How I Grow Food

"The produce you will have available, will it be sprayed with pesticides?  It may not be certified organic, but is it sprayed?"

I got this question from a potential customer and thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about the farm methods I employ.

First off, the short answer to the question is yes.  Does that surprise you because I said I use organic methods?  As a city girl who had no clue what "organic" really meant, it surprised me when I first learned that the use of certain pesticides is allowed in organic farming, even on a certified organic farm.  The pesticides that are allowed in organic farming are generally non-synthetic or naturally occurring, non-toxic substances.  Still, you can probably find online sources that contend even certain quantities of these pesticides can be harmful to human and environmental health.   Although I may use pesticides when necessary, I'll also practice Integrated Pest Management, which essentially employs habitat modification, physical measures, cultural measures, and biological measures, then chemical measures such as spraying pesticides as a last resort, to minimize pest damage.  I'll also keep good records so that I can be transparent about inputs used.

One of my goals for this CSA is to share what I've learned in farming so that we can all be better informed consumers of food and stewards of the environment.  I've heard that there are conventional farmers who use no pesticides and organic farmers who spray lots of pesticides.  My conclusion is that labels like conventional, organic, sustainable, regenerative, and even certified organic may not always mean what you think they mean.  The best way to know how your food was grown is to grow it yourself.  The next best way is getting to know your farmer and seeing how your food is grown.  I'd like to arrange a time to host interested CSA members at my plot on the UH Waimanalo Research Station for exactly that reason. 

Since it's natural for pests to feed on plants, including those we want to reserve for humans to eat, agriculture will always involve competition against pests.  I'll strive for the time when I can farm without using any pesticides.  Until then, here are the methods I'll use while farming for this CSA to minimize negative impacts on human and environmental health -- what I refer to as organic farming or organic methods:

• Growing at a scale small enough that enables me to weed by hand rather than spray herbicides, minimize food miles, and directly market to customers;
• Growing a diversity of crops, rather than monocropping or growing just one or two crops (like corn and soy) on a larger scale;
• Using cover crops to fix nitrogen and sequester carbon in the soil, attract beneficial insects, reduce the need for soil amendments, suppress weeds and pests, reduce erosion, and increase organic matter;
• Minimizing tillage, which can disrupt the soil ecosystem, create hard pan, and release volatile nitrogen compounds into the air;
• Using compost, rather than chemical fertilizers, as plant food, which also provides the benefit of increasing organic matter in the soil over the long term, increasing the water holding capacity of the soil, improving soil structure, and recycling organic matter;
• Using Integrated Pest Management, which includes:
• Habitat modification:  eliminating breeding sites and keeping clear any areas that may harbor pests;
• Physical barriers:  using row covers, screens, hoop houses, and reflective mulch to keep pests away from plants;
• Cultural modifications:  practicing crop rotation, proper crop spacing, and companion planting and ensuring proper aeration and nutrition;
• Biotechnology:  when choosing which varieties to grow, selecting those that are resistant to particular diseases;
• Biological controls:  creating an environment that attracts beneficial insects and using trap or alley cropping; and 
• Finally, chemical control:  using low-toxicity chemicals and more selective spectrum pesticides first and only when pest damage reaches a certain threshold, and rotating a selective pesticide with other chemicals to minimize the threat of pesticide resistance; and

• Practicing good record keeping for accountability purposes.

Growing in Waimanalo is extremely challenging, with heavy pest and weed pressure.  Below is an example of a cucumber lost to pickleworm:

For this next growing season, I suspect that the cucumbers, kales, chard, and bok choy will need several applications of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) or they'll be eaten by cabbage webworms, pickleworms, or other lepidoptera and become unsellable.  Bt is a naturally occurring soil bacterium that acts as a biological insecticide.  Some crops may also need applications of Spinosad, another naturally occurring soil bacterium used as an insecticide.

I hope I didn't scare you off, but I completely understand if you are absolutely against the use of any pesticides and will tell you directly that if that's you, this CSA is probably not for you.  Wherever you get your food, though, I encourage you to take some time to find out how your food was grown so you can make a well-informed decision about what you eat.