As a gardener in the Midwest, I am surrounded by agricultural farmland and housing developments that have largely replaced the tallgrass prairie that provided habitat for pollinators and other wildlife prior to European settlement. I decided to devote some of my outside space to these essential creatures. But before I started, I needed to figure out which plants would thrive in my yard’s environment. 

Starting a pollinator garden with small plants, or plugs, results in mature plants quicker than seed and reduces the amount of time weeding. Photo courtesy of Cydney Ross at Deep Roots KC

Choosing plants native to the region is best as they are well suited to the local soil and climate. Pollinators have adapted to native plants; they have co-existed for hundreds of years. There are plenty of native plants to choose from that are attractive and provide pollinator habitat. 

“Be a planner, not a plopper,” says Cydney Ross, outdoor education program manager for Deep Roots KC, a Kansas City, Missouri nonprofit. 

Ross suggests taking photos at different times of the day for at least one season to find out how many hours of sunlight each part of your yard receives. Pollinators forage in areas with six to eight hours of full sunlight a day. 

I planted patches of pollinator habitat in my yards in Nebraska and Iowa, and for each location, I learned to pay attention to the hours of sunlight available after the trees have fully leafed out. When there are mature trees nearby, the hours of sunlight available can change quite a bit from early May to July!

Soil and moisture are other considerations. Ken Parker, a western New York-based native plant grower and consultant with Native Plant Guy Consulting, says fancy soil tests are unnecessary. Simply identify the type of soil that you have—for example, is it clay, loam or sandy? To determine soil type, I place a ball of wet soil similar to the consistency of Play-Doh in my hand. Sandy soil is gritty and hard to form a ball, whereas clay is much stickier. Loam tends to be a mix of the two and feels silky in your hand and forms a loose ball. 

Next, I observed where water pooled in my yard to identify areas that are especially wet. I mostly worked with sandy and loam soil and have noticed the plants that thrive in my area can change depending on soil conditions. Cream wild indigo and prairie dropseed are among the species that have grown better in my sandy soils, while a wide variety of plant species such as New England aster, wild bergamot and sideoats grama (a short prairie grass) grow well in loam soil. 

When planting native plants, it’s unnecessary to add amendments to the soil such as peat moss and fertilizer. These plants are hardy and do not need these supplements, which will just encourage weeds.

Once I understood sunlight, soil and moisture conditions, I was able to pick plant species that fit my yard’s environment.

Purple poppy mallow (foreground) is an example of a shorter native species that looks good at the front of native flower beds. Photo courtesy of Cydney Ross at Deep Roots KC

State native plant societies are a good starting point for finding a local native plant organization and nursery that specializes in growing natives. These organizations and nurseries are good resources for learning about the habitat requirements of different species and how to plant them. I have ordered most of my native plants from regional nurseries in flats through the mail, and they have arrived in good condition. 

Established plants are advised for starting smaller pollinator gardens (less than roughly 250 to 500 square feet); they are more expensive than seed, but they will establish more quickly, reducing time spent weeding. 

I planted my first pollinator garden with a pre-made native grass and wildflower seed mix when I was in my 20s and a graduate student with a flexible schedule. I enjoyed spending time on my hands and knees with a plant ID guide getting to know which young seedlings were something I had planted and which were weeds that needed to be pulled. However, as I got older and wanted to spend less time weeding, I switched to planting small plants. I also like getting to mature plants quicker when starting with plants.

Parker recommends choosing an equal number of wildflower species that bloom in the early spring, summer and fall—he likes four flowering species during each season. “The more species you have, the more your habitat becomes a buffet” for different types of adult pollinators and larvae, which will also attract birds, he says. 

My current garden has patches of pollinator habitat with 20 native plant species; the wildflowers bloom from May through early October. In my sunny, steep front yard, I planted a five-foot-wide strip with taller species such as stiff goldenrod, wild bergamot and common milkweed in the back and the shorter prairie dropseed grass and smooth aster in the front. Monarch larvae feed on milkweed, but adult monarchs and many other pollinators feed on the nectar and pollen of a variety of flowering species––in the fall, the blooms of the stiff dropseed are alive with activity from small bees to butterflies.

Near my vegetable garden there’s prairie alumroot, sweet coneflower, Joe Pye weed and foxglove beardtongue. The beardtongue is among my favorite plants. Its tubular white flowers are especially popular with bumblebees and hummingbirds. 

Grasses and sedges (grass-like plants with fine leaves) provide texture, and their dense roots will occupy space, reducing weed establishment. I like to include clump-forming grasses such as little bluestem that are host plants for the larvae of skippers, a type of butterfly. I have also started planting more sedges around my flowering plants since they green up early in the growing season and deter rabbits from feeding on other plants. As garden designer Benjamin Vogt with Monarch Gardens in Lincoln, Nebraska, says, “Sedges are wildflower bodyguards.” 

A healthy sedge. Photo by the author

Before the actual planting could begin, the area needs to be prepared by reducing weeds and grasses. This can be very labor intensive, but there are several methods that garden designers recommend––my favorite is sheet mulching for my gardens. 

Sheet mulching: Mow or weed whack your lawn and weeds short, then put layers of cardboard or newspaper down for several weeks; add mulch on top to keep the layers in place. Poke holes into the layers and insert your plants. 

Solarization: During the summer, staple clear plastic tarp into the lawn to use heat to kill the grass, weeds and weed seeds. Leave in place for two to three weeks in dry climates to several weeks in wetter climates until the vegetation is dead. Remove the plastic before adding your plants in the fall.

Herbicide: This is the most controversial method. Glyphosate is very effective at killing grass and weeds, but most pollinator experts avoid using it because of potential effects on human health, the environment and the pollinators they are trying to attract. 

The solarization method for preparing an area with weeds and grass. Photo courtesy of Cydney Ross of Deep Roots KC

Each of my gardens were planted over time. Ross suggests that planning in stages, even when converting large portions of a lawn to a pollinator habitat, keeps the project affordable and manageable. And starting with a small area allows you to confirm which species establish well and the weed control methods that work well before scaling up. Including native ground-spreading covers to serve as a living mulch can also reduce weeds.

In the first year, plants should put their energy into growing roots. To support their growth and to reduce weed competition, I add a one- to two-inch layer of mulch after planting and regularly water for the first two weeks if there isn’t regular rainfall. 

Over the second and third year, allowing the mulch to break down, trimming weeds and giving plants space to spread will allow the natives to replace the mulch. “They will find where they’re happiest,” says Parker.

The right garden preparation has paid dividends in creating an hospitable habitat lively with pollinators and other wildlife. My gourd plants are plentiful each year thanks to natural insect pollination. I watch birds feed on caterpillars in the spring and summer and the seed heads of sweet black-eyed Susan and Joe Pye weed in the fall and winter. It’s a small step to make my yard a more welcoming place for these creatures, but, selfishly, the pleasure I derive in seeing a butterfly float by on a summer breeze or bumblebees visit my flowers is immeasurable. 

The post Prepare a Slice of Your Yard For a Pollinator Garden appeared first on Modern Farmer.

They represent some of the oldest wines in North America, as the vines arrived in Italian immigrant Joe Busnardo’s suitcase in the late 1960s. Busnardo planted those Pinot Blanc and Trebbiano vines at Hester Creek Winery, and those vines are still producing fruit today. 

According to Kimberley Pylatuk, public relations coordinator at Hester Creek Estate Winery, Busnardo went through official channels. He grew up on a farm in Italy’s Veneto region; when he came to the Okanagan Valley in 1967, he saw a landscape that looked like home. He wanted to bring 10,000 vines, but the federal and provincial governments said no. They allowed him to import two cuttings of 26 separate varietals in 1968. Adding to the red tape, the government quarantined the vines before they released them. Luckily for Busnardo (and his cuttings), he was patient. 

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country. Photography by Leila Kwok

By 1972, he had more than 120 different varietals planted on the property, all Vitis Vinifera, and long before the BC government offered grape growers $8,100 an acre to pull out the Labrusca grapes and plant vinifera—a move credited with changing the tide of the wine industry in the region.

“We consider British Columbia a new wine region. But when you look at the people that live here, there are French winemakers, Australians. People bring their knowledge, their legacies and their traditions growing grapes and making wine,” says Pylatuk. “People like Joe back in the 1960s started that. He knew how to make good wine, how to grow grapes and how to pick the right vineyard property. We look at the ancient Romans who knew to plant their vines on a hillside because of cooler drainage, and look at the spot Joe chose—it speaks to ancient traditional knowledge.” 

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country. Photography by Leila Kwok

Busnardo sold the property in 1996 and winemakers have puzzled over where some of his vine originated since then. “We call block 13 Joe’s block. We know they came from Northern Italy, but we don’t know exactly what they are. We sent them to UC Davis and McGill University on more than one occasion and they’ve come back inconclusive,” says Pylatuk.

A few months ago, Hester Creek’s winemaker made the trek over to Vancouver Island to ask 90-year-old Busnardo directly. His response? “I’m taking that to my grave.” 

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country. Photography by Leila Kwok

“Forty years ago, the original owners of Road 13 [Golden Mile Cellars then] identified their site as akin to what they had at home in Europe and probably thought, who’s going to check my suitcase for a couple of plants? Let’s take it back to the Okanagan Valley and see if it grows,” says Jennifer Busmann, executive director of Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country.

Lest you think Busnardo was the only vine smuggler to arrive on BC’s shores, rest assured other folks have gotten around customs laws as well. According to Alfredo Jop, assistant guest experiences manager at Road 13 Vineyards, the Serwo family brought German vines carefully wrapped in a damp towel in their luggage when they moved from Germany (where they grew grapes) to Canada in the late 1960s. There are also Chenin Blanc vines around the region that can be traced to other suitcases and intrepid travellers. 

Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country. Photography by Leila Kwok

The variability in growing seasons and diverse micro-climates of the Okanagan Valley allow many varietals from around the globe to flourish. As a result, many of the 200-plus wineries in the region have similar luggage lore. Okanagan winemaking is not just a story of pioneering farming practices but of immigrants journeying to new homes with a piece of their heritage tucked into their luggage. 

Visionary immigrants like Busnardo and the Serwo family may not have understood what they were starting at the time, but they planted the seed that grew into a wine region that produces half of British Columbia’s award-winning wines across almost 50 wineries. Busmann adds, “I believe that vision from those growers and winery owners set us on our path.” 

The post Packing Light appeared first on Modern Farmer.

“I started from a young age, when I was about six years old,” says Ayvar de la Cruz, recalling her earliest experiences of harvesting salt from the area known in the vicinity as Las Salinas. “I began with my parents, then continued with my brothers, then with my children from when they were eight.”

Quintina Ayvar de la Cruz. Photography by Leia Marasovich.

The work of harvesting usually begins in February or March and carries on for three or four months, depending on the weather. The members of the Ayvar de la Cruz family are the only remaining residents of the region to continue harvesting salt in the traditional way, which is done completely by hand with the help of tools made only from local, natural materials, rather than relying on modern equipment. It begins by mixing a rustic concrete from sand and clay to form shallow square basins at the edge of the lagoon. Those lagoons are then filled with both freshwater and saltwater, before lime (in its mineral powder form) is added to the small pools to help separate out the salt from the water. A special rake called a tarecua facilitates this process. There, the mixture dries in the sun over the next five or so days and the salt is collected once the water has evaporated. 

“We start at six in the morning,” says Ayvar de la Cruz. “We start early because when it’s cool, you can move forward without getting so tired. At midday, the heat becomes very strong.” A break is taken from around 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. When the sun is less intense, the work continues until all the light is gone, around eight in the evening. 

The days are long and the work is hard, but Ayvar de la Cruz focuses on the experience of being in this extraordinary environment. “You feel the fresh air and cool water of the mangroves. It is a feeling of freedom and tranquility.” 

The salt pools where Quintina Ayvar de la Cruz harvests. Photography by Leia Marasovich.

At a distance of 90 years or so, she can still describe with impressive clarity the sensations of that first encounter with the salt flats—the feeling of being carried in her father’s arms and on the back of a donkey as they made the journey there and, later, to the closest town, Petatlán, to sell the salt, as well as its dazzling whiteness when arranged into a mound across mats made of palm fronds after harvesting. 

Over the last decade, all other salt producers in the area have modernized the process. One of the most significant changes has been the implementation of plastic sheets as the base for the drying areas, which makes production go more quickly.  

“Salt made using plastic can be sold for much cheaper and it hurts our local market,” says Ayvar de la Cruz’s son, Don Alejandro. “We don’t market our salt as artisanal, but everyone knows around here that we’re the only ones doing it the natural way.” 

Don Alejandro (left) holds the salt his family produces. Photography by Elena Valeriote.

Ayvar de la Cruz laments that the salt flats are now permeated with a “plastic smell” and her son notes that workers often leave their equipment in the lagoon out of season and, when hurricanes hit the coast, plastic pieces can end up elsewhere, endangering local wildlife. The surrounding mangroves are a key habitat for a diverse array of plants and animals, including shrimp, fish, crabs, pink herons, deer and coati (a kind of badger), as well as a type of tree known colloquially as salado (“salty”) because it survives in saltwater. 

In 2006, the Ayvar de la Cruz family was contacted by a new hospitality business called Playa Viva. Its owner, David Leventhal, was planning to construct a resort nearby founded on the principles of regenerative tourism, and he was interested in learning about the local ecosystems and community. Playa Viva hoped that collaborating with residents such as Ayvar de la Cruz could help create a space that would allow visitors to experience the beauty of this stretch of the Mexican coast, while also having a positive social and environmental impact that would linger longer than they would. 

In 2013, Playa Viva instituted the Regenerative Trust, with environmental and social goals that range from restoring ecosystems to raising endangered species for release and donating school supplies to children. Two percent of all earnings from guest reservations are channeled into these local programs.

Salt for sale. Photography by Elena Valeriote.

One of the primary programs funded by the Regenerative Trust is as ReSiMar—short for “Regenerating from Sierra to Mar”—which refers to its area of focus, between the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and the Pacific Ocean. Through ReSiMar, Playa Viva aims to regenerate the entire ecosystem of this watershed. Sourcing ingredients from sustainable fisheries and other small businesses that depend on the watershed, like that of the Ayvar de la Cruz family, is part of this effort. 

Playa Viva committed to buying the salt for its restaurant exclusively from the Ayvar de la Cruz family and, when it started welcoming guests to Juluchuca a few years later, it also offered tours of Las Salinas together during the salt harvest season. This relationship with Playa Viva has been a vital source of support in the family’s efforts to carry on harvesting salt as their ancestors did and it has given them a chance to share their work with foreigners for the first time. 

A mural of Ayvar de la Cruz in her hometown. Photography by Elena Valeriote.

ReSiMar also records vital information about the watershed to understand the scope of their impact and determine which aspects need the most attention. In 2023, the ReSiMar team tracked water quality, focusing on pollution in the form of plastic packaging and glass bottles. From there, they identified a need for improved ecological education and recycling programs, so they focused on bringing students to the watershed and establishing a town community center. “Water studies provide essential baseline data on the quality and quantity of water during both the rainy and dry seasons,” says Levanthal. “We then compare this data year after year to observe changes.”

With nearly a century of memories to draw on from living in this part of the Guerrero region along the Pacific coast, Ayvar de la Cruz also holds within her the history of this place. She knows the plants and animals that are at home in this unique tropical ecosystem, the natural rhythms of the seasons and how to work with them to harvest salt in a way that the local community has practiced for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. For this reason, it is all the more striking that, in 2024, for the first time in Ayvar de la Cruz’s long life, unusual weather patterns caused a rupture in the timeline of this historic tradition. 

“Every year, there is a rainy season and the lagoon fills. Then it empties and the salt flats are left dry, ready to be worked. It’s a natural cycle that always happens,” says Alejandro Ayvar, the youngest of Ayvar de la Cruz’s six sons. He and his brothers, along with their three sisters, have assisted their mother with the salt harvest on and off since their childhood. “This season, the lagoon did not empty adequately and the areas where salt is produced did not get dry enough.” 

Ayvar de la Cruz and family. Photography by Leia Marasovich.

The unseasonably late rains that caused the local estuary system to overflow and Las Salinas to flood during the normal harvest time is just one example of the consequences of the climate crisis as they are being experienced in this part of the world. 

“It’s not the same anymore,” Ayvar de la Cruz says of the local climate in recent years and how this affects the salt flats. “The temperature of the water has changed a lot and it takes more time to harvest the salt.”

As the climate changes and the younger generations of the Ayvar de la Cruz family find more financially stable prospects in other fields of work, the future of this tradition remains uncertain, but Ayvar de la Cruz’s legacy will not soon be forgotten. Her singular connection with this local environment and her commitment to this historic way of harvesting salt is commemorated in a mural on a building near Las Salinas, painted by a visiting artist about six years ago. 

There is value, too, in simply having a conversation about salt, considering its place of origin and the people who harvested it. For as challenging as it can be to create systems that preserve our ancient food practices, it is easy to at least preserve the memory of them. 

“Thank you for coming to make me happy,” Ayvar de la Cruz says at the end of the interview. “To remember is to live again.” 

All interviews have been translated from Spanish into English with the assistance of Ximena Rodriguez, Juan Carlos “Johnny” Solis and David Leventhal.

The post Meet the 97-Year-Old Salt-Harvesting Matriarch appeared first on Modern Farmer.

Getting funding to transition to regenerative organic practices can be a challenge for farms of all sizes, but it’s a necessity if we want to have abundant harvests for generations to come. 

Fitzgerald says that while the farm  mainly works with a community bank, the lenders don’t understand its  operations to accurately assess risk of organic and regenerative farming operations. Plus, Fitzgerald explains that the typical bank is looking to lend only a 12- to 18-month credit. This can put regenerative farmers in a bind as it takes multiple years to transition land or reach profitability with new processes. 

There is never a silver bullet solution to any environmental issue. Regenerative agriculture in practice looks different depending on the unique situation of the farm, and so does the funding for it. 

Image courtesy of Mad Agriculture

Multi-year credit helps established farms 

Recently, Fitzgerald Organics acquired 140 acres of farmland, and needed financing to transition the plots to organic, as well as implement cover crops and plant pollinator strips. In the first year, the farm grew yellow peas as a transition crop and had a hail event that wasn’t covered by crop insurance in Minnesota. Then it grew winter wheat in the second year, which isn’t as profitable as other crop types.

“Historically, when we’ve transitioned farms, we’ve just eaten those losses annually,” says Fitzgerald. But the farm  developed a partnership with Mad Agriculture, which  helps farmers get access to the resources and knowledge they need to implement regenerative practices. One of four branches of the MAD! ecosystem is Mad Capital, a private investment firm that finances regenerative farmers. 

Fitzgerald emphasized that Mad Capital’s model of lending multi-year credit with the choice of interest-only or revenue-based repayment relieved pressure and enabled him to keep going despite challenges. 

Matt Fitzgerald, image courtesy of Mad Agriculture

“All we do is work with organic farmers. We understand the risk. We understand the challenges and the types of capital it takes to facilitate [a regenerative] transition,” says Brandon Welch, co-founder and CEO of Mad Capital. “We know on the other side of that, there’s a positive return.”

To date, Mad Capital has supplied more than  30 farmers across 15 states growing on more than  79,000 acres with $25 million in loans for operating expenses, new equipment, real estate and expansion and regenerative transition expenses.

“We really listen to the needs of the land and the farmer in a way that most companies just don’t,” says Philip Taylor, co-founder and executive director of Mad Agriculture. 

He highlights that they seek to accelerate the process for farmers who already care about sustainability. “Somewhere between 10 million and 20 million acres is, we believe, possibly a tipping point where regenerative organic ag could become inevitable,” says Taylor. 

And they’re ready to fund more farmers. Mad Capital recently announced a $50-million investment round for its  Perennial Fund II, with investor commitments from the likes of the Rockefeller Foundation, Builders Vision, Lacebark Investments and nearly a dozen others.

But not every farm is the right candidate for a loan. Luckily, more avenues for funding exist. 

Using corporate dollars 

“Food and even fashion companies who source from agriculture have realized that, to meet their environmental and social commitments, they need to work with their farmers,” says  Lauren Dunteman, senior associate of Regenerative Supply at Terra Genesis, a consultancy helping brands source from regenerative agriculture. 

Sourcing can significantly impact sustainability outcomes for brands. But for this approach to work,  there must be transparency, says Dunteman. “Farmers don’t always know where their crops go, and brands don’t know what farms their crops come from.” That issue prompts brands to fund regenerative practices either directly or indirectly.

If a brand can’t trace ingredients to the farm level, it  may pick any farm or group of farmers and fund their regenerative practices. But if it  knows its  farmers and can directly invest in regenerative practices, it has  options, such as: 

• Paying upfront for farmers to adopt regenerative practices
• Agreeing to purchase at a premium once producers have aligned with intended regenerative practices or outcomes
• Signing multi-year contracts to give farmers income stability needed to invest in new initiatives and de-risk transition years

Including producers from the beginning and honoring traditional knowledge is key to the success of initiatives like this. “There needs to be a shift in power dynamics,” says Dunteman. “Less dictating to producers and more collaboration.” 

Timberland, Vans and The North Face are able to support and source regenerative rubber through partnering with Terra Genesis. These brands now pay a premium to rubber farmers who grow using traditional methods that include diverse agroforestry systems and ecological management practices, which incentivizes other farmers to return to growing in this way. 

Dunteman highlights another avenue that exists to support farmers who make the effort to adopt regenerative practices: paying to license their climate and environmental outcome data. Farmers gain an additional revenue stream, and brands are able to prove their environmental progress. 

This approach to data sovereignty is being used by Ethos, which Dunteman’s team uses to verify regenerative outcomes. Consumers can look for the Ethos Verified Regenerative label to know they’re supporting sustainability with their purchases.

While this funding approach is creative and helps engage consumers in sustainability when done right, how do small local farms who sell direct to consumers—not to brands—access the funding they need?

Small farms and conservation grants 

“It’s been incredibly frustrating,” says Lauren Kelso, site director at nonprofit community farm Growing Gardens and the policy chair for Flatirons Farmers Coalition, a chapter of the National Young Farmers Coalition [NYFC]. “I just couldn’t believe the red tape involved, the number of conversations we had to have and then what the payments were.”

Image courtesy of Growing Gardens

She says  there are federal and state grant programs available for conservation and soil health initiatives, but they often benefit larger farms with massive acreage and the resources to submit a great application and measure outcomes. Beginning farmers may not have the time or grant writing skills to successfully secure funding. Plus, she notes that many farmers with Indigenous or cultural practices are overlooked, as holistic land stewardship doesn’t always fit the mold of what funding agencies look for. 

Kelso has talked to a lot of other farmers in NYFC and asked if they use these programs. Practically everyone was frustrated at the time and effort it took and the low payments they got in the end. 

“These are farmers that are living month to month,” says Kelso, “and they were still turning down the opportunity to get funding to offset the cost of their practices. That’s really telling to me.” 

Many programs available only give a certain amount—such as a couple of dollars—per acre to fund conservation initiatives. If you’re only farming on a few acres, it’s not worth all the time it takes to submit a grant application. She notes that one of the better options is the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) through the NRCS. It  grants long-term cost share contracts for soil health practices and recently increased its  minimum payment to $4,000 per year for smaller farms, making it worth the effort to apply. 

Kelso mentions the Colorado Department of Agriculture STAR program as a good option for farmers, and one that more states should use as a model. It’s a three-year funding program with a minimum payment for small producers that requires farms to work with a technical assistance provider such as Mad Agriculture or conservation district staff. 

With conventional agriculture, we just take and never replenish. Regenerative practice means that farmers are obliged to re-invest in the land, which can mean lost income. If they are unable to cover costs through grants, small producers often counteract it by selling organic and regenerative products at a premium. 

But there’s only so much the consumer market can pay for, especially considering how many people are stressed about grocery inflation. “There’s a fundamental misunderstanding about what the market should be responsible for versus what [farmers] need public support with,” says Kelso. 

Holistic support 

Aside from Mad Capital, there are a handful of other organizations investing in sustainable farms, such as the Savanna Institute or Slow Money. Farming coalitions or industry organizations can also de-risk transitions for local producers by purchasing tools and equipment that farms can rent on an as-needed basis, such as the Flatirons Young Farmer’s Coalition Tool Library.

And peer-to-peer learning is of utmost importance. Many farmers who switch to regenerative methods have to learn by trial and error, as they may be the first in their community to do things differently. Creating knowledge-sharing channels through local organizations or even state agriculture departments can help producers implement regenerative practices at scale more efficiently, spurring on a revolution that is necessary for a stable future. 

Ultimately, we need a collage of holistic solutions tailored to farms of all sizes to provide resources, funding and long-term support for regenerative agriculture. 

“We need to get clear on how much public good it does us to be growing in these ways,” says Kelso. “And we need to be OK  paying for it.” 

Wes and Sarah, farm managers at Growing Gardens

The post We Need Regenerative Agriculture, But How Can Farmers Fund the Transition? appeared first on Modern Farmer.

Yet much of the time, the local food economy ultimately depends on big farms thousands of miles across the country or even overseas: the seed producers who provide planting stock for the growing season. The resulting seeds, developed under very different environmental conditions, aren’t always a great agricultural fit for the farms that grow them. And mistakes by large seed farms can reverberate widely, as with last year’s “Jalapeñogate,” where stores across the United States sold peppers that had been mislabeled by an international grower.

Phil Howard, a professor of community sustainability at Michigan State University, has estimated that more than 60 percent of the global seed market is now controlled by four multinational companies after decades of consolidation through corporate acquisitions. Even regional seed distributors often get supplies from those centralized sources.

Aware of that disconnect, some growers are trying to keep things local all through the supply chain—including seed farming. Their efforts could make their local food systems more resilient, with seeds better adapted to regional climates and soils. 

Siembra Farm staff shelling Southern peas grown on the farm during a staff meeting. Photography submitted by Melissa DeSa.

Chris Smith’s Appalachian collective

Since 2018, Chris Smith has been working to promote agricultural biodiversity through his nonprofit Utopian Seed Project, based in Asheville, North Carolina. He’s explored and promoted obscure cultivars of southern staples such as Turkish Yalova Akkoy okra and colorful Ole Timey Blue collard greens, as well as experimented with creating new genetic potential through “ultracrosses” of many existing varieties.

“We’ve been talking about these seeds as ‘the seeds that know the South,’” says Smith. “They understand the heat, the humidity, the diseases and can respond better to that because they’ve been grown locally.”

To get those types of seeds into more hands, however, Smith knew he’d need a broader coalition. In 2022, he partnered with fellow farmers Leeza Chen and Shelby Johnson to reach out to regional growers and discuss what a local seed initiative might look like. They knew they wanted an approach radically different from the centralized model that dominates the market.

“It all has to be built on relationships; we have to know the people and trust the people that we’re working with,” says Smith. The group held monthly meetings with local farmers, many in-person around boxes of pizza, to establish shared values and goals.

What emerged was the Appalachian Seed Growers Collective. About a dozen members agreed to grow 11 regionally adapted crops in 2023, with the collective using a $25,000 grant from the Ceres Trust to invest in a mobile trailer that can visit each farm and process seeds using a “Winnow Wizard” and a threshing machine. 

Varieties on offer during the collective’s first season this year included Coral Sorghum, a cultivar Johnson is developing for both grain and syrup production; Blue Ridge Butternut, a squash resulting from 15 years of breeding by Western North Carolina farmer Matt Wallace; and Living Web Ventura Celery, which has naturalized and diversified over a decade of self-seeding.

Smith admits that the economics of seed work can be challenging, with global suppliers able to leverage scale and lower labor costs. But on the consumer side, the collective is working to boost demand by educating area distributors and gardeners about the added value of local seeds. Asheville’s Sow True Seed, where Smith worked prior to starting the Utopian Seed Project, is paying a premium for the seeds as part of its mission to support local growers.

On the production side, the collective guarantees farmers payment based on the amount of land they dedicate to seeds regardless of yield, which reduces the financial risk of a bad harvest. Smith says that approach can encourage more sustainable growing and shift attitudes away from regarding seeds as pure commodities. “We’re distributing the seeds, but what we’re really valuing is the people’s land and labor in producing them,” he explains.

Winnowing beans at Chris Smith’s community seed day. Photography submitted by Chris Smith.

Melissa DeSa’s seeds at work

Although Melissa DeSa grew up amid the snows of Western Canada, she took the first chance she got to move somewhere with a bit more sunshine— Sarasota, Florida—to work as a wildlife ecologist. 

A friend there got her involved in the local chapter of Slow Food, where she became passionate about the connections between agriculture and the environment, and after graduating from an ecology masters program at the University of Florida, DeSa cofounded the nonprofit Working Food in Gainesville in 2012. She soon became convinced that the long-term success and sustainability of Florida’s agriculture depended on locally adapted seeds. 

“Florida seems like a great place to grow stuff, and we do have a nice year-round growing season,” says DeSa. “But we also have poor, sandy soil and a lot of pest and disease issues that never get knocked back by freezes. We can’t just open up these big, beautiful heirloom seed catalogs, pick things, throw them in the soil and have them do well.”

DeSa established Working Food as a regional seed hub around north-central Florida, supplying local gardeners and market farmers with thousands of packets of suitable varieties. The bulk of those seeds are grown in Gainesville in partnership with GROW HUB, a nonprofit nursery that serves adults with disabilities. Others are raised by the University of Florida’s Field & Fork teaching farm or gardeners with a row to spare.

One local cultivar DeSa has championed is the Seminole pumpkin, long grown by the state’s Native communities. They’re robust against squash vine borers, taste pleasantly sweet and keep extremely well—a key quality in the humid Florida climate. “Having a pumpkin that can sit on your kitchen counter at 75 degrees for six, eight, 10 months? That’s pretty awesome,” she says.

Last year, Working Food scored a $41,000 grant from the US Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program to help encourage seed farming among local market gardeners. By building a network of local seed suppliers, DeSa says Florida can become more prepared for an uncertain future.

“I truly believe that if, say, during the pandemic, more growers already had these decentralized seed systems and food distribution systems in place, it wouldn’t have felt so crazy and scary,” she says. “We can’t depend on those big institutions or companies that are centralized to always be able to come through for us.”

Edmund Frost’s research and resilience

Edmund Frost’s job involves eating a lot of cucumber. As a member-owner of Common Wealth Seed Growers, he’s led the Louisa, Virginia-based project’s efforts to breed and produce regionally adapted vegetable seeds since 2014, and the cucurbits are a major focus.

“You’re looking for sweetness, crispness and a kind of cucumbery aromatic flavor, while avoiding bitterness and excessive astringency,” says Frost of his taste-test checklist. “Some plants will produce a lot, they’ll look good, but the cucumbers aren’t really inspiring.”

Just as importantly, his two leading varieties—South Wind Slicer and Common Wealth Pickler—can stand up to the heat and downy mildew pressure of late summer in Virginia, when most other cucumber cultivars have already petered out. Many breeders for the big seed catalogs are based in the Northeast, says Frost, and while their varieties often grow quickly and productively, they haven’t taken the conditions of the South into account.

Beyond breeding cucumbers, butternut squash, pumpkins and melons, Common Wealth has helped introduce varieties previously unknown to the South, such as a Guatemalan green ayote squash, that do particularly well in the area. Frost says the goal is to get market farmers and gardeners thinking more deeply about how to match the seeds they select with their regional realities.

“The idea with starting Common Wealth was to express values of regional adaptation and research through seeds, get those out to the customers and then the customers would value and pay for it to help fund our research,” he says. 

The ideal of resilience has taken on particular resonance for Frost: In March, a wildfire tore through the Twin Oaks intentional community where he lives, consuming a warehouse that housed Common Wealth seeds. Thankfully, many seeds were in another location due to planned renovations on the building; he expects his work to recover, and he plans to back up his stocks in multiple locations for the future.

Frost says the fire highlights why a more distributed, locally adapted seed economy will be so important in a time of climate uncertainty. “There’s so much opportunity—and need—for people to do seed work in our region,” he says. “I’d love to see a dozen farm-based seed companies in the Southeast.”

Joe Durando of Possum Hollow Farm shows other farmers the Cuban Calabaza (Cucurbita moschata) he’s been saving for many years at Possum Hollow Farm in Alachua, Florida. Photography submitted by Melissa DeSa.

Want to learn more about local seeds?

The first thing to do is shop local! Buy local seeds, ask your local nursery or garden center to stock local seeds or find growers near you who are prioritizing local varieties. 

Learn how to save local seeds yourself with our handy guide to seed saving, and connect with other seed savers on the Seed Savers Exchange, where you can find other heirloom varieties and learn more about particular plants in your area.

To find out who is working with local seeds near you, try out the Local Seed Search map. In Canada, you can use this map from the Young Agrarians to find your local seed source. 

The post On the Ground with the Growers Working to Localize Seed Production appeared first on Modern Farmer.

The history of the United States is a history lined with apple trees. Early European settlers in America brought with them apple seeds, which they planted to begin the first orchards. Apples were a fruit of survival at the time, storing well and serving as both food and, in the form of cider, drink.

After the Revolutionary War, apples proliferated across the frontier. The legend of Johnny Appleseed is the story of a real man, John Chapman, who planted apple seedlings across what is now Appalachia and north into Ontario, Canada. Most homesteads up and down and across the expanding United States had several apple trees, if not full orchards. They were planted for food, to produce new trees to sell and for the production of hard cider, which was one of the most common drinks consumed in colonial America. 

By the 1900s, apples had fallen out of favor. The introduction of prohibition eliminated the market for hard cider, and as railroads transformed transportation across the country, the market changed. Now, a few large apple orchards, growing only one or two varieties of apples, control the apple market. Today, 22 percent of apples sold in US grocery stores are the variety Gala, and most supermarkets offer only a few varieties. The backyard apple tree was left to grow wild—until a recent surge in interest in heritage varieties and hard cider production.

As scraggly and unkempt as an old apple tree may appear, it can still be a stellar start to an orchard or a fruitful addition to a family homestead. 

“Planting new trees is going to take some years before they’re mature and fruit bearing,” says Jennifer Ries, who coordinates the tree nursery department at Fedco, a tree and seed cooperative out of Clinton, Maine. “With these old trees, we have gifts from anonymous strangers of the past who planted these trees for particular reasons.”

Old tree discovery and restoration was once the purview of dedicated pomologists such as John Bunker, author of Not Far From the Tree, and Dan Bussey, author of The Illustrated History of Apples in the United States and Canada. Bunker would travel the backroads of Maine and knock on the doors of old farmhouses with peeling paint and sagging roofs. He would scout the property for aging apple trees and, if he found them, collect fruit and cuttings. He has worked to identify more than 500 cultivars in his ongoing career.

A restored orchard of heritage apple trees. (Photo credit: Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project)

But today, it is more than just a few of the apple-obsessed who are discovering and rehabilitating old trees. The surging popularity of hard cider has inspired farmers to revitalize old orchards and plant new ones, and even single backyard trees are benefiting from the renewal.

“We get a lot of emails from cider makers,” says Amy Dunbar-Wallis, a graduate student at the University of Boulder in Colorado and community outreach coordinator for the Boulder Apple Tree Project. “And we hear from homeowners who have apple trees on their land and want to be cider makers.”

Organizations such as the Boulder Apple Tree and nearby Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project, as well as the Maine Heritage Orchard in Maine, the Lost Apple Project in Washington and the Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon, have grown in the past decade to support curious homeowners and passionate arborists alike.

If you have a homestead with an ancient apple tree in the backyard or perhaps a small orchard full of leaning, bending and twisting trees, it is possible to reclaim the productivity of those trees. According to Ries, apple trees can produce bountiful crops for 200 years, so some of those homestead trees may just be getting started.

Identify the tree

You can restore an aging apple tree and appreciate its fruits without ever discovering what variety it is, but testing a tree to discover its lineage will help you understand its unique qualities and may help apple historians in their quest for “new old” varieties. Identification can help connect you through time with the farmers who originally planted the tree by understanding if they used the fruit for cider or cold storage or ate it fresh.

“There are thousands and thousands of cultivars in the US,” says Dunbar-Wallis. Some cultivars can be identified by comparing fruit to old records and old paintings, but there are more high-tech options available now. “We are able to take just a few leaves when they first emerge, fresh in the spring. We send them off to Washington State, where they are able to do some DNA analysis of those leaves and compare them to datasets in Europe. That allows us to figure out not only what the tree is but who its parents and grandparents are and figure out where all of these different cultivars fit into the overall pedigree of apples.”

You may discover you have any number of common homestead apple varieties or you may have something truly rare on your land. Jude and Addie Schuenemeyer of the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project have discovered varieties of apples where only one single tree of that cultivar remains. Among them was the Colorado Orange, a fruit that was part of state lore for its unique color, flavor and late ripening. 

First pruning

Most trees discovered on old homesteads require an initial pruning to remove dead growth and allow the tree unencumbered sunlight. The first steps in rehabilitating a tree include removing any brush or brambles that are overcrowding it and cutting out any larger limbs that have died or show signs of disease.

“The best thing you can do for old trees is some dead wood pruning,” says Laura Seeker, who works on old apple tree restoration for Fedco and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. “Get out anything that’s dead, decaying, diseased and damaged. Do any clearing out you can in the canopy so that the tree just has live growth.”

Annual pruning

After initial canopy clearing and deadwood removal, the key to a happy apple tree is annual pruning. This encourages the tree to focus its energy on fruit production by removing some of its new growth, and it also allows it to get the maximum energy possible from the sun by keeping it from shading itself out.

“Once we’ve got the canopy cleared up, that opens up the tree’s photosynthesizing,” says Mike Biltonen of Know Your Roots LLC, which specializes in the holistic restoration of old orchards. “At that point, we want to keep it on a maintenance schedule, pruning every year or every other year and addressing any serious issues. We don’t want to do anything to shock it in those first few years, and we don’t want it to lose its wild or feral nature or its uniqueness of being an abandoned or lost tree.”

Pruning a fruit tree during the dormant season benefits the overall health of tree and can increase fruit yields. (Photo credit: Kirsten Lie-Nielsen)

Annual pruning to keep the tree in top shape usually takes place in late February or early March, when the first signs of early buds begin to appear. 

“Apples really like to be pruned,” says Dunbar-Wallis, “So, during the dormant months, you are going to want to snip the new growth. The new growth is going to grow at a 90-degree angle to the original branch, and you want to snip new growth.”

Tree cloning

When you are pruning your tree, you can begin to start a new orchard from the old variety by taking clones from the tree. Apple tree clones are created by taking a pruned “sucker” or new year’s stem of growth from the original tree and grafting it to rootstock. Rootstock is apple grown from seed, and it is available from most tree nurseries.

“It’s very endearing,” says Seeker, “because, sometimes, there’s a young, young tree of the same variety planted next to an old tree. That old tree is not going to live forever. But having a little replacement there that’s grafted from the same tree is a really nice gesture to leave for whoever inhabits this land. We have these varieties because generation after generation was here grafting, selecting for what works for this climate and what works for our palates. And so, we get to continue doing that, selecting which varieties are still working for us and planting those out and leaving them as something for future generations.”

Trees from seeds

Apple trees do grow from seed, but as a heterozygous species, their seeds do not produce the same variety of apple as the tree from which they came. When you first start rehabilitating a tree, you can look for a graft line to understand if it was selected and planted by arborists of the past or if it might have been grown from seed. Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman famously only grew apples from seed in spite of their unpredictability, but most seedling trees are the remnants of a meal consumed by a coyote or a deer.

“Even on very old trees,” says Ries, “sometimes, you can still see signs [of a graft line] by the way the bark is there—there might be a bulge or there might be a change in the bark direction.”

But if your tree is a seedling, that does not mean its fruit cannot produce something delicious. Some believe that Appleseed planted from seed because he was growing for hard cider production, and the flavors of “wild” apples can be particularly unique for cider pressing. 

“Feral or wild varieties have quite a bit of bioregional resilience,” says Biltonen. “They may have more resilience to their current location and to the climate issues we are dealing with.”

***

Learn more:

Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project. Located in Colorado, MORP is dedicated to the restoration of old apple trees. Its website includes an extensive online handbook on heritage orchard management

MyFruitTree.org. Offers DNA testing for apple trees and other identification helpers.

Fedco Trees. Fedco supplies heritage and rare trees to farmers around the country as saplings and offers rootstock for grafting your own clones. 

If you’re unsure about beginning the pruning process, contact a local arborist. You can often find ones that specialize in apple trees and will be happy to help you. Companies such as Mike Biltonen’s Know Your Roots LLC specialize in holistic restorations of orchards and apple trees. 

Read more:

Not Far From the Tree by John Bunker. Carefully illustrated and painstakingly researched, this book chronicles the history of apple trees in the Waldo County region of Maine.

The Illustrated History of Apples in the United States and Canada by Dan Bussey. Seven volumes comprehensively document the apple tree’s history in North America. 

The post Making Old Orchards New Again appeared first on Modern Farmer.

We also asked readers what questions they had for agroforesty experts. Here’s what you wanted to know, with answers provided by Savanna Institute executive director Keefe Keeley:

Q: How can I incorporate agroforestry practices into my small home garden?

A: Agroforestry practices help us think about how woody, perennial shrub plants can be incorporated into farming systems, as well as how food production can be achieved in forested environments. This can help you with your gardening as well. If your yard or garden is heavily shaded, you may be able to grow plants or mushrooms used in forest farming, which takes place under a closed canopy. If you are limited by space, you could consider growing perennial woody shrubs such as elderberries or black currants, which can begin producing berries in 2-3 years. Agroforestry invites us to think about how systems connect. Your plants could help provide a windbreak or visual barrier, habitat for wildlife and pollinators and food for your table all at the same time.

Q: If you want to plant an orchard with a guild but are limited on resources, which plants should be prioritized?

A: While plant selection will vary based on your specific location and goals, some agroforestry species have notable intercropping potential. Black currants and pawpaws are two examples of shade-tolerant species that can grow well with other types of trees. You can see examples of groupings used by other farms on our website and YouTube channel.

Q: How do you keep deer from eating the trees and shrubs (aside from building a giant cage fence around each one)? We would like to reforest a section of our property, but can’t imagine caging that many trees.

A: We are experimenting with a few different deer-deterrent strategies at our demonstration farms. We have had success with using five-foot high tree tubes for each tree (which offers other benefits as well) and with 3D deer fence: two separate electrified fences set three to four feet apart. This creates “depth” and makes it difficult for the deer to jump over them.

Elderberries are a hardy perennial crop that has been harvested by humans for centuries. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Q: What equipment do you use to dig holes to plant trees? A spade and rocky ground is hard-going.

A: We use a variety of equipment for planting woody shrubs. Depending on what is being planted and the soil quality, this could include a trencher and tree planter pulled behind a tractor, a PTO-driven post hole digger or some of the modified precision ag equipment we are experimenting with on our demonstration farms. You can learn more and see examples on our YouTube channel.

Q: Any sources for chestnuts? Seems that most nurseries in Canada are always sold out.

A: One of the biggest challenges to expanding agroforestry is the shortage of plant material currently available for purchase and planting. That’s why we launched a nursery with our partners Canopy Farm Management, which offers tree planting and plant material in the region. As members of the Agroforestry Coalition, we also work with others across the country to improve nursery stock availability and production.

Q: I know chestnuts prefer well-drained soils. How can those of us on more poorly drained soil grow the highest-value tree crop? Is there any research about using swales or planting in fields with drainage tiles?

A: “We are working with Canopy Farm Management to develop a series of mapping tools to help people identify areas of their land that would be most suitable—or unsuitable—for different agroforestry crops. These will be available later this year. Drainage tiles (which are common in Midwest farm fields) are a concern for many growers. We do not have much research or experience growing chestnuts with drainage tiles, but we’re working to learn more.”

Q: What are three of the fastest-growing trees for an emerging Southern California food forest?

A: Since most of our work is focused on the US Midwest, I would refer you to some of our collaborators in the southwest region. This video by the Quivira Coalition featuring Roxanne Swentzell could offer some insights. 

Q: Is there a comparable program [to SI] to help new farmers enter into agroforestry, including forest farming, in [a] mountain area of Maryland?

A: We are partnering on a new Expanding Agroforestry Project with Virginia Tech, which is working in Maryland. You should also check out Appalachian Sustainable Development, which is working to support agroforestry and forest farming in your region.

American chestnut tree flowering in spring. (Photo: Shutterstock)

In addition to reader questions, Keeley offered answers to three of the questions the Savanna Institute hears most frequently:

Q: Where can I find plants?

A: Talking with your local conservation specialists is often the best way to find plant sources that are a good fit for your location. The nation-wide Agroforestry Coalition has identified nursery stock and plant availability as a key bottleneck in expanding agroforestry production, so certain crops and varieties can be hard to find. We work closely with Canopy Farm Management, which offers agroforestry crops suited for the Midwest. For more nurseries in your area, check out the National Nursery and Seed Directory.

Q: Where/how can I sell my products?

A: In any farm enterprise, it’s important to identify market opportunities in advance and design your operation with these in mind. Farms using agroforestry sell products through the market channels all farms use—they just have more trees at work benefiting the crops and livestock on their farms. On some farms, the trees provide the primary crops: fruits, nuts, timber and other tree products. These farms sell their products through U-pick businesses, direct-to-consumer sales and regional wholesale distributors. Many tree crops are best sold as value-added products, which entails additional processing costs but can open up additional marketing opportunities.

Q: How do I find land to do agroforestry?

A: If you are thinking about planting tree crops, you will need long-term access to land to reap the full benefits of your investment. This is a significant obstacle for most beginning agroforestry farmers. Developing a detailed business plan and building relationships in your local community are important steps towards achieving this goal. Our new interactive guide, Designing An Effective Long-Term Agroforestry Lease, helps you work through key considerations for acquiring long-term access to land.

Do you have more questions for the Savanna Institute? Check out its “Ask an Agroforester” page for more frequently asked questions and to submit your own.

The post Your Questions About Agroforestry, Answered appeared first on Modern Farmer.

I raise and sell several hundred vegetable, flower and herb starts every spring, which meant that I was constantly purchasing plastic pots. In my experience, even high-quality plastic pots tended to fall apart after a few years, and I knew many people who simply threw them away after a single season of use. The idea of eliminating this form of waste was appealing to me, as was the additional promise of raising healthier plants in the process.

What is soil blocking?

Soil blocking is the practice of utilizing compacted blocks of soil to germinate and grow out seedlings before transplanting them into the garden. Soil blocks act as both the container and the growing medium, relying on a metal tool called a soil blocker to create the compressed cubes. 

Although the concept of soil blocking has been around for quite some time, its popularity has been steadily gaining traction, touted by many regenerative-minded farmers and adventurous home gardeners as a way to decrease plastic waste and the resulting impacts to the environment. “Soil blocks are the answer for a farm-produced seedling system that costs no more than the soil of which it is composed,” writes Eliot Coleman, a vanguard of the modern soil-blocking movement, in his seminal book, The New Organic Grower. “Blocks free the grower from the mountains of plastic [trash] that have become so ubiquitous of late in horticultural operations.” 

Soil blocking is also gaining in popularity because it promotes a healthier root system by utilizing a process known as “air pruning.” Due to the freestanding nature of each soil block, the plant roots are exposed to oxygen on all sides. The result is that, as the plant roots hit the outside edge of the soil block, they are effectively “burned” off via exposure to air, causing the plant to consistently produce new branching roots and thereby creating an overall healthy root system. 

When it comes time to move seedlings into the garden, soil blocking also allows for a gentler method of planting, thereby reducing transplant shock. Even plants that normally don’t like having their roots disturbed, such as cabbage, can be grown and transplanted successfully using soil blocks. 

Left: A young soil blocked collard seedling in the Blue Ridge Farm greenhouse. Right: Soil blocked plant at the farmers market. (Photos: Jillian Garrett)

Daniel Mays, founder of Frith Farm and another early adopter of the practice, believes that soil blocking also allows for the creation of a larger rhizosphere, (which is defined as the zone of soil where complex symbiotic interactions take place between the plant’s roots and beneficial microbes and fungi), because each block holds more soil than the tapered cells of plastic plug trays. “This means more roots, more soil contact and a more resilient plant.”

The opposite holds true for a plant raised in a traditional plastic pot: The plant’s roots become restricted and, having nowhere to go, head downward to the bottom of the pot, eventually resulting in what feels like an infinite swirl of frustration. When this happens, it is called becoming “rootbound” and this condition can not only stunt the plant but (in extreme cases) potentially even kill it. After being put in the ground, a rootbound plant can remain stunted, unable to overcome its constricted root system. It may take much longer to establish and, in the case of garden vegetables, produce a lower overall yield.

Now that we’ve covered many of the reasons in favor of soil blocking, what about the drawbacks? To be fair, soil blocking does involve a bit of an upfront commitment in the form of the costs associated to purchase the necessary tools, as well as a bit of extra labor involved to make the soil blocks themselves. I believe that these small obstacles are still vastly outweighed by the benefits that the overall system provides (not least of which, for my farm, included increased sales by offering a unique product).

How to soil block

 So, you’ve decided to try your hand at soil blocking—now what? The first thing you need to get started is one or more sizes of soil blockers, which are essentially an ejection-style press that compacts the soil into squares. You can choose from either smaller handheld versions (good for home gardeners and more economical in pricing) or larger (and more expensive) stand-up style ones. Most blockers come in several sizes, allowing you to keep sizing up your soil blocks as the seedlings grow and require more space.  

On my farm, I use three different sizes of handheld soil blockers. To germinate small seeds, I usually begin with a 20-square press (3/4-inch-diameter block size). When dealing with larger seeds such as okra, it’s best to skip this press size and germinate them directly into two-inch-diameter blocks. The one issue to keep in mind with the smaller block size is that the soil can dry out faster than with the larger blocks, so care and attention is needed so as not to accidentally lose fragile seedlings. 

At the onset of the seedlings’ first true leaves, I move them into two-inch-diameter blocks made using the four-square press. As the seedlings become more mature, I move them up to the final four-inch-diameter block size, using the one-square press, a couple of weeks prior to transplanting them into the garden. 

Part of what holds the soil block together is the established root system of the plant. It generally takes a couple of weeks for each seedling’s roots to fill out the soil block, so I highly recommend waiting for that amount of time before moving a seedling up in block size. I also recommend waiting until the seedlings have established roots in their soil blocks before attempting to transport them to market.

Soil blocked plant starts make a unique and popular display at the farmers market. (Photo: Jillian Garrett)

There are as many different formulas for ideal soil-blocking mixtures as there are farmers using the method. Each person has their own idea of what works, and everyone thinks that their recipe is the best. At the end of the day, the important part is that your soil mix is compactable but still possesses good drainage, which is why many folks recommend a blend that includes finely sifted compost (or potting soil) and coconut coir. I recommend experimenting to see what works for you and coming up with your own special blend. It can be something as simple as off-the-shelf seed starter soil or as bespoke as a mix of fine-grained homemade compost and sand with a small amendment of pulverized egg shells (such as that used by Siskiyou Farm). 

I also recommend using a deep rectangular tray (or even a wheelbarrow) in which to mix your soil medium. The secret to soil blocking is achieving the right consistency: If it’s too dry, it’s prone to crumble and fall apart; if it’s too wet, the blocks will slump over and deform. To make the mixture stick together and compact well in the blocker, you need to add a lot more water than you would think. According to Coleman, the ideal consistency is “much moister than most growers are used to. We are talking about something akin to chocolate fudge mix.” Essentially, it needs to be moist enough that, when you squeeze a handful of the soil mixture, a little water comes out.  

After you have filled all the squares in the blocker with soil mixture and smoothed off any excess, press firmly until you see water seeping out of the bottom. Then, release the handle and gently lift the blocker away (I recommend also using a slight rocking motion as you lift up), thereby freeing the soil block squares. Don’t feel bad if your first few attempts end in tragedy (mine certainly did!); perfecting this technique can take a little practice.

Beyond decreasing my reliance on plastic, soil blocking has had the added benefit of increasing my plant sales. By being one of the first farms to implement it on a commercial scale in my area, I can offer a unique product that really piques customers’ interest. Displaying shelf after shelf of soil-blocked plants in my farmers market booth is an excellent recipe for attracting curious passersby who want to know more about the pot-less plants. I have noticed a marked uptick in foot traffic and revenue at my booth by offering my plants in soil-blocked as opposed to potted form. 

While soil blocking does require a bit more labor and an upfront investment in tools, its benefits far outweigh these minor obstacles. Eliminating the need for plastic pots, creating healthier plants and root systems and—if you’re selling plant starts— increasing sales, are all reasons to give soil blocking a try. 

The post Soil Blocking Has Many Benefits. What is It and How Can You Get Started?  appeared first on Modern Farmer.

For Audrey Speyer, founder of PuriFungi, seeing fungi blooming on cigarette butts is proof that they’re at work, doing what they do best: decomposing matter. Her Belgian start-up cultivates mycelium—the thread-like root structure of fungus—using the plastic- and toxin-laden stubs as fodder.

As digestive enzymes break down the hazardous mix, the mycelium grows into a lightweight, styrofoam-like material that gets molded into ashtrays. Distributed at music festivals and public events and in municipalities throughout Belgium, France and Luxembourg, the upcycled product, which looks like a hollowed-out wheel of camembert, brings the process full circle by reining in the world’s most discarded waste item.

Since the dawn of civilization, humans have harnessed the remarkable power of fungi—an entire kingdom of multicellular organisms that includes mold, mushrooms and truffles—to digest complex organic matter into simpler structures. Yeast feeds on sugars, for example, to produce alcohol, while certain mold strains churn out penicillin and other antibiotics. And mushrooms of all kinds sprout as they feast on crop waste, coffee grounds and horse manure.

More recently, mycologists have been unleashing fungi on common industrial and consumer waste. With a voracious appetite for environmental pollutants such as petroleum, plastics and chemicals, these natural bioreactors safely digest and transform toxins into mycelium. Along with ashtrays, the lightweight, durable and fire-resistant substrate can be molded and fabricated into an array of applications such as insulation panels, a leather alternative and even a biodegradable casket.

“Fungi are nature’s recyclers,” says Speyer. Cost-effective and low-impact, she and other mycoenthusiasts see huge potential for mushrooms to power a full-circle economy, creating a renewable material source while extinguishing common sources of toxic waste.

Mycelium breaks down the toxins in cigarette butts and grows into a styrofoam-like material that can be molded into different shapes. (Photos courtesy of PuriFungi)

No silver bullet

Mycoremediation—the practice of using fungi to clean up pollutants such as petroleum, chemicals and plastics—has long been studied as a promising solution to decontaminating oil spills, pesticide-laced soil and toxic wildfire ash. But, so far, efforts have been limited mostly to small-scale and trial applications.

“Contamination is not a straightforward problem,” says Kawina Robichaud, a mycologist at Biopterre, a Quebec-based research center specializing in bio-industrial innovation. Addressing site-specific variables—including the mix and concentration of contaminants, soil composition, climate and temperature—often requires a highly tailored approach to remediation, so “there’s no silver bullet,” she says.

One of Robichaud’s research projects explored the clean-up of a remote Yukon Territory site worthy of a Superfund designation: an abandoned waste oil dump built over an old copper mine. Besides foraging for fungi adapted to the subarctic environment, taming the stew of toxins required a larger bioremediation strategy, using local willows to concentrate inorganic contaminants such as heavy metals, as well as municipal compost, which added microbes and nutrients to help spur decomposition. (Inorganic compounds, by nature, don’t decompose but can be sequestered by organisms including mushrooms, plants and animals.)

The results were encouraging, says Robichaud, with test plots showing a 75-percent decrease in petroleum hydrocarbons. Yet, they also underscored the fact that, in nature, “fungi don’t work alone,” so site remediation tends to take “a community of organisms” to get the job done.

However, the ecosystem-based approach inherently comes with unknowns in consistency and timeline—factors that can make on-site applications a difficult business model, says Robichaud, especially in situations that call for quick and aggressive responses. “Nature takes time,” she adds. “That’s often not compatible with the world that we live in, where we want things fixed now.”

Still, the field holds clear advantages over conventional practices, which frequently involve chemical treatments and resource-intensive pumping, dredging and extraction. Using local resources to remediate waste, particularly in remote regions, also means “we’re not trucking raw materials hundreds of kilometers,” says Robichaud, “burning fuel to clean up fuel.”

For now, mycoremediation may be most effective when targeted on a singular waste source. Robichaud is currently studying the mycoremediation of retired railroad ties laced with creosote, a toxic compound used to make heavy lumber rot-resistant. The selective emphasis on one material allows for a controllable, predictable and scalable means of managing pollutants—an approach more amenable, she says, to garnering industry support.

Narrowing the scope

Because pollutant-laden waste is everywhere, narrow targets can still have huge impact, says PuriFungi’s Speyer. Take cigarette butts: With more than 4,000 contaminants, including 50 known carcinogens, “it’s a big cocktail of very bad things that spreads everywhere,” she says, noting that one stub can pollute 500 liters (132 gallons) of water. And the recent rise in smoking only heightens the need to find safe and effective ways to treat toxic waste that’s literally “under our feet.”

A designer by training, Speyer stumbled on fungi while searching for a sustainable and easy-to-cultivate material. In addition to being durable, fast-growing and adaptable to a range of applications, discovering that mycelium could render pollutants safe made it an attractive bio-based product, she says.

“Fungi are nature’s recyclers,” says PuriFungi’s Audrey Speyer. (Photo courtesy of PuriFungi)

Speyer and her crew cultivate fungi in a humidity- and temperature-controlled environment much like an indoor mushroom farm, inoculating a mix of cigarette butts and hemp with oyster mushroom spores. After the initial incubation period, they break up the substrate by hand and set the clumps into molds. Over the next few weeks, the mycelium grows as it eats away at organic pollutants and fruit mushrooms that concentrate heavy metals. As it fills into its prescribed shape, the fruits are plucked away; the final product is then heat pasteurized to completion.

Speckled with straw-like remnants of disintegrated butts, PuriFungi’s bloomy rind-covered ashtrays have steadily caught the eyes of municipal officials and event organizers looking to promote awareness—and develop outlets—for proper cigarette disposal. And as consumers learn about their provenance, it helps spur responsible behavior towards curbing litter, says Speyer.

With more reliable outcomes, waste-specific approaches to mycoremediation may make it an easier sell to industry. Robichaud’s lab recently partnered with Atelier du Partage, a Goodwill-like organization based outside of Quebec, to find an alternative to disposing the 66 percent of donated clothing that the non-profit is unable to sell—a staggering amount that totals nearly 30 tons every year. Using fungi to decompose the heaps of fabric keeps plastic fibers, fire retardants and other pollutants out of landfills and incinerators, says Robichaud. And as a bonus, the mycelium-treated threads, which retain some of their original colors, mold into shabby chic Christmas tree ornaments, making for a surprise hit among Atelier shoppers last holiday season.

With clothing and textiles responsible for 20 percent of global refuse, it’s an end-of-life solution that, at scale, could chart a new course for the high-volume waste stream.

Left: Native fungus isolated from creosote-treated wood. Right: Mycelium-treated threads molded into Christmas ornaments. (Photos courtesy of Biopterre)

The fungi-powered circular economy is also taking root in the construction industry, which produces nearly a third of the nation’s waste, contributing vast amounts of material produced from petrochemicals. Tech giant Meta has partnered with a mycoproduct company to upcycle demolished drywall from its Tennessee data center into new insulation and acoustic panels, and Lendlease, a military housing developer, is embarking on a similar venture using old asphalt shingles.

Despite the mushrooming waste problem generated by industry, the current push towards sustainable waste solutions is largely driven by external forces. But really, it’s “the [product] producers who have a responsibility to make it happen,” says Speyer. She sees the broader extension of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies, which hold manufacturers responsible for collection, recycling and disposal of their products, as key to fueling regenerative waste management practices and supply chains.

Although EPR mandates have taken effect in an increasing range of countries and jurisdictions, including the European Union, Canadian provinces and a handful of US states, most focus on single-use plastics and packaging materials. Last year, the EU extended the obligation to tobacco manufacturers, although critics report that the regulations lack teeth.

Nevertheless, Speyer notes that a few cigarette companies have expressed interest in PuriFungi’s technology—although that’s posed a certain dilemma, she says, because “you don’t want to give them an excuse to keep producing more [of the same].” Ultimately, she’d like to see the development of a non-toxic, naturally biodegradable product.

While that might run counter to her current business model, “the [waste] problem is at such a massive scale,” says Speyer, that, at this point, there’s really no shortage of solutions.

The post Can Mushrooms Help Extinguish Toxic Waste? appeared first on Modern Farmer.

Meet some Midwestern agrarians, some of whom come from conventional farming families, who are using their land to reestablish the connection between trees, animals, and food production.

Wendy Johnson’s ‘natural savannah’

Wendy Johnson and her husband, Johnny Rafkin, own Jóia Food & Fiber Farm, in Charles City, Iowa. They farm on 130 acres of the land on which her father and grandfather had raised hogs. Johnson felt called back to the land in 2010 after living in California for 18 years. She and Rafkin had a goal of adding diversity and value to her family’s farm through organic agriculture, but they found few organic farmers in the area at the time and none that were implementing agroforestry.

Johnson found support through Practical Farmers of Iowa, a group dedicated to building resilient farms and communities. In 2014, she and Rafkin started transitioning to organic. A small sheep herd that was on the property from when her parents farmed the land was integrated into organic crop rotation. “They were a rough crew of sheep!” Johnson laughs. “They ate grains that couldn’t be sold.”

The Joia Food & Fiber Farm farmstead pictured with sheep, sheepdogs, and cattle grazing. (Photos courtesy of Wendy Johnson)

The sheep were getting sick from eating too much grain, so Johnson worked to reestablish a natural savanna, a mixed woodland and grassland ecosystem that had once been prevalent on Iowa’s landscape but was destroyed by grazing and row crops. Her sheep are now grass-fed, healthier and need little medical intervention, she says. Johnson added trees to grazing land to create silvopastures, enhanced existing windbreaks and planted a micro-orchard with fruit and nut trees.

Extreme rain events in 2016 and 2018 stressed field tile drainage systems on her neighboring farms, causing a creek on her property to flood. This motivated Johnson to take further action to mitigate climate change-related weather events. Through assistance from a Savanna Institute agroforestry planner, Johnson added cool-season perennial grasses to the organic crops and riparian buffers along the banks of the creek. She planted native species of hardwoods and softwoods, including willow and poplar. The deep root systems help prevent soil erosion and stormwater runoff.

Wendy Johnson (left) in the newly planted silvopasture with nine different varieties of native hardwood trees, many nut-bearing. John Rafkin (right) planting cedars on the farm’s enhanced windbreak project. (Photos courtesy of Wendy Johnson)

To date, Johnson has planted 6,000 trees on 20 acres of their fields, with plans to double the number of trees. She’s optimistic about the future of agroforestry and hopes to see more Farm Bill funding directed toward conservation efforts rather than commodities programs.

She believes agroforestry will attract the next generation of farmers and produce offshoot opportunities such as nurseries to grow tree stock. “Agroforestry has a sense of meaning, a sense of community, and it helps the environment by working with nature. It allows us to be creative again, which I think we’ve lost in agriculture,” she says.

Tucker Gretebeck and Eric Weninger’s flooding fix

Farmers Tucker Gretebeck of All Seasons Farms and Eric Weninger of Embark Maple Energy are neighboring farmers in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, a unique topographical area covering parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. It was never covered by glaciers during the last ice age and thus lacks “drift” of silt, sand and rock. With carved river valleys, forests and cold-water trout streams, the region has attracted nature enthusiasts, foodies and agrotourism.

Gretebeck owns All Seasons Farms with his wife, Becky. They have a dairy herd and grow pumpkins. They offer agrotourism events such as fall wagon tours and pizza on the farm. They’re a member of the Organic Valley cooperative of organic farmers founded in La Farge, Wis. in 1988.

Weninger owns Embark Maple Energy along with his wife, Bree Breckel. They produce maple syrup, along with a line of culinary nutritional energy products called Maple Energy, on 160 acres of predominantly sugar maple trees. Like Gretebeck, Weninger offers farm events, with adventurous and educational themes.

Eric Weninger and Bree Breckel of Embark Maple. (Photo courtesy Eric Weninger)

Both Gretebeck and Weninger view agroforestry as an answer to the dramatic increase in the intensity, duration and frequency of climate change-driven extreme rain events that have caused recurring flooding and, in 2018, the failure of flood protection dams in nearby Coon Creek. Both farmers are board members of the Coon Creek Community Watershed Council (CCCWC), a group that formed in response to the flooding. The waterway is a tributary of the Mississippi River.

The CCCWC plans are still in the works, but Weninger says recommended agricultural practice changes include more tree plantings that can retain water onto the hillsides. The Savanna Institute has been identified as a potential partner due to its past work and research.

Tucker Gretebeck planting trees on All Season Farm.

“The intense flooding was a driver that influenced me to implement agroforestry,” says Gretebeck. In addition to organic practices including composting and perennial cover crops, he added a silvopasture for his grass-fed cattle. This helps sequester carbon, improves soil and water infiltration, adds comfort for the animals and improves their milk quality.

Gretebeck worked with the Savanna Institute and Bob Micheel of the Natural Resources Conservation Service to help finance the planting of 1,200 trees that included honey locust, black walnut and a poplar hybrid on his property.

[RELATED: Agroforestry Deepens Roots with New Demonstration Farm Network]

Over at Embark, Weninger says he will plant trees such as native oak species and shrubs this spring to filter more water into the ground. “The deep root systems of large trees and shrubs help hold soil in place,” he explains.

Maple syrup could be considered one of the original crops of forest farming. Weninger enjoys working with generations of sugar maple trees, some more than 250 years old. “That reinforces how the activities that you’re doing in a forest can have both generational and real-time impacts.”

He adds that the indigenous Ho-Chunk Nation was among the first to go into these forests to harvest maple sap. “We really learned from their traditions and are continuing something that’s been done for millennia. That time component adds a lot of depth working in and with the forest.”

Wil Crombie’s forested fowl

Filmmaker, photographer and farmer Wil Crombie, along with his wife, Carly, and sister-in-law, Corrissa Peterson, own and operate Organic Compound, near Northfield, Minn, where they raise Freedom Ranger broiler chickens. Their farm is located on the homestead where Crombie was raised. His mother’s family were dairy farmers, and the land had consisted of pasture and row crop fields.

“We’re lucky to have experienced generational changes. The approaches that my grandfather took to manage the land, and the way my parents turned a portion of it into a homestead, allowed me to watch it go from pasture to forest,” says Crombie. “My generation is removing invasive plants and using agroforestry to bring the pasture back as silvopasture.”

It’s a family affair: Wil and Carly Crombie (middle, right) with sister-in-law Corrissa Peterson (left). (Photo courtesy of Wil Crombie)

Starting in 2014, Crombie transitioned 40 acres of row crop land on his 60-acre parcel. His mentor, Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin, owns Salvatierra Farms. Together, they formed Tree-Range Farms, a brand of meat chickens raised on silvopasture.

In 2016, Crombie, his wife and Peterson planted 20,000 hazelnut trees for their silvopastures and additional acreage. They added oak, sugar maple, basswood, lilac and elderberry and established alley crops of asparagus, along with a windbreak and a riparian buffer along a waterway.

The farming trio chose hazelnuts and elderberries upon recommendation from elders in their area, and by Crombie’s mentors, Mark Shepard and Terry Durham. “We’re fortunate to have these people helping to facilitate this large-scale regenerative agriculture transition towards agroforestry,” says Crombie.

Chicken, originally jungle fowl, thrive in forested environments. Elderberry, becoming popular as a hedgerow crop, provides both farm income and ecological benefits. (Photos courtesy of Wil Crombie)

Manure from the fowl helps fertilize the silvopastures and fields, and the chickens help with pest control by eating insects and grubs. “It’s a symbiotic relationship, and they benefit from shade and protection from the trees—they’re originally jungle fowl, so they deserve to be in a forested environment,” says Crombie.

Crombie is optimistic that agroforestry will go a long way in restoring land but also rural communities. “Agroforestry has the potential to get more people active and into nature,” he says. “Agroforestry is family farming, and agriculture is a family and community-based, hands-on activity. It’s an exciting opportunity to revive our rural communities.”

The post On the Ground with the Midwest Farmers Going All-In On Agroforestry appeared first on Modern Farmer.