Environ-Mental

Ravings of a sustainable farmer

By Cameron Fries, White Heron Cellars

Being a vine curmudgeon means that I tread where others fear; even the rattlesnakes in our vineyard do their best to get out of my way. And yes, there are rattlesnakes in our vineyard. In fact, I am here to tell you that levitation is possible, and that I have personally levitated. When the vines are young we prune them almost back to the ground. In the spring, they form a small bush with many branches (called canes in grapes), and we visit each young vine to remove all but one cane, which will become the future trunk.

Occasionally, as I have removed canes from a plant, I have become aware that a rattlesnake is curled around the trunk of the plant. Each time this happens, I am by the plant, and in the following second I am instantly ten feet away. Surely no further proof of levitation is needed.

Yet even I, yes I, who has been eyeball to eyeball with more than one rattlesnake, am approaching the subject of this month’s article with some trepidation. There is very little that will get people more riled up than criticizing our current concepts of organic farming. I do not believe that organic farming, as it is practiced at this time, is all it is cracked up to be.

First, let me start with a caveat. As my good friend Lothar says (who runs an organic apple farm for a large corporation), organic farming is far better than the old-style chemical farming. In the good old days, we used to be able to spray organophosphates with wild abandon, and they killed any insect that even looked like an insect. This is hardly surprising since this particular class of chemicals was developed by the Nazis during World War II as a deadly nerve agent. As a quick ironic aside, I would like to point out that this class of chemicals is now banned for commercial farming (although they can still be used for mosquito suppression around housing developments), but I can traipse on down to the local hardware store and purchase all I want as a homeowner.

So, organic farming is certainly better than old-style chemical farming. However, chemicals that are allowed in organic farming can also be hard on the environment. For Exhibit A, we shall trot out copper sulfate. This chemical is used against various fungal diseases, and since it is not synthetic, it is allowed in organic farming. Copper is, however, a heavy metal—sustained use contaminates the soil and kills earthworms. It is currently banned for any farming use in Europe (although, I’ll bet homeowners can purchase it at their hardware stores).

For Exhibit B, let us take a look at Pyrethrine. This is an “organic” insecticide that is made from a flower originally native to the Amazon basin. It is, however, a broad spectrum insecticide and kills all of the insect population in the vineyard including beneficial insects. “Beneficials” are insects that prey upon vineyard pests.

My final exhibit for this monologue is weed control in organic vineyards. There are various machines that chew up the dirt underneath the vines and thus kill any plant material. Current studies show that constantly working the dirt in a vineyard row destroys soil microbe and insect habitat. To say nothing of driving the tractor more often, compacting the soil and burning diesel.

Currently, there are efforts underway to define a middle road. Here in Washington, the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers is working on developing a definition of sustainable growing, as well as certifying sustainable vineyards. The certifying organization will be known as Vinewise. And what does “sustainable” mean? It means that we choose chemicals carefully, always aware of their impact on the environment. Although it may be hard to believe, human ingenuity is capable of creating synthetic compounds that target a specific problem, yet are as benign to the environment as the organic counterpart.

Farming has been undergoing a quiet revolution over the last twenty years as all of us look for ways to minimize chemical use. University research stations are constantly looking for ways to reduce chemical input. One of the more exciting areas of research is looking into stimulating plant defensive systems. When plants are attacked by fungi or insects, they often have defensive mechanisms that kick into gear. How can we encourage these defenses before the attack?

I have been farming in a sustainable manner since we first started planting vines in 1993. This means that native plants, both grasses and flowering, grow between our vineyard rows. Low impact herbicides that break down rapidly upon contact with the soil are used judiciously to eliminate invasive non-native plants. We encourage beneficials by planting over wintering habitat. When an insect pest population gets out of control, we select insecticides that target the particular pest. Sustainable farming is the future for all of us—those that do not go willingly will be forced to change by environmental regulations.

So, let us raise a glass to future farms seamlessly integrated into the environment, and as we drink, we cannot help but wonder when the editors of this magazine are going to get their act together and eliminate drivel such as this.