Commitment to Sustainability
From the start, sustainability has been a top priority for us. We have incorporated the three tiers of sustainability—Environmental, Social and Economic—into all of our decision making and planning. Knowing that the property was an abandoned row crop farm, our first mission was to breathe life back into the soil. We dug over 140 soil pits throughout the property and applied different rates of compost, gypsum and/or lime to each area as needed. The entire property was planted with cover crop which was tilled in, along with the soil amendments, to build the organic material in the soil. Knowing that this was our one shot to nourish the soil before planting, we decided to go through this process for a second year.
We used this time to source our clean scion and rootstock material. Planting clean plant material and adding organic material to the soil are two of the most important steps a grower can take in decreasing future inputs of irrigation water, fertilizer, pesticides, and insecticides. Each vine was planted with a tea bag of organic mycorrhizae which help the roots uptake nutrients in the most easily assimilated form. Beneficial microbes are applied through the drip system to continue this natural nutrient cycling in the soil at bud break and veraison, ultimately decreasing the need for synthetic inputs.
Our clean water source also decreases the reliance on synthetic nitrogen sources and additional irrigations, as the plants can use the water much more efficiently. Soil moisture probes detail how far in the root zone each irrigation penetrates and offers additional opportunities of decreasing water usage.
Weed control is always a difficult factor of farming, and to do so sustainably, presents additional challenges. We are continuing our quest to make the best decisions for our property by bringing in a herd of sheep in the dormant season to graze the existing weeds and their seed pods, using mechanical cultivators to cut the weeds out of the vine row, timing these passes to prohibit seed germination to lessen the next generation of weeds, and adjusting our perception or tolerance of seeing low lying and noncompetitive weeds in the vine row.
A soil-building legume-based cover crop is planted each year to encourage nitrogen fixation, increase the water holding capacity of the soils, and decrease erosion of our wind-swept soils. We have moved to a No Till practice, meaning we have left a permanent cover crop throughout the vineyard, to further decrease soil erosion. We will continually monitor if this is an effective measure. For example, we could decrease the erosion and dust throughout the property but at the same time create a greater need for fertilizer and water inputs due to the competition of the cover crop and the vines. We will continue to evaluate and alter our practices to the most sustainable choice for our property.
Gophers are a constant pest in these sandy soils, and our 18 owl boxes are currently at full occupancy! It gives us great pleasure to see piles of bones beneath the boxes, envisioning a well-fed owl family and fewer gophers feeding on our vines’ roots.
We implement a strong Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practice, choosing the products with the softest impact and applying only when needed. By executing cultural controls on a timely basis, such as leaf pulling at set to allow the berries to be exposed to sun and wind from their inception, we’ve found some of the most effective ways to naturally decrease disease pressure. Weather stations quantify the disease pressure, heat stress, and wind direction and strength allowing us to make precise decisions of when, what, and how much to spray. Giving the vines only enough water to grow to the top wire and then stop is another way to control dense canopies which contribute to high disease pressure as well as prevent further hedging passes. Each pass that can be eliminated can be translated to gallons of diesel, hours on a tractor and emissions saved.
As we learn the wind patterns of the area, we have begun installing wind cloth to give the vines some protection. This will decrease the amount of fertilizer needed to feed weak vines. We are excited to be the recipient of a Healthy Soils Program grant and will be planting trees in three areas to create living wind breaks.
Our ten acres of avocados are our first step in providing some diversity in our crop system.
Although sustainability is omnipresent in all our farming decisions, we understand that certification is important to many of your missions. We are actively working towards a Sustainability Certification which we will share with you upon completion. We are happy to discuss all the measures we are taking to feed our soils, become less reliant on synthetic inputs, and not only decrease our carbon footprint but increase our carbon sequestration. Your questions (and suggestions!) are always welcomed and appreciated.