"It's not just organic farmers that can make strides in improving their soil and plant health," says Dale Gies. "If more conventional farmers adopted sustainable techniques to varying degrees, we could affect a lot more acres."

Dale raises "fresh-pak" potatoes, seed wheat, hybrid vegetable seeds, and grain corn on a 500-acre farm south of Moses Lake, Washington. Like most farmers of the arid mid-Columbia River Basin, he depends upon irrigation to keep the local sandy soils moist over the 180+ day growing season.

"It's not an organic farm," Dale explains. "We utilize some things from the organic system, combined with tools from conventional systems. By combining tools and integrating our system, we can produce healthier soils faster, and reduce our reliance on chemicals. We do more with less – we use less chemical inputs, less fuel, less tillage – and still produce at the very upper end of the yield spectrum for our area. Generally that means our bottom line is substantially improved. In times now when profit margins are pretty slim, it allows us to still operate in the black."

Dale was raised on a farm, and after college spent several years in the agricultural industry doing wholesale marketing, exporting oil seed crops, and consulting. He returned to the family farm in 1981. When Dale began paying greater attention to his soil, he recalls, it was interesting how solutions seemed to suggest themselves. "They just were so obvious, but no one had noticed them before. We started out trying to solve a wind erosion problem caused by the mold-board plow, and ended up redesigning our whole system."

"By separating the fine soil particles and overworking the soil, the plow created an impenetrable barrier to roots, water and farm implements. With stubble mulching and conservation tillage we were able to break up the plow pan that had developed over 30 years. This has helped minimize wind erosion, and maximize water and root penetration, making our crops more resistant to drought stress. We use cover crops to improve the soil and help keep it in a pH range for maximum nutrient availability. Cover crops like white mustard act as a natural fumigant to reduce weed and disease pressure, and control certain nematodes. Cover crops have doubled the amount of organic matter we are returning to the soil in a form that is readily utilized by soil and bacteria."

Proper crop rotations have also been instrumental in improving the bottom line while protecting water quality. "We started rotations as an obvious solution to address stand establishment problems encountered with conservation tillage. We could plant crops like potatoes and corn into the high residue ground without excessive tillage. We found that a sensible rotation also reduced pressure from pests and disease, in turn reducing chemical costs. Improved water penetration from the higher-residue crops allowed us to use larger, less frequent irrigations, reducing disease pressure and increasing irrigation efficiency."

"In odd areas of the farm that are hard to cultivate, we have worked to develop wildlife habitat that becomes a breeding ground for beneficial insects. We are always mindful that if we keep our beneficial insects healthy, we rarely have to spray for spider mites, because beneficials will keep them down. Spider mites are way more expensive to get rid of than potato beetles, so with better planning, we can use pest-specific sprays instead of the broad-spectrum pesticides, and let the beneficials do their work."

"In the conventional system," Dale continues, "farmers would apply broadcast fertilizer across the field and plow it in. By applying only a small amount prior to planting – a deep band of phosphates and other micronutrients – we have high efficiency in fertilizer use. We apply the balance of what the plant needs in the irrigation water, matched to crop demand using petiol and soil tests. We use less and get a better response. It's better for the environment, better for our pocket book."

Dale works to improve his process in cooperation with researchers at Washington State University (WSU). For example, soil microbiologists at WSU have set up plots to measure resistance to erosion, improved water penetration, and increased biological activity that result from Dale’s methods.

Among other things, Dale is a vocal proponent of irrigation water management to match irrigation to the consumptive use of the plant. With WSU, the National Resource Conservation Service and Conservation District scientists, he has participated in studies to track the movement of moisture in the field, to understand soil holding capacity, evapotranspiration, crop consumptive use rates, and system application rates. By managing water use closely, Dale has almost eliminated movement of water below the rootzone during the irrigation season, reducing fertilizer waste, chemical costs, and water pollution. "I've been the poster boy for irrigation waters management," he laughs.

He recalls that when USDA began requiring in farm plans that a certain amount of residues be left after planting, he was already exceeding the requirements without suffering increased costs or lost yields. "With a healthier soil, the crop is more resistant to stresses of all kinds and produces better. We were ahead of their requirements, while others had to change their tillage practices to meet them. Between the new rules and learning from other growers, even more farmers have moved toward this system, and eliminated the mold-board plow. They are just beginning to catch on to the green manure cover crops."

Dale points out that one of the biggest challenges to farming will be new regulations dictating how growers handle fertilizers to protect water quality, and deal with crop residues to protect air quality. "Farmers," he stresses, "need to be involved and active in drafting and implementing these regulations if they are going to work. Often regulations are written or enforced by people who don't understand how the rules will be applied on the ground – what they mean to farmers. If the regulators want to achieve their goals, they need to consult with people out on the ground."

The other big challenge is marketing, he says. "We'll lose a lot of farmers in the next year or two unless we can find new markets to sell our products, regardless if we are producing crops, livestock, dairy, or whatever. No matter what good stewards we are, we can't survive unless we can sell. A lot of farmers aren't looking down the road very far. The wolves are at the door, and they're wondering how they can stay alive this year much less years from now."

Dale Gies
Gies Farms
11653 Rd 5 SE
Moses Lake, WA 98837
Tel: (509) 765-9672

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