organic inputs.

“Of the various factors needing urgent attention to increase agricultural productivity, scientists from the region have identified soil quality as a top priority,” the researchers write. “We believe that perenniation should be used much more widely to help farmers meet the challenge of improving soils while increasing food production.”

Several efforts to increase perenniation are already underway, including perennial grain research at WSU and millions of plantings across sub-Saharan Africa in the Trees for Food Security project. But the researchers argue for elevating perenniation research to the levels of support given mineral fertilizers and seed development.

The cost could run to tens of millions of dollars. “Yet such numbers pale in comparison to the losses of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium from sub-Saharan farm fields each year,” the researchers explain. Such losses, they add, are the equivalent of billions of dollars of fertilizer.

–Eric Sorensen

Dedicated to the Future: Eggert Family Farm Breaks Ground on WSU Pullman Campus

The Eggert Family break ground on the new organic teaching farm on the WSU Pullman campus. Photo: Brian Clark, WSU MNEC.

WSU officials and friends of organic agriculture dedicated the new Eggert Family Organic Farm with a special ceremony on this past Saturday, Oct. 13, at the site of the new farm on the east edge of the Pullman campus off Airport Road.
The event featured speakers including WSU President Elson S. Floyd and Dan Bernardo, vice president for agriculture and extension. The entire Eggert clan was in attendance as well.

WSU officials in April announced a $5 million investment by alumni and natural foods pioneers Chuck and Louanna Eggert and their family to expand the WSU Organic Farm from four acres to nearly 30 acres. The gift has grown since then. The farm expansion provides WSU with the largest organic teaching farm on a university campus in the United States.

The couple, who met while attending WSU, have grown Pacific Natural Foods from a small soymilk production company to a global leader in natural food development, sustainable and organic farming, and land stewardship that supports farmers and ranchers.

Founded in 1987 in Tualatin, Oregon, Pacific Natural Foods offers a wide variety of all natural and organic food and beverages including soups, broths, non-dairy beverages, and pot pies. The company’s products are sold throughout the United States and Canada in mainstream grocery and natural food stores.

“This is a game changer for the program,” said John Reganold, WSU Regents Professor of Soil Science and Agroecology who leads the university’s organic agriculture major. “This investment by the Eggert family greatly expands the opportunities provided by the Organic Farm and major for students at Washington State University.”

Tilth Producers of Washington 38th Annual Conference

“Growing Forward: Holistic Management of Organic Farms,” Nov. 9 – 11

Come on down to Port Townsend for the Tilth Producers annual conference at Fort Worden State Park on the Olympic Peninsula. More than 600 farmers, researchers, advocates and organic industry representatives will convene for three days of educational and networking events focused on organic and sustainable agriculture in Washington.

Friday features a one-day WSU Symposium, Seeding the Future: Ensuring Resiliency in Our Plant Genetic Resources, focused on germplasm issues and management. Also on Friday is a hands-on Farm Mechanics Workshop with expert mechanics Grant Gibbs and Albert Roberts.

Keynote speaker Allan Savory will provide inspiration and describe the Holistic Management decision-making framework in his plenary, Small Farmers Leading the World through New Approaches to Agriculture.

Tilth Producers and WSU have a great line up of expert growers, researchers, and educators sharing their expertise on organic farm practices and issues, plus a Beginning Farmer Series planned in conjunction with Washington Young Farmers Coalition.

Social events include a welcome reception and cider tasting, an intergenerational trivia mixer, Saturday evening films, a square dance with The Tallboys, a wine and cheese tasting and, of course, delicious organic meals.

Get registered and check out the agenda by visiting http://bit.ly/Wa6coC.

WSBA Beekeeping Courses Start in November, Repeat in January, February

Learn beekeeping from masters. Photo: Kate Halstead/WSU Extension.

To help rebuild, maintain, and expand the resource of local pollinators and honey producers, the Washington State Beekeepers Association, Washington State University Snohomish County Extension, and Beez Neez Apiary Supply team up each year to sponsor three sessions of the popular apprentice level course in the Master Beekeeper Program. The five-week course provides a thorough introduction to beekeeping for novice beekeepers as well as a comprehensive refresher course for experienced apiculturists.

The first session starts Monday evenings, November 5 through December 10 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in McCollum Park at WSU Snohomish County Extension’s Cougar Auditorium, 600 128th ST SE, Everett. The five-week course repeats starting Monday, January 7 and again on February 25.

Designed to build basic beekeeping skills, topics covered include bee biology, equipment, seasonal management, identification and management of pests and diseases, and honey harvest. The overall focus is on the unique challenges and benefits to beekeeping in western Washington.

A workshop manual complements the lectures. Participants completing the five-week course and passing the optional Washington State Apprentice Beekeeper level exam (open book test) will receive a certificate towards the Journey and Master Beekeeper levels of training.

Each session will be taught by local beekeeping professionals, WSU Snohomish County Extension entomologist Dave Pehling, and Jim Tunnell, owner of Beez Neez Apiary Supply in Snohomish.

Class size is limited and always fills quickly. There are just a few seats left for the November series. The cost for the five-week course is $75 per person. Register online at http://bit.ly/SXvyzo for the fall event, or http://bit.ly/XaBpGc for the January series, and http://bit.ly/T3ct4R for the February series. Alternatively, download the registration form from http://bit.ly/SUIN86 and mail it with your check. For registration information, contact Karie Christensen at 425-357-6039 or e-mail christensen4@wsu.edu. For more information on the course, contact Dave Pehling, pehling@wsu.edu, 425-357-6019.

A cluster of Concord grapes.

WSU researchers are developing an assessment tool to help juice grape growers determine the sustainability of their operations. The “Washington State Juice Grape Sustainability Report Card” is the first step toward statewide efforts to define and support sustainable growing practices on more than 26,000 acres of Washington’s Concord and Niagara vineyards.

“Sustainability, by definition, is long-term business survival. Farming, especially in perennial crops, is not a short-term process,” said Michelle Moyer, WSU viticulture extension specialist. “Knowing where growers can improve, economically and environmentally, as well as in terms of employee health and safety, will ultimately lead to more successful businesses.”

In this context, sustainability is good environmental stewardship is compatible with being economically profitable over the long term and enhances the quality of life of producers and their communities.

Retailers, including Walmart, are putting increasing pressure on juice and food processors to document the sustainability of their production practices, Moyer said. “Sustainability sells products and shows customers that producers care about the long-term impact of their businesses on the environment, economics and social equity, although most tend to focus on the environmental aspect,” Moyer said.

Juice grape growers using the Sustainability Report Card will be able to evaluate their operations around a number of vineyard management areas, including nutrients, irrigation, and pest management, as well as vineyard establishment practices and continuing education on emerging issues.

WSU scientists and Extension personnel created a draft of the Sustainability Report Card this year and sought feedback from Washington producers of juice grapes for the National Grape Cooperative, the grower cooperative for Welch’s. So far, 193 growers have completed the draft assessment, which represents more than 90 percent of the cooperative’s Washington members, said NGC’s Craig Bardwell. The goal is to receive assessments from all Washington members before harvest. Revisions will be made to the Sustainability Report Card this fall based on comments received from the growers.

Michigan and New York have vineyard sustainability programs in place, but they are not juice-grape specific like the one being developed in Washington, Moyer said. Washington juice grape growers have many sustainable production practices already in place, as an inherent feature of producing juice grapes in Washington’s geography and climate. “Washington juice grape production is, for the most part, one of the more sustainable production systems in the country,” she explained. “Concord production is very low input. Now we’re putting a number to it.”

For more information about the Sustainability Report Card, visit the WSU Viticulture and Enology website at http://bit.ly/wsuveext.

–Nella Letizia

WSU Researcher Documents Links between Nutrients, Genes and the Spread of Cancers

Gary Meadows

More than 40 plant-based compounds can turn on genes that slow the spread of multiple cancers, according to a first-of-its-kind study by a Washington State University researcher. 
Gary Meadows, WSU professor and associate dean for graduate education and scholarship in the College of Pharmacy, said he is encouraged by his findings because the spread of cancer is most often what makes the disease fatal. Moreover, he said, diet, nutrients and plant-based chemicals appear to be opening many avenues of attack.

“We’re always looking for a magic bullet,” he said. “Well, there are lots of magic bullets out there in what we eat and associated with our lifestyle. We just need to take advantage of those. And they can work together.”

A bowl full of pomegranate seeds, potential cancer-fighting magic bullets. Photo by Timothy Valentine/Creative Commons license via Flickr.

Meadows started the study, recently published online in the journal Cancer and Metastasis Reviews (available at http://bit.ly/SyziXW), with some simple logic: Most research focuses on the prevention of cancer or the treatment of the original cancer tumor, but it’s usually the cancer’s spread to nearby organs that kills you. So rather than attack the tumor, said Meadows, let’s control its spread, or metastasis.

Through a search of the medical literature, Meadows documented dozens of substances affecting the metastasis suppressor genes of numerous cancers.
 He found that amino acids, vitamin D, ethanol, ginseng extract, the tomato carotenoid lycopene, the turmeric component curcumin, pomegranate juice, and fish oil acted epigenetically, which is to say they turn metastasis suppressor genes on or off in breast, colorectal, prostate, skin, lung, and other cancers.

“So these epigenetic mechanisms are influenced by what you eat,” Meadoes said. “That may also be related to how the metastasis suppressor genes are being regulated. That’s a very new area of research that has largely not been very well explored in terms of diet and nutrition.”

Meadows said he now has a greater appreciation of the role of natural compounds in helping our bodies slow or stop the spread of cancer. The number of studies that serendipitously connected nutrients and metastasis suppressor genes suggests a need for more deliberate research into the genes.

Meadows also sees these studies playing an important role in the shift from preventing cancer to living with it and keeping it from spreading. “We’ve focused on the cancer for a long time,” he said. “More recently we’ve started to focus on the cancer in its environment. And the environment, your whole body as an environment, is really important in whether or not that cancer will spread.”

-Eric Sorensen

Perspectives on Sustainability – a New Blog from WSU’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources

CSANR director Chad Kruger and his colleagues have been busy blogging about sustainability and natural resources at http://bit.ly/tKoF74. The following post is by Kruger.

In the United States, there is a storied tradition of connectivity between the agriculture industry and land grant university science. While that connection has been both praised and criticized, there is no question that it has been massively influential in the development of both commercial agriculture and agricultural science. Over the past couple of decades the land grant universities, including Washington State University, have responded to long-standing demands to conduct more science relevant to farmers’ agricultural sustainability questions and challenges. This research has addressed such things as integrated pest management, organic production, no-till, composting, alternative crops, and environmental protection, to name a few. In fact, the Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources (CSANR) was established 20 years ago to facilitate this kind of science at WSU.

CSANR has come a long way since its inception, engaging more than 150 different WSU faculty members from multiple scientific disciplines (and numerous collaborators from other institutions) in producing science relevant to improving the sustainability of Washington’s farms and ranches. Over the past four years that I have served as director of CSANR, one thing has become increasingly clear to me–there are a lot of people who are not actively farming who want to know more about what science has to say about agriculture and food system sustainability in the state, region, nation and globally. I know this based on the number of inquiries and requests that I personally receive to present CSANR scientific findings to non-farming audiences.

To address this interest, most of the agricultural science funding programs and opportunities are changing to ensure that agricultural science is not only providing research results relevant to production agriculture, but also relevant to major societal issues such as climate change, energy, environmental services, and human health and nutrition. CSANR and WSU have been extremely successful in securing funding as these programs have shifted–I think because of our strong connection to a broad stakeholder base in the state and region that is thinking “beyond the farm” when it comes to issues of sustainability. CSANR is now actually conducting as much agricultural science relevant to big societal challenges as production ag (though I’m also happy to report that we are doing more production ag science than ever before). What this means to me is that we need some new approaches for sharing our research findings and scientific insights on these questions with a much broader audience that doesn’t participate in the “traditional” ag-science education venues (i.e. field days, producer meetings, technical bulletins, etc.).

So, with this message, I am formally announcing the new CSANR blog titled “Perspectives on Sustainability.” What you’ll find at http://bit.ly/tKoF74 is an assortment of perspective articles from me, other CSANR faculty and staff, and occasionally guests on issues related to the science of sustainable agriculture and food systems. Like all science, this is a grand experiment with an uncertain outcome. Please join us by bookmarking the site and checking back often.

You can like our Facebook page (at http://on.fb.me/S3hQdE) to subscribe to our announcement feed when new articles are posted. We’d love to have your comments and input–-and if you have specific topics or issues you’d like us to address, please let us know at http://bit.ly/Q7dlA0.

Food To Bank On Project Seeks New Farmers

Mary Liz von Krusenstiern, owner of Neighborhood Harvest Farm, is in her second year of the project and grows a variety of vegetables for her Community Supported Agriculture shares.

Applications are now available for up to three new participants in the 2013 Food To Bank On project, a beginning farmer business training project facilitated by Sustainable Connections’ Food & Farming Program. The project connects farm businesses with business planning resources and experts, mentor farmers, workshops tailored to specific business needs, and new market opportunities.

Food to Bank On participants go through a business planning series each winter, working with a cohort of peer and mentor farmers to write and revisit their business plans. In addition, participants receive free Sustainable Connections’ membership, an educational stipend, marketing assistance and market rate payments to deliver fresh food to local food banks and shelters, providing a foundation to build their business through relationships with retailers, restaurants, and seasoned area farmers.

These fledgling farmer-run businesses offer products ranging from produce to medicinal herbs, grass-fed beef and heritage meats to eggs, reflecting the goal of diversifying locally-available agricultural products. Last season, Food To Bank On farms delivered $9,000 worth of fresh local produce and meats to area food banks, soup kitchens, shelters, and other social service agencies.

Thirty five farmers have participated in the three-year program and 28 are still successfully farming today. That’s an 80 percent success rate, a phenomenal success rate for any beginning business.

“The Food To Bank On farmer support system is essential to my day to day decision making,” said Mary Liz von Krusenstiern, a CSA vegetable farmer in her second year of the project. “I am constantly on the phone with other farmers getting second opinions about everything from fertilizer requirements to how to deal with the stress that comes along with farming. The project, the connections, the resources have all been crucial to the success of my business.”

Current program participants include: Bellingham Urban Garden Syndicate, Heritage Lane Farm, Jordan Creek Farm, Misty Meadows Farm, Neighborhood Harvest, Nooksack Delta Ranch, Roll Organic Farms, Rustic Moon Farm, Sage and Sky Farm and The Carrot & Stick. Current mentor farms are Boxx Berry Farm, Cedarville Farm, Cloud Mountain Farm Center, Farmer Ben’s, Osprey Hill Farm and Rabbit Fields Farm.

Food To Bank On applications are due Nov. 1 and are available at http://bit.ly/S3cXkZ. Profiles and photos of current farmers are available on the Sustainable Connections website at http://bit.ly/S3cXkZ. For more information contact Sara Southerland at sara@sconnect.org.

Small Farm Conference Workshops Address Production, Sustainability, Management, Sept. 28-29

A partner in a small farming operation at a farmers market.

A presentation on small scale agriculture’s role in economic recovery along with workshops of interest to beginning farmers are part of the second annual Inland Northwest Small Farm Conference slated for Sept. 28-29 at the Spokane Interstate Fair and Expo Center.

Co-sponsored by WSU Extension Spokane County and the Spokane Conservation District, the conference will feature 24 workshops on topics related to animal and crop production, sustainable farming practices, and business and marketing management. Friday’s dinner will be sourced from local farms. The keynote speaker will be Ken Meter of the Crossroad Resource Center in Minneapolis, who has done extensive work on rural food systems and how they impact communities.

The registration deadline is Sept. 21. Registration costs range from $30 to $75. More information and a registration form are available at http://bit.ly/NAGE0i. Those paying by debit/credit card are asked to mail the form to: Inland NW Small Farm Conference Registration, Spokane Conservation District, 210 N. Havana, Spokane, WA 99202. Conference lodging special rates are available at the River Inn ($89 per night) and the Red Lion Hotel at the Park ($99 per night); ask for the Small Farm Conference rate. Camping is available at the Interstate Fair and Expo Center. For questions, contact Pat Munts, WSU Extension Spokane County, pmunts@spokanecounty.org, 509-477-2173. Support is provided by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency education and outreach grant.

A Harvest of Fun at WSU Organic Farm Celebration Oct. 6

WSU organic farm manager Brad Jaeckel working the harvest.

U-pick pumpkins, a corn maze, hay wagon rides, and more will be part of the fun at the free, public Harvest Party at the Washington State University Organic Farm 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 6.

“The star of the party will be a giant pumpkin on display,” said organic farm manager Brad Jaeckel. “Party-goers are invited to take a guess at the pumpkin’s weight. The closest guess wins the giant or a more reasonable sized jack-o-lantern of the winner’s choice.”

Other activities will include face painting and fresh pressed apple cider. The orchard also will be open for U-pick and pre-picked fruit sales; it accepts cash and checks. The U-pick pumpkin patch will have traditional jack-o-lanterns, baby pumpkins, and a few novelty varieties. Pumpkins will be sold by weight.

“The party is always a lot of fun, so we invite folks to come out to meet the farm crew and enjoy the harvest and the crisp fall air,” Jaeckel said.

The WSU Organic Farm is located inside Tukey Horticulture Orchard on the corner of Airport Road and Terre View; follow the signs to the farm.

The WSU Organic Farm is on Facebook - check out their page for upcoming events, news, and ideas.

Probiotics, Prebiotics, Health are Focuses of WSU Symposium Nov. 1-2

Topics centering on the health benefits of probiotics and prebiotics are the focus of a free, public symposium to be offered at Washington State University Nov. 1-2.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for not only faculty and students at our local universities but also the Moscow-Pullman community,” said Denise Smith, director of the WSU and University of Idaho School of Food Science. “Internationally recognized experts will share the most recent advances on how the use of probiotics may improve health and how our lives can be enriched because of the research.”

Probiotics and health is a “hot button” topic in the health and wellness fields. Commercially available food products containing probiotic bacteria are created for today’s consumers who want foods that are not only nutritious but also health-promoting.

Sponsored by the WSU/UI School of Food Science, “Probiotics & Prebiotics: Promoting Better Health,” will begin with a welcome reception and introductory talks 4-6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Building, room 103. On Friday, Nov. 2, lectures will be 8 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Compton Union Building Junior Ballroom East.

The symposium will cover the genomics of probiotic organisms; chemical and biological properties of prebiotics; and novel synbiotics. Probiotics in select dairy foods and how they affect human health, including weight control, will be presented as well as the role of probiotics in animal health.

“We have some of the most respected professionals in the field coming to speak,” said WSU/UI professor of food science Boon Chew. “We hope attendees will benefit from the lectures on this timely and important topic.”

Featured speakers will be Todd R. Klaenhammer, North Carolina State University; David A. Mills, University of California-Davis; Robert W. Hutkins, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; and Jean Soon Park, P&G Pet Care, Mason, Ohio. Several faculty members from the School of Food Science will speak on related topics.

More information about the symposium and the school is available at http://bit.ly/RpkYXg or by contacting event coordinator Boon Chew at 509-335-1427 or boonchew@wsu.edu.

WSU Extension Publications has just released “Soil Testing: A Guide for Farms with Diverse Vegetable Crops.” The new fact sheet presents a comprehensive, yet affordable, procedure for implementing an annual soil-testing program for farms with diverse vegetable crops. The reader will learn when to sample, where to sample, how to take a sample, and how to use sample results to improve farm management.

“Healthy soils are living, dynamic systems that provide many functions essential to human health and habitation,” writes WSU Extension educator and soil scientist Doug Collins in the new publication. “Soil sampling and analysis can be used not only to sustain plant and animal productivity but also to maintain or enhance air and water quality. Using data from soil sampling and analyses to tailor farm management decisions can also improve both farm profitability and environmental stewardship.”

Soil testing results can indicate nutrient deficiencies or excesses, nutrient-holding capacity, organic matter content, and soil alkalinity or acidity. Soil analysis can guide farmers and gardeners in making soil amendment and soil management decisions. Making soil sampling an annual event enables farmers to track management practices and make informed decisions about future soil amendment practices.

“Soil Testing” clearly and simply guides readers through the entire process of testing. The process begins with developing a soil-sampling plan, when and how to take soil samples, and how to track and use the data collected.

Collins is leading a team developing soil-fertility tests for use by organic farmers. He emphasized the importance of assessing particular sites for soil-fertility. “What we’ve found is that you really have to know what is going on with a particular piece of ground. You can’t offer generalized advice about fertility management. That’s why we’re developing these tests,” Collins said.

“Soil Testing” is available as a free PDF download from WSU Extension Publications.

–Brian Charles Clark

WSU Small Farms Program and Viva Farms Helps Aspiring Farmers Step Towards Success

Sarita Schaffer, regional coordinator of WSU’s immigrant farming program, helps aspiring farmers on their path to farm ownership.

Farming is changing across the United States, and WSU uses innovative programs such as a partnership with Viva Farms and their Incubator Program to help with the transition. Viva Farms is a farm incubator in Mount Vernon that helps fledgling farmers, many of them immigrants, move from simple aspiration to actual farm ownership. Sarita Schaffer is the director of Viva Farms and a regional coordinator for WSU’s immigrant farming program.

“A lot of people who grew up on farms are not so excited about farming,” says Schaffer. With the average age of farmers in the United States approaching sixty, there are concerns about where the next generation of farm owners and operators will come from. Schaffer finds part of the answer in the immigrant population that works the fields now. “If you were to drive around the farms in Skagit County, you would notice that the majority of people working on farms are of Latino background.” Many of them are excellent candidates for farm ownership. “Immigrants often have more agricultural experience and, in some cases, a greater love of agriculture. Their aspiration is to be farmers; that’s what their family has always done and they enjoy it.”

Salvador Morales, originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, uses a seeding tool to quickly plant his field at Viva Farms.

There is a wide gulf, however, between aspiration and farm ownership. While many aspiring farmers find an internship, which helps them build skills, it doesn’t bring them any closer to owning or leasing land, acquiring equipment, or gaining a market. Enter Viva Farms, the farm incubator.

Viva Farms was founded in 2009 by GrowFood, an international farm internship program, in partnership with WSU Skagit County Extension. Viva helps farmers become established through a comprehensive program that provides not only education, but also access to land, equipment, and markets. This combination has attracted more aspiring farmers to Viva every year, bringing ten farms under the Viva umbrella in 2012.

Valerie Rose, a farmer at Viva Farms, cleans turnips at a field wash station. Valerie and the other Viva farmers will soon have the advantage of a 7400-square-foot facility for processing, cold storage and distribution.

Viva’s curriculum is integrated with WSU’s Cultivating Success program, a small farmer business development program. Farmers coming to Viva Farm are required to complete the Viva curriculum, including the development of a business plan. Specialists also come from the nearby WSU Mount Vernon Northwest Research and Extension Center to teach the farmers about pest monitoring, weed pressure, and other agricultural issues. “WSU is able to provide great Extension resources,” Schaffer observed.

Once farmers have a business plan in place, they can rent land from Viva at a low cost, for up to five years. Many farmers start by renting an acre for the first year, and grow from there. One farmer, Santiago Lozano, originally from Oaxaca, Mexico, started with two acres, and over the next three years, not only rented more land at Viva, but also rented a nearby piece of ground, bringing his farm size up to ten acres.

The incubator also provides access to equipment and critical infrastructure like cold storage and greenhouses, and help with marketing, distribution, and business management. Lozano identified the primary benefit as the on-site availability of equipment, including tractors. He notes that he could rent equipment elsewhere for a similar price, but by renting from Viva, he can avoid travel time and minimum charges. In a business where time is money, he comes out ahead.

While Viva Farms is only three years old, it is continually enhancing its operations to benefit fledgling farmers. It recently signed a lease on 7,400 square feet of warehouse space with ample cold storage and equipment for cleaning and processing fresh fruits and vegetables. The centerpiece of the facility will be a hydrocooler, a piece of equipment that rapidly cools produce, greatly increasing shelf life. Lettuce particularly needs to be cooled rapidly to provide the highest quality to the consumer. “It’s pretty rare for someone who is operating a one- to five-acre farm to justify the cost of a hydrocooler,” said Schaffer. “If it’s shared among 15 to 20 farms in an area, and everyone’s using it for a couple hours every day, then it becomes a viable option.” The hydrocooler will allow farmers at Viva to compete in wholesale markets.

Viva doesn’t have all the equipment farmers might need, but this actually helps the farmers transition to independence. By saving on rental costs for land and heavy machinery, farmers can build a nest egg that can be used to purchase some of their own equipment. When they are ready to leave Viva, they have already made capital investments, and are more likely to succeed.

Land and equipment mean nothing to farmers, though, unless they can sell their harvest—and marketing is the capstone of Viva Farms. Viva launched a farm stand within eyesight of the farm, on a busy stretch of Highway 20 leading to the tourist magnets of the San Juan Islands and Deception Pass. Within a week, the open-air stand was drawing 100–200 customers per day. From the farm stand, shoppers “can look out and see exactly where their produce came from,” Schaffer said. “If they’re curious, they can mosey into the fields and talk to the farmers. They can meet the folks who are growing their food, and learn why it’s important to support new farmers.” The farmers also benefit from interaction with the shoppers. “They get immediate feedback on their produce. Do people want something bigger? Do they want something smaller? Do they want different varieties? Are they more interested in organic? Are they more interested in a low price? So it’s a great marketing lesson.” As with other aspects of the farm, success drives success, and Viva is improving the stand, installing a larger roof and a cold rack to keep the produce in top condition.

The biggest marketing effort, though, goes to the Community Supported Agriculture program that Viva runs with the nearby Growing Washington organization. The CSA delivers 1,200 boxes of fresh produce to customers in four counties in the Puget Sound region, making it one of the largest CSAs to deliver all-Washington produce. Participating farmers need to plan and plant accordingly, so they can provide 1,200 heads of lettuce, 1200 pints of strawberries, or 1200 of another item at a time. As farmers experience the planning, production, and packaging aspects of the CSA, some have started their own CSAs on the side. They will even sell produce to each other to offer their customers more variety.

This demonstrates another strategy the Viva farmers adopt to succeed in the changing landscape of farming: cooperation. “I think the collaborative model is something that is really effective, particularly for small-scale growers,” said Schaffer. This collaboration allows farmers to bring their produce together and gain larger markets. “We’re seeing a shift from family farms to families of farms,” Schaffer observed. This formula brings the next generation of farmers onto the land and rejuvenates America’s agricultural landscape.

–Bob Hoffmann

WSU Extension Partners Give Beginning Farmers a Boost with Loan Program

Beginning farmers in Skagit County are getting a much-needed boost from a new program brings together Slow Money NW, Viva Farm, North Coast Credit Union, Washington State University Extension and food-minded investors in the region. The project helps new farmers overcome one of the major hurdles producers face: the start-up costs involved in agricultural enterprises.

New farmer Santiago Lozano (right) holding the paperwork approving his line of credit secured by the Farmer Reserve Fund. Next to Lozano are Grow Food’s executive director, Ethan Schaffer, and NCCU loan officer, Carolina Chavez.

Slow Money NW’s innovative program, called the Farmer Reserve Fund, is extending credit services to beginning farmers by helping North Coast Credit Union leverage its existing financial resources. The non-profit project made its first loan with NCCU last week to strawberry farmer Santiago Lozano. This week, a second loan was made to vegetable producer Nelida Martinez. The loans allow new farmers to purchase equipment and supplies and then repay the loan within a year.

Slow Money NW, a project of the non‐profit Grow Food, worked to match available funds and financial services in the region with the needs of emerging local food and farm businesses. “We wanted to find a model that kept our overhead down and that also utilized the existing resources in the farming community,” said Japhet Koteen, Slow Money NW’s Project Manager. North Coast Credit Union was the ideal partner since it has plenty of deposits available to lend but did not have many low-risk alternatives.

“This was absolutely perfect for us,” said Terry Belcoe, president of NCCU. “We’ve got all the systems and expertise in place to do the lending. What we lacked was the knowledge of, and connections with, this new market of potential borrowing members. Slow Money NW and Viva Farms had all the pieces that we were lacking.”

Nelida Martinez is the owner and operator of Pure Nelida Farms. Photo courtesy Amanda Wilson.

Charitable donations from two local investors were used to establish a reserve fund at NCCU in order to reduce risk for the credit union while leveraging its existing deposits. Viva Farms provides an additional layer of due diligence for the fund by screening their student-farmer pool for the best potential financing candidates. The farmers also receive technical and entrepreneurial assistance from WSU Extension’s Cultivating Success program, further insuring their ability to succeed as new farmers.

The Farmer Reserve Fund is a win-win situation for both the credit union that puts its deposits to work in the community and the investors who donated the reserve funds. Each dollar deposited into the fund results in up to five dollars to lend out to beginning farmers.

The farmers also see immediate benefits. “It is very difficult for new growers to access credit,” said Lozano. “I will reserve some of my line of credit to cover any emergencies that come up. The rest I will use to pay my harvest crew before I get paid for sales.”

Martinez said the loan is allowing her to grow her young business. “Thanks to this program, it’s much easier for new farmers like myself to get a loan and keep moving forward. We’re very thankful for the extra help in realizing our dreams.”

Viva Farms is a Skagit County-based program with a mission of launching the next generation of sustainable farmers. The Viva Farms Incubator Program was launched in June 2009 to provide new farmers affordable access to education, training and technical assistance; capital and credit; and land and markets.

–Brian Charles Clark

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinar to Introduce New Organic Seed Database

Join the Organic Seed Alliance on August 21 for an eOrganic webinar introducing Organic Seed Finder, a new database hosted by the Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies.

Beginning this fall, Organic Seed Finder will provide reliable organic seed availability information. The database aims to facilitate the growth and success of the organic seed sector and support farmer, certifier, and handler decisions for better meeting the national organic seed requirement and for serving organic production, which remains one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. food industry.

To register for the webinar, visit http://www.extension.org/pages/64782. For more information, contact Cathleen McCluskey at cathleen@seedalliance.org or (360) 472-0247.

Washington Organic Week Set for Sept. 6 – 15

The Governor’s office officially proclaimed September 9-15 as Washington Organic Week – WOW!

WSDA Organic Program is partnering with Tilth Producers of Washington to highlight the great work being done by the state’s organic industry during this week and beyond. The weeklong celebration ends on Sept. 15 with Under the Harvest Moon, the first annual benefit auction for Tilth Producers, held at the Fremont Abbey Arts Center. This gala event will showcase the abundant bounty of the region’s farms, ranches, and orchards. The evening will feature a “good food”-focused silent auction; fabulous live music; locally-sourced hors d’oeuvres; organic beer, wine and cider; and a live auction during dessert to cap the evening off. Robin Leventhal, former owner and executive chef of Crave, Star of Top Chef Season 6, and Slow Food Seattle board member
, will be the emcee and auctioneer.

All proceeds go towards ensuring Tilth Producers continues to provide excellent networking and educational opportunities for Washington sustainable and organic farmers and stakeholders. Find out more about WOW, Under the Harvest Moon, and other developing events on the Tilth Producers of Washington website.

Take a Walk

Kirsop Farm is a 20-acre diversified farm located in the city of Tumwater. Now in its 17th year, Kirsop is co-owned and operated by Genine Bradwin and Colin Barricklow. In addition to a 200-member CSA and two weekly farmers markets, they also provide fresh vegetables to local restaurants and stores. Over the last five years, Kirsop Farm has diversified production to include pastured poultry, grains, and mushrooms. Colin and Genine are participating in two WSU on-farm research trials: reduced tillage in organic agriculture, and managing fertility on organic farms. The farm walk will highlight these research trials and the diversified vegetable, grain, and poultry production at Kirsop Farm. Learn more about this and other upcoming Farm Walks on the Tilth Producers’ website.