We preserve natural buffer zones around rivers to prevent erosion and provide animal habitat
At Stahlbush Island Farms, we use Sustainable Farming Practices. At it's heart, Sustainable practices sustain and improve the health and vitality of the entire farm environment: soil, water, air, plants, animals, and people. As a family farm, this is second nature to us. Our families have farmed in Oregon for over 100 years, and we work every day to preserve the land for future generations. Below you can read about the specific agricultural practices we employ.
Rotation of Crops At Stahlbush, we rotate our crops to avoid growing the same crop on the same ground two years in a row. Our rotation includes a number of vegetable crops and a dryland rotation crop such as wheat. A good crop rotation helps us break disease and insect cycles, further control weeds, and improve overall soil health. This helps us further eliminate pesticides.
A healthy little frog, living amongst the rhubarb
Cover Crops At Stahlbush, we plant cover crops following harvest of the primary crop. We use several different grasses and legumes including Wheat, Annual Ryegrass and Common Vetch. These plants grow and cover the ground over the winter months and are worked back into the soil prior to planting primary crops again in the spring. Cover crops build soil organic matter, help in weed control and generate soil nitrogen. Cover crops are key in improving soil tilth.
Growing Nitrogen Some cover crops, specifically legumes, are chosen for their ability to generate nitrogen in the soil. If we can grow nitrogen naturally, and improve organic matter at the same time, we can reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers. In one study, we found that one cover crop produced over 120 units of nitrogen.
Clean Ground Water Stahlbush is committed to clean, healthy ground water. We have done extensive work with Oregon State University to understand nitrogen movement in soil. Our goal is to totally eliminate any nitrogen leaching into the ground water. Having a cover crop going into the winter months, and understanding the timing of nitrogen usage, are key in achieving this goal.
An osprey soars over Stahlbush Island Farm fields below
Reducing & Eliminating Pesticides Stahlbush continues to strive for reduction in the use of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides in growing all of our crops, including sweet corn, squash, and broccoli. In comparison to conventional standards, Stahlbush has significantly reduced the chemical inputs on our crops, including broccoli, strawberries and pumpkin. Our goal is to use mechanization and computer technology coupled with intensive management as a substitute to chemicals. Our farm is constantly working to develop and implement new mechanical means of pest control. If chemicals are necessary we look to the organically approved chemical list first.
Soil Residue Testing Stahlbush has adopted one of the strictest soil residues testing procedures in agriculture. We test the ground our products are grown on for over 20 chemical residues. We are specifically looking for products such as DDT, chlordane, dieldrin, endosulfans, heptachlor, etc. Soil samples are sent to outside, independent laboratories for testing. If soils exceed our internal tolerance they are rejected for production.
Like many wild birds, turkey toms live at the farm
Product Residue Testing Stahlbush is sending their finished food products to the National Food Laboratory in addition to other outside laboratories to test the finished products for chemical residues. We test for over 200 compounds including organophosphates, organochlorines, and N-methyl carbamates. Our goal is to provide our customers with residue free food products that have been grown in an environmentally safe manner.
A frequently asked question we receive is "Are you Organic?" The answer is that while we do farm a large number of acres that are USDA certified organic, 100% of our acres are Certified Sustainable by the Food Alliance www.foodalliance.org Some of the key differences between our certified sustainable program and certified organic are outlined in the table below.
