February 1999

Citrus is focus of latest biologically integrated farming systems project

DAVIS -- Citrus growers, researchers and agricultural consultants on the eastern side of the San Joaquin Valley are the latest group to be awarded biologically integrated farming systems (BIFS) funds from the University of California’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP).

The citrus BIFS project team was recently awarded $80,000 for the first year of a three-year project to demonstrate techniques that reduce pesticide and fertilizer use. Funding for UC SAREP’s citrus project comes from an augmentation to the Department of Pesticide Regulation’s (DPR) budget and was made possible by Assembly Bill 1998, introduced by Assemblymember Helen Thomson of Yolo County.

"BIFS utilizes a farmer-to-farmer approach to information and technology exchange, emphasizes science-based information, and monitors key biological and economic variables," said Mark Freeman, a UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor in Fresno County and the project’s principal investigator. "It will provide practical information to help growers address the tough economic and environmental concerns that affect the citrus industry."

State plans to protect groundwater underscore the need to help citrus growers reduce pesticide use. DPR will implement a groundwater protection plan next year. Freeman believes this will have a profound impact on the citrus industry.

"The new regulations will affect both growers and pest control advisers," he said. "Before certain chemicals can be applied, farmers will need to have water management plans approved that reduce surface runoff from the fields and deep percolation of chemicals through the soil. Our goals are to emphasize careful monitoring with validated threshold values before applying pesticides or fertilizers, and to reduce broad-spectrum chemicals.

"Growers also will be searching for ways to cut costs and maintain quality and yields after the devastating 1998 freeze," Freeman added. "We intend to supply them with information that will help them accomplish that goal."

Three key industry people on the citrus BIFS project management team include:

• Kevin Severns, a Sanger-area grower, farms 40 acres of navel and Valencia oranges and works in grower relations for Orange Cove/Sanger Packing. He says the damaging late-1998 freeze highlights another reason to look at farming alternatives. "The freeze underscores the uncertainty we face in farming," he said. "It’s the same uncertainty we face regarding pesticides and herbicides -- we want to look strongly at alternatives. Maybe the BIFS projects will help us find some answers."

• Shawn Stevenson, a Clovis-area grower, looks forward to sharing information with other growers and hearing what they have to say. "The thing about agriculture is that it’s about art as much as it is about science," he said. "You can’t write a cookbook or a manual on farming. Talking about it helps." Stevenson farms 1,350 acres of citrus and has been using cover crops on much of his land for more than 15 years. He began using them on hillside acreage with erosion problems but also has observed additional benefits, such as reduced soil compaction and improved water penetration.

• Stan Xavier, an independent appraiser at Correia-Xavier Agricultural Appraisers in Fresno, will provide training for farmers, pest control advisers and lenders on getting ag information from the Internet. Xavier says citrus growers will be especially interested in some of the UC cost studies he has made available on the Web. "These cost studies will help growers educate lenders as they prepare budgets to borrow money to recover from the 1998 freeze," he said. "We know growers incurred additional cultural costs to redevelop citrus trees after the last big freeze in 1990."

Farmers involved in the BIFS projects are integrating biological and cultural control of pests into their production systems; providing on-farm habitats for beneficial insects, mites and spiders; and emphasizing soil-building practices such as the use of cover crops to provide all or part of the nitrogen needed by crops. The intended result, according to SAREP BIFS coordinator Jenny Broome, is that biologically integrated farming systems will enable farmers to maintain yields and quality while greatly reducing their reliance on agricultural chemicals, including pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

BIFS is designed around a team approach to farm management, involving farmers, pest control consultants, and UC farm advisors and researchers. As in previously funded BIFS projects in walnuts, prunes, rice, winegrapes and cotton/vegetables, the citrus project will use successful working farms to demonstrate agricultural operations that have reduced pesticide use in high-value crops. Other area farmers have agreed to participate by adapting the methods demonstrated to sections of their own farms and then monitoring and comparing results with their traditional practices.

The citrus BIFS project is funded for one year. Contingent upon demonstrated progress, the project will be eligible for renewed funding for two additional years. Additional funds for the citrus project and the walnut, prune and rice projects have been provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Media Contacts:
Lyra Halprin, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu

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