JULY 1997
Vol.6, NO. 3

'Sustainable' research,
farms crop up everywhere

Editor's note: Throughout the United States, there's a host of activity in pesticide reduction methods and products. This section takes readers beyond AURI's PRO work into other public and private efforts to find profits with less chemicals.

Bug-bombing runs

The world's largest maggot farmer is dropping beneficial insects on vegetable fields by remote-controlled helicopter. Arizona Biological Control Inc. of Tucson, Ariz. raises millions of maggots to feed the 50 million beneficial insects ARBICO's salesmen ship to 65,000 customers in the United States and 10 foreign countries.

Now the company is making aerial bombing runs of lacewings on fields of cantaloupe using a mini-chopper. The 8-foot-long helicopter can be outfitted with beneficials, pesticides or granular chemicals. It flies 9 feet above the ground and can spray 50 acres in eight minutes. So far, it's been used in rice, melons, lettuce, corn and cotton. The remote helicopter is so precise with its payload that "hot spots" can be handled easily. Its micro-mist spraying technology can reduce pesticide use by 60 percent. The copter costs about the same as a new car.

ARBICO's Beneficial Insect Release Device is a small remote-controlled airplane that can deliver a 2-pound pod of eggs, larvae or adult insects, enough to treat up to 50 acres. It costs about $2,500. Flying both airplane and helicopter requires skills usually associated with video games rather than farming.

Source: Rick Frey, president, ARBICO, (800) 827-2847, or e-mail: ARBICO@aol.com.

Hoppers ain't happy

Several seed companies have introduced alfalfa varieties with the "HopperGuard" trait that confers protection against potato leafhoppers. Alfalfa producers now have an alternative to chemically controlling leafhoppers, which stunt plants and reduce yields. Seed costs range from $18 to $25/acre more than regular alfalfa varieties, but chemical applications cost about $10/acre apiece. And alfalfa is a perennial that typically lasts four years.

For more information, call 1-800-700-6506.

Farmers recycle urban waste

Farmers are making good use of urban goods that otherwise have little or no value. Examples include turning food processing leftovers into livestock feed, composting city yard wastes, applying municipal wastes to farmland as fertilizer, making sow huts and fence gates from old tires, and converting newsprint to livestock bedding.

Source: "How Farmers are Cleaning Up After Others," The Furrow.

Less runoff for no-till beans

No-till soybeans planted into unburned wheat stubble caused less runoff and less herbicide residue than soybeans planted conventionally, according to a three-year study at Mississippi State University.

Source: Weed Technology, Vol. 10:556-564, 1996.

Revenues and earthworms

The Thompson Farm in Iowa has managed without insecticides and herbicides for more than 25 years. The farm practices a diversified cropping system rotating corn, soybeans, oats and hay. Six years of economic data show a $98.21 increase in management return/acre for its manure-fertilized system compared to conventional corn and soybean rotation (with no government farm program). The alternative system return was a positive $67.97/acre, while the conventional system lost $30.24/acre.

The alternative system's increased revenues are attributed to a nine-bushel/acre soybean yield advantage, the value of crop residues charged to the livestock operation, and reduced input costs.

The National Soil Tilth Lab compared the soil on the Thompson farm to that of a neighboring conventional farm. The alternative system had 200 times more earthworms, 6.5 percent more stable soil aggregates, and 1.7 percent higher organic matter content.

Source: Alternatives in Agriculture, Thompson On-Farm Research and Wallace Institute 1996 report.

Mighty mites

Some strawberry growers use a miniscule predatory mite called Phytoseiulus persimilis to protect strawberry plants against one of their biggest enemies, the two-spotted spider mite. One predatory mite per plant protects a whole field from its two-spotted enemies. The two-spotted spider mite has developed resistance to pesticides, and repeated sprayings have little effect. With the biological control, the need for pesticides is eliminated, as are the hazards they represent for farm workers and consumers.

Source: Naples Daily News.

Rotating corn spins off cash

Four New York cash-grain farmers whose farms range from 200 to 1,600 acres are boosting corn profits by $30 to $115/acre by rotating crops. SARE on-farm research shows the rotations enhance corn yields and make it easier to reduce inputs, thereby protecting the environment.

By growing corn after soybeans, farmers increased yields by 8 to 27 bushels/acre compared with non-rotated corn. They did even better when they used a three-year rotation of soybeans, winter wheat/frost-seeded clover and corn, boosting corn yields by 20 to 25 bushels/acre.

Just eliminating the need for corn rootworm insecticide saved $15 to $20/acre. The need for commercial nitrogen input dropped an average of 30 percent. The farmers also pared herbicide costs 60 percent by spraying only in narrow bands in the crop rows and cultivating just once.

Studies such as this are helping cash croppers realize that smart rotations can outperform continuous corn despite government corn-growing incentives.

Source: USDA's Sustainable Agriculture and Education program.

Chefs eat up the farm

An Indiana grower's use of integrated pest management and shrewd marketing are attracting a bevy of customers.

In 1992, Brian Churchill began using IPM on some of Countryside Farm's 100 acres of sweet corn, melons, tomatoes and other produce. Last year, with a SARE producer grant of nearly $3,000, Churchill used pest scouting and other IPM strategies on all his crops. He cut insecticide costs by two-thirds, saving at least $4,000. A single, well-timed insecticide application managed corn earworm effectively on all 60 acres of sweet corn compared with five sprays previously.

To publicize results, Churchill held a summer "expo" that brought 50 chefs from top restaurants in nearby Louisville, Ky., to the Depauw, Ind. farm. Churchill expects to triple restaurant sales this year to more than $18,000, partly because two chefs now use the farm's name on their menus.