Paper chromatography , thin layer chromatography techniques, high speed counter current chromatography , capillary electrophoresis , and supercritical fluid chromatographic techniques are also used to identify the phenolic compounds.With organic agriculture poised to represent 10 to 20 percent of California cropland by 2024, the federal government has tapped UC Santa Cruz to lead a research program that will give organic farmers the same kind of boost the university has given conventional farmers for decades. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded UCSC’s Environmental Studies Department a $571,000 grant over four years to bolster scientific knowledge about organic systems and to strengthen the Central Coast network of organic farmers and agricultural researchers. Researchers and staff from the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems will play key roles in this effort. In collaboration with farmers, agroecology researchers at UCSC have pioneered organic production methods for strawberries and other important regional crops. This project will build on those successes and prepare the organic industry for continued rapid growth by developing baseline nutrient management tools and addressing stubborn challenges, such as soil pathogens and pest management. “Conventional farmers have decades worth of research to draw on, while organic growers have very little scientific data to rely on,” said environmental studies professor Carol Shennan, the Center’s director and one of four UCSC leaders of the project. “Organic production is a complex system that integrates soil fertility, crop rotation, water management, growing berries in containers and pest and disease control. It requires a systems approach, but agricultural research has historically tended to focus on narrow, single-issue problems.”
The grant will fund a series of coordinated experiments at multiple locations in the Monterey Bay region designed to give farmers hands-on information. The results will be dispersed throughout the farming community with the help of organizations such as California Certified Organic Farmers, the Organic Farming Research Foundation, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, and the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association. UCSC’s research team will be made up of Shennan, environmental studies professor Stephen Gliessman, research associate Joji Muramoto, and entomologist Sean Swezey, the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food System’s associate director. “Over the years, we’ve done research that farmers want, and they’ve had a role in directing it,” said Gliessman, the Alfred E. Heller Professor of Agroecology. “Our job is to take their problems and do the research they need to solve those problems.” Gliessman recalls the skepticism that greeted early collaborations. “When we started this work 17 years ago with Jim Cochran of Swanton Berry Farms, people said, ‘You’re crazy. You aren’t going to grow strawberries organically.’ Now, the USDA is saying, ‘This is important. It has to be done.’ It’s the farmers who took the risk.” Cochran will be joined by other experienced, innovative organic growers who will participate in the study, including Daniel Schmida of Sandpiper Farms and Steve Pedersen of High Ground Organics. Landowner Robert Stephens has also set aside a portion of his acreage at Elkhorn Ranch for use in the study. In addition, research will be conducted on the 25-acre UCSC Farm. Representatives from UC Cooperative Extension offices in Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties will participate, as well as a scientist from the USDA’s Agricultural Research Station in Salinas and an agricultural economist from UC Davis. The grant will enable researchers to take ongoing studies to a new level and test the limits of monoculture farming, said Gliessman. “We want to redesign the system to better resist disease,” he said. “It may turn out to look very different from what we’re used to. You probably won’t see acre after acre of organic strawberries.
You may see a patchwork of strawberries and other crops, because monoculture brings problems. We need to build on the strengths of diversity.”By conducting replicated trials on organic farms, researchers will assess the effects of crop rotations and different fertility, disease, and pest management strategies on yields, soil quality, weeds, pests, and soil pathogens. Experiments will focus on – • Testing biological alternatives to methyl bromide to suppress Verticillium dahliae, a soil pathogen that poses the greatest threat for organic strawberry production in the state. Anaerobic decomposition of cover crop residues and bio-fumigation with Brassicas will be evaluated. Given the upcoming ban on methyl bromide, such experiments may be of value to conventional farmers, as well. This part of the study will include testing a technique pioneered in the Netherlands to control a number of soilborne diseases. Blocks of both a cover crop mix and mustard will be incorporated into the soil, then covered with a tarp as the crops decompose. Following the tarping, researchers will measure levels of V. dahliae in the soil to assess this technique’s potential for disease suppression. • Developing tools to help organic farmers monitor changes in soil nutrient levels, or “what goes in and what comes out,” as Shennan put it. Researchers will analyze the nutrient value of soil amendments, including cover crops, commercial composts, and fish emulsion fertilizer, and document what nutrients are removed when the crop is harvested. They will also develop plant tissue nitrogen tests so farmers can assess how well their fertility management is working, said Shennan. Building a database of their findings will give farmers a powerful resource to draw on that will supplement their own soil tests, she said. This issue is especially timely on the Central Coast, where non-point source pollution of waterways is subject to intense public and regulatory scrutiny. Demonstrating organic practices that help minimize leaching and runoff will be important for the region’s growers.
The fertility management work will build on several years of water monitoring data collected by researchers from the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems as part of the Central Coast project . • Applicability of three models to simulate how management changes could impact crop harvests, soil nitrogen availability, and the movement of nutrients under a range of weather conditions and for different types of soils. If any model works well for predicting farming outcomes in this area, it could be used to help farmers make decisions about crop rotations, cover crop use, and management of fertility inputs, said Shennan. • Use of organic pest control to combat pests that prey on strawberries. Vacuum devices and an alfalfa trap crop will be tested against the western tarnished plant bug , and researchers will evaluate the movement and effectiveness of beneficial insects introduced into or near the trap crop vegetation. Researchers will also assess the value of native-plant hedgerows in attracting beneficial insects that prey on crop predators. This work will expand on research efforts showing that alfalfa can be an effective trap crop for WTPB and can be managed to reduce energy use associated with crop vacuuming, as well as enhance populations of beneficial insects. For results from an earlier phase of this study, see “Trap crops show potential to reduce pest damage, save time and energy in organic strawberry production,” The Cultivar, Vol. 22 No. 1, Spring/Summer 2004. Results from the various studies will be passed on to growers via a combination of meetings, trainings, field days, listening sessions, focus groups, blueberry containers and other exchange opportunities designed to promote feedback between researchers and growers.The scope of the project reflects the importance of organic agriculture in the economy and UCSC’s role supporting organic farmers, said Shennan. The Central Coast is well known for its high concentration of organic farms, and many producers have benefited from partnerships with UCSC researchers and UC Cooperative Extension specialists. In Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties, more than $140 million, or 6 percent, of the region’s $2 billion vegetable production in 2001 was certified organic, according to Shennan, and the two counties generated more than $400 million gross value in strawberries. The California organic agriculture industry has grown quickly, producing sales of $340 million in 2003, according to the California Department of Agriculture Organic Program. The state produces nearly half of the total organic vegetables certified in the United States; strawberries are the most lucrative organic commodity in the state on a per acre basis, valued at $17.5 million. “Organic farmers face the same production challenges as conventional growers, but the research community has overlooked their needs,” said Shennan. “With one of the oldest university-based organic research and training programs in the world and one of the pioneering academic programs in agroecology, UCSC is in a good position to help fill in the gaps of scientific knowledge.”Most consumers feel that they don’t know enough about how their food is grown and processed, how it reaches them, or what’s involved in food marketing. They’d like to see a system of eco-labels that would provide information on such criteria as whether the workers receive a living wage, whether the animals were treated humanely, and whether the food was locally grown.
These are some of the conclusions of a study by social issues researchers Phil Howard and Jan Perez of the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. The study asked consumers what aspects of food production, processing, transportation, and retailing they were most interested in knowing more about, and how they wanted to get that information. “Our goal was to give consumers a voice they might not have, and the first step was to find out what they want to know,” said Howard, a second-year postdoctoral researcher. “Food retailers, processors, and growers should all start looking closely at these issues because people are interested in supporting them through their purchases.” In 2004 Howard and Perez conducted five focus groups and mailed a 26-question survey to 1,000 randomly selected households in San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey Counties; the survey response rate was 48 percent. The study was funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to foster sustainable agriculture on the Central Coast as part of the Center’s Central Coast Research Project.Eight food system-related topics were identified as themes that interested the focus groups; these topics were then presented in the written survey. Not surprisingly, the scores indicated that survey respondents were most interested in safety and nutrition; nearly all respondents ranked these topics near the top of a scale from 1 to 10 . A number of surveys have consistently shown these to be important concerns, even for those with few other food-related interests. One focus group participant highlighted this fact when stating, “Who knows what the heck is in half the stuff we buy, I mean I don’t … Frankly, I don’t care as long as it doesn’t get me sick.” This was a minority view, however, as most focus group participants also had a number of concerns beyond their personal health. The survey results supported this broader concern. Treatment of animals involved in food production, environmental impacts, and working conditions all received an average score of greater than 7. In the focus groups, the treatment of animals elicited the most emotion. Several participants had toured slaughterhouses and said this experience had a lasting effect on them. Others had changed their consumption habits after learning of the way some animals are treated, such as veal calves. For example, a focus group participant discussing the inhumane aspects of confinement animal production asked, “then are you eating growth hormone and … or whatever you’re putting in them, and what does that do? I mean, in the long run you know, what’s that doing to you?” On the issue of environmental impacts, focus group participants most frequently expressed concerns related to pesticides and genetic engineering. Some participants were also concerned about irradiation and the impacts of food packaging or food waste. Several participants noted that environmental impacts were much more important to them when compared to other concerns about the food system. On the topic of working conditions and wages, focus group participants were interested in the treatment of farm workers, such as the backbreaking labor performed for very low pay, and the exploitation of migrant workers. Workers involved in other aspects of the food system, such as processing or retail, were not discussed as frequently. When asked specifically to list criteria they would like to see improved for workers involved in the food system, focus group participants mentioned higher wages, protection from pesticide exposure, health care, education, adequate food, limited working hours, and adequate housing.