In a society where producing food fast is a growing trend, Joe
and Julie Morris take a different approach. As owners of the T.O.
Cattle Co. in San Juan Bautista, the Morrises are firm believers
that ecologically minded ranching and farming, though it might take
more time and planning, ultimately produces a better way of
life.
In a society where producing food fast is a growing trend, Joe and Julie Morris take a different approach. As owners of the T.O. Cattle Co. in San Juan Bautista, the Morrises are firm believers that ecologically minded ranching and farming, though it might take more time and planning, ultimately produces a better way of life.
The Morrises, along with a number of South Valley and Central Coast ranchers and farmers, practice ecological farming, a concept that aims to maximize the use of natural resources to ranch and farm instead of using industrial, highly chemicalized agricultural systems.
By using nature as means to production, Joe Morris said, plant, animal and human communities can learn to work cooperatively and, in turn, thrive.
“It’s a challenge to remember we have three bottom lines to pay attention to simultaneously: We have an economic bottom line, an ecological bottom line and a social bottom line,” he said. “But if we don’t pay attention to all three of those, our communities are going to be short-lived.”
Ecological farming involves a number of practices ranchers and farmers use to sustain wildlife on their farms while growing food and raising livestock. Some of the most commonly known techniques are what many people think of when they think of growing organic food, such as avoiding using pesticides on crops and synthetic hormones or antibiotics in cattle feed.
But ecological farming umbrellas a number of other ideas, said Jo Ann Baumgartner, director of the Watsonville-based Wild Farm Alliance.
For example, ecological farmers grow native plants that encourage habitation of beneficial insects, which in many cases create healthier crops because the insects prey on harmful pests. Farmers also can restrict fencing to only around their crops, so as not to discourage the natural passage of wildlife.
Effective management of irrigation systems and watersheds is another component of ecological farming. Farmers use a range of irrigation systems but are careful to re-circulate excess water and not to over-irrigate.
“What we are hoping to instill in the movement – and it is a movement – is that people think about conservation-based agriculture for the land in addition to providing clean food for consumers,” Baumgartner said. “We’re interested in agriculture that accommodates wild nature.”
The use of native pollinators, either by themselves or in addition to honey bees, to pollinate crops is another common practice of ecological farmers. Phil Foster, co-owner of Phil Foster Ranch in the San Juan and Santa Ana valleys, grows about 40 to 50 different kinds of vegetables and tree fruits with the help of native pollinators as well as honey bees.
The benefits of farming ecologically, Foster said, range from not needing to spend money on pesticides to farming with more biologically diverse soil.
“Don’t get me wrong – nothing works perfect,” he said. “But we’ve been able to develop a system on our farm where we’re not using a lot of pesticides, and we’re letting a natural system guide our farms. Pest problems are minimized, and we have a patchwork of many different crops.”
While soil is a main consideration for the Fosters, the Morrises’ techniques focus more on their cattle.
“The major tools we use are embodied by our animals,” Joe Morris said. “We use herding and grazing to reflect how the animals occurred here naturally, in large herds. And we allow them to graze and encourage them to move around the ranch. That allows the plants they’ve just grazed to regain their rigor and capture more sunlight.”
When the plants are healthier, so are the cattle that munch them, Morris said. In turn, the cattle grow larger without the use of hormones or steroids, and they sell for a bigger price.
Although the popularity of ecological farming isn’t skyrocketing, interest in various practices and techniques slowly is gaining ground, the farmers said.
“I certainly think some of the conventional farmers are starting to see the benefits of it, especially in the San Joaquin Valley,” Foster said. “I think people definitely have interest in it and are talking about it more. Is it taking off crazily? No. But I think there’s some modest growth.”
One of the biggest challenges of ecological farming is making it work in an increasingly fast-paced society focused on producing more, more, more.
“It’s a challenge to remember the industrial model really doesn’t fit the land very well,” Morris said. “Over the last 50 years, a huge percentage of the American population has moved into towns, so there’s fewer people living on the land, and there’s fewer people thinking about how they can do that. A lot of people don’t understand what it means to take care of the land. We either romanticize it or disdain it, but we don’t have much of a balance.”
