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January 30, 2015 CapitalPress.com 5 Farm rolls out welcome mat for insects Clay and Josie Erskine use habitat to support pollinators, other ‘good’ bugs Capital Press BOISE, Idaho — Clay and Josie Erskine have taken a di- lapidated alfalfa field and, in five years, turned it into one of the area’s most diversified or- ganic operations. One of the keys to their accomplishments at Peaceful Belly Farm has been incorpo- rating a variety of habitats that provide food and shelter for pollinators and other beneficial insects. That has included augment- ing a riparian area with willow trees and other plants, plant- ing native bunch grasses and clover on roads within the 60 acres and planting perennials in a hedgerow and brassicas for flowering. They also leave a portion of some crops unharvested to support pollinators. The result has been a pro- liferation of native pollinators that provide free services and beneficial insects that prey on crop pests, said Josie Erskine, 39. “We had a really bad prob- lem when we started farming here with pests such as carrot rust fly and leaf miner,” she said. “This year I haven’t seen any signs of carrot rust fly and I’ve seen very little signs of leaf miner. It shows me that it’s working.” Clay Erskine, 40, said their decision to make an effort to cultivate bene- ficial insects was a gut instinct that paid off. “I just had an intuitive sense about it,” he said. “Ev- erything we can do to promote beneficial insects to take care of the bad bugs, and promote the native pollinators more, just makes sense for the benefit of our whole operation.” He said the difference from when the couple started farm- ing here five years ago is sig- nificant. “The abundance of differ- ent species we now have here is amazing (and) the bad bugs have gotten less and less,” he said. The Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides and the Xerces Society teamed up for a recent field day that high- lighted what Peaceful Belly Clay and Josie Erskine Operation: Peaceful Belly Farm, 60- acre organic operation Location: Dry Valley area north of Boise, Idaho Family: Two daughters, 12 and 3 Education: Clay has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Boise State University and Josie majored in music and theater at BSU Born: Josie was born in Pocatello, Idaho; Clay in Glacier National Park, Mont. Online: http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/nrcs- technote_plantsintermtnwest.pdf http: //www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/PollinatorHabi- Sean Ellis/Capital Press Clay and Josie Erskine stand with their 3-year-old daughter in front of habitat on their Peaceful Belly farm that is designed to feed and support pollinators and other beneficial insects. They say the ben- eficial insects have helped them turn what used to be a dilapidated alfalfa field into a thriving organic farm. Farm has done to enhance pol- linators and beneficial insects. Jessa Kay Cruz, senior pol- linator conservation specialist for Xerces, said she is im- pressed by what the Erskines are doing. “(They’re) taking a whole- farm approach to this,” she said. “(They’re) looking at what’s happening both in (their) fields as well as what’s happening on the perimeter of (their) farm.” She said while these prac- tices were largely developed on small organic farms, larger conventional farms are incor- porating them. Nestled against the foothills in the Dry Creek Valley north of Boise, Peaceful Belly Farm produces 180 types of vegeta- bles as well as herbs, flowers, berries and pasture-fed chick- ens. Clay Erskine estimates the farm also grows more than 2,200 varieties of vegetable seeds. “It’s pretty diverse on the Researcher pioneers variable-rate fumigation By SEAN ELLIS Capital Press PARMA, Idaho — A re- searcher based in southwestern Idaho is pioneering the concept of variable-rate fumigation to control nematodes in multiple crops. Unlike conventional tech- niques, in which entire fields are uniformly fumigated, vari- able-rate fumigation involves testing soil in 1- or 2-acre grids and then applying fumigants only where they’re needed. “That allows the grower to take out the hot spots and not overuse fumigants in a particu- lar field,” says Harry Kreeft, a nematologist and plant patholo- gist with Western Laboratories. “It just doesn’t make sense to put a treatment on an area where you don’t have a problem.” The concept involves treat- ing each grid as an individual field, he says. Several soil samples are tak- en within each grid and an anal- ysis produces a map of nema- tode hot spots. He likens the concept to re- moving a wart on your thumb. “You don’t get chemothera- py; you just remove the wart,” he says. “That’s how you can look at variable-rate fumiga- tion. You take out the hot spots, the cancers, in the field. You don’t nuke the whole field.” Kreeft, 50, was born and ed- ucated in the Netherlands and moved to the United States in 1996 to attend the University of Idaho for two years. He went to work for Western Laboratories in 1998 and shortly after began pioneering the idea of applying fumigants in varying rates. Kreeft says variable-rate fu- migation is a growing trend and one of the driving factors is a shortage of Telone II, a soil fu- migant used to control all major species of nematodes in vege- table, field and nursery crops, fruit and nut trees and grapes. “There’s just not enough to go around, so growers are looking for alternatives and the variable-rate idea just fits per- fectly,” he said. Kreeft says the approach Western Innovator Harry Kreeft Position: Nematologist, plant pathologist with Western Laboratories Age: 50 Born: The Netherlands Professional: Master’s degrees in nematology and plant pathology from Wagen- ingen University, Netherlands Family: Single, two adult children Sean Ellis/Capital Press Harry Kreeft, a nematologist and plant pathologist, is shown at his workplace at Western Laboratories. He helped pioneer variable-rate fumigation. often reduces fumigation by about 40 percent and as much as 75 percent in some fields. Fumigation costs about $340 an acre. “If you can save $340 an acre on 75 percent of your field, that’s a lot of money,” he says. “That’s a new pickup.” Kreeft is helping Western Laboratories perform site-spe- cific management of nema- todes for multiple crops — in- cluding potatoes, onions, hops, apple orchards and grapes — in Idaho, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Western Laboratories own- er John Taberna, who hired Kreeft, said beneficial microor- ganisms are not as severely set back when variable-rate fumi- gation is used. “Their recovery rate is much faster with variable-rate than it is with a one-size-fits-all approach,” he said. Taberna said many farmers are still reluctant to try the vari- able-rate approach despite the cost savings. “The farmers are so scared of sticking their neck out be- cause they’re so used to treat- ing everything and the crop advisors are afraid to advise the farmers to do it, too, because their neck is stuck out also,” he said. tatAssessment.pdf http: //www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/pollina- tor-three-steps_fact_sheet2.pdf extreme level,” he said. Josie Erskine describes the operation as an old-fashioned truck farm plopped in the 21st century. Besides providing food to 160 families through a Community Supported Ag- riculture program, the farm also sells to the Boise Farmers’ Market, Boise Co-op, Whole Foods and local restaurants. 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