Sustainability within specialty crop farming

In 1983, a collaboration of seven farms in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, US, began commercial production of meadowfoam seed. In 1984, these seven farms joined with eight more to form the nonprofit Oregon Meadowfoam Growers Association (OMGA) and licensed the first commercially viable varieties of meadowfoam from Oregon State University (OSU). By 1997, the increasing number of growers involved in meadowfoam crop production necessitated the reorganisation of OMGA into an agricultural cooperative named OMG. This cooperative was the driving force behind the commercialisation of meadowfoam seed oil and is best known to the cosmetics and personal care industries through its subsidiary, Natural Plant Products (NPP). Today, OMG consists of over 50 member farms dedicated to the sound production of meadowfoam and daikon radish seed. OMG/NPP’s position as a farming company provides it with a unique perspective on and an ability to evaluate and affect sustainability in local agriculture.
Sustainability in agriculture
Limiting the discussion to sustainability in agriculture removes some, but not all of the complexity from the subject area. For example, it is difficult to completely separate an evaluation of agricultural practices from land use. Zoning choices represent a major factor in the ultimate environmental benefit or cost that will result from a given parcel of land. Additional areas of research, policy, and discussion focus on technology sharing and intellectual property transfer, social justice and global food needs, and the global regulation of transgenic organisms. The issue of global hunger represents an intersection of these high level topics. Superior yet expensive germplasm (both GMO and non-GMO) and new agrochemicals could increase food production in areas of the world that struggle to achieve food security. The agricultural community is asking how these technologies can be shared around the world while maintaining intellectual property and technology rights for those corporations that have spent millions of dollars on research. The global regulation of transgenic organisms is an integral part of any transfer of this technology. With such a breadth of research, it has proven difficult to identify relevant and feasible frameworks for evaluation and improvement of NPP’s own operations. In an effort to simplify the scope of our sustainability projects, we have accepted the scope limitations implied by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) definition of sustainable agriculture. USDA identifies a number of criteria for sustainability in agriculture: satisfying human food and fibre needs; enhancing environmental quality and the natural resource base; making most efficient use of non-renewable resources and on-farm resources and imitating, where appropriate, natural bio cycles/controls; sustaining the economic viability of farms; and enhancing the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole. This article will focus primarily on environmental and resource topics, economics, and quality of life in our local agricultural system. We will assume that the satisfaction of human needs is demonstrated by the ongoing market for natural oils in the global personal care industry.
 Agriculture in the Willamette Valley
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in the world. This fertility is the result of Ice Age floods unleashed from glacial Lake Missoula located in what is now Montana. These floods moved across the plains of eastern Washington scouring the landscape and filling the entire valley to depths in excess of 300 feet (91 m). After the floods drained, the Willamette Valley was left with vast expanses of highly fertile sedimentary soils. In general, the northern part of the valley has superior, better drained soils. Moving south, drainage worsens and crop choices become more constrained. The climate in the Willamette Valley is Mediterranean. There is minimal summer rain and precipitation is concentrated in the winter months, which creates erosion concerns. The defining characteristic of Willamette Valley agriculture is the temperate, dry summer. Oregon agriculture accounts for approximately 2% of the United States’ agricultural land2 and is made up of approximately 15% seed crops,3 primarily grass seed. Seed crops are plants which are raised through their growth cycle and allowed to go to seed. The seeds are then harvested and distributed throughout the world. Grass seed is produced on 450,000 acres of the Willamette Valley4 and Oregon accounts for over 50% of global demand (1.3 billion lbs) for this commodity. Due to the nature of grass seed production, at least 150 other rotational crops are grown including turnip, cabbage, radish, flax, lentil, sugar beet, and kale. Oregon’s agriculture may only rank 26th in output, but its crop diversity ranks 5th in the nation.5 Crop rotation is a process where farmers select certain sequences of crops to break harmful insect, disease, and weed cycles while also improving soil tilth and quality. By adopting a crop sequence suited to each field a farmer is able to minimise the biological and economic costs of single species production (monoculture) while producing valuable crops. Meadowfoam serves this purpose in the Willamette Valley in grass seed and wheat rotations since it does not act as a host for the pests that affect these grassy species.
Focus areas
Economic improvement
A cooperative is a member-owned organisation of people dedicated to the mutual benefit of its members. In the US alone, there are nearly 3,000 farming cooperatives6 which span a variety of products including vegetables, dairy, and livestock. Cooperatives are organised by members to disperse risk, strengthen bargaining power, increase access to markets, and ensure fair returns to the member-farms for their crops. OMG exists to gain sustainable market access for its grower members. By investing in manufacturing, distribution and research, OMG farmers add approximately 30% to the value of their crop. NPP ensures it pays a stable price to growers which counters the 20%-40% fluctuation that can occur in markets for grass seed and wheat. OMG’s rotation crops also add value by reducing the cost of production for its members. Tillage is a long-accepted means of weed and pest control, as well as a standard method of field preparation, in which a set of discs is pulled behind a tractor and the soil is turned and broken up. Contrarily, no-till establishment is when a crop is planted straight through the stubble of the previous year’s crop without tilling the field. Meadowfoam facilitates notill farming in both annual and perennial grasses (OMG growers’ predominant crops) saving 60%-84%7 of establishment costs primarily through reduced fuel consumption that results from the elimination of tillage operations. Eighty per cent of OMG’s meadowfoam acreage is no-till, decreasing fuel consumption by 40% compared to traditional establishment methods.
Environmental improvement
Agriculture is the largest source of surface water contamination in the United States.8 This stems primarily from surface runoff, and the consequent transfer of nutrients into drainages, rivers, and, in some cases, oceans. Meadowfoam is broadly regarded as a low-input crop meaning that nutrient and agrochemical requirements of meadowfoam are lower than those of other rotation crops. Applications of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, boron, and sulphur are 50%-60% less than those made to wheat and clover, and agrochemical applications are reduced by more than 20% (applied basis). Another major factor in the grass seed production system is post–harvest straw management. Between 85% and 95% of the biomass from a crop is left on the field as straw. This residue was traditionally burned, but that practice has been greatly restricted. Farms have the option of bailing the straw, partially removing it, or leaving it on the field. Meadowfoam is one of a few crops that allows planting into full straw residue. No-till planting combined with maximum residue management in perennial grasses reduces erosion to just 3%9 of the annual soil erosion amount associated with conventional tillage. OMG’s growers have learned to value the role of meadowfoam in their long-term planning. As a winter annual that is tolerant of grass seed herbicides, meadowfoam can be employed in such a fashion as to eliminate the need for a fallow year, field burning (where available), or use of a poorly performing rotation crop on the lowest quality soils. Fallowing fields in a climate that receives greater than 50 inches of rain in winter would lead to devastating soil erosion and consequent degradation of water quality. This is especially valuable to growers with the most poorly drained soils in the valley’s southern reaches. In general, these growers are restricted to annual ryegrass seed production, with wheat as a risky rotation crop.10
Social justice
One facet of the debate regarding social justice in agriculture centers on fair trade, or the notion that producers in the developing world should be paid a reasonable return for their produce and should not work in intolerable conditions. Fair trade certifications have become common on such commodities as coffee and the topic is familiar to many in the personal care industry. As a US-based company, OMG is able to sidestep the fair trade debate. US production ensures workers benefit from the highest level of labour and environmental protections. Since the farmers are also shareholders, they can reach consensus on the balance between short-term and long-term economic return, balancing a fair price for their crop with the need to invest for future success. The cooperative structure also provides a distinct opportunity for advocacy. OMG members are passionate about agriculture and want to take an active role in the debates on topics like chemicals regulation, food production, labour policy, and sustainability. It is therefore easy to perceive the disconnect between agricultural communities and the broader American public. Indeed, less than 2% of Americans earn their living from agriculture and only approximately 17% live in rural areas.11 It is hoped that bringing farms closer to the markets they serve can help to bridge this gap. Technical papers have pointed out that assessing social performance is problematic because it is difficult to quantify. There is no acceptable unit of social good, as opposed to accepted quantifiable methods for assessing economic activity, financial return, or water quality. However, the body of research on Willamette Valley agriculture is not without some anecdotal reports on the positive impacts of certain agricultural practices – notably no-till establishment. Ploughing and field preparation is both fuel and time intensive. Based on the OSU crop enterprise budgets, the average farm will save 0.68 hours of labour per acre by using no-till establishment rather than conventional means.12 Assuming an average member farms 1,500 acres, whole-farm adoption of no-till could save approximately 1,020 hours of labour during an already busy harvest season that begins in early June and ends in September. On farms where the owner and her family represent a large portion of the labour, this means more free time during summer months. Reports given to USDA Agricultural Research Service researchers by Willamette Valley farms, including OMG members, indicated that no-till practices created more opportunity to be involved in church, sports, and community activities.13 Those of us who do not live ‘on farm’ (the authors included) often take those things for granted.
Challenges
OMG faces a bevy of challenges when affecting true sustainability in the Willamette Valley. For instance, OMG contracts an average of 3,000-6,000 acres of crops in a valley that grows more than 400,000 acres of grass seed. With such a small voice in the local agriculture community, how can OMG impact agriculture in the valley as a whole? The ‘ace in the hole’ for OMG is that its growermembers farm approximately 80,000 acres (including the crops contracted to OMG) and thus manage approximately 9% of the total acreage of the valley.14 This gives OMG leverage when it comes to land-use negotiations and perhaps sustainability conversations for the entire valley moving forward.
 Current research questions
To date, our research has been secondary in nature and based on the study of local level research on Willamette Valley cropping systems and reports on major cropping systems in the US, primarily corn and soybean. While the frameworks and findings can be applied to OMG’s operations, it is our goal to conduct specific research trials on our production fields to gain a more granular understanding of soil, water, and agronomic dynamics on our members’ farms. Probable research targets include assessment of the long-term economic and environmental impacts of a no-till meadowfoam and annual ryegrass system and modeling of the economics of nursery (growing two crops at one time) planting of meadowfoam and perennial grasses. As we continue with expansion of daikon radish seed production as well as experiment with other cool-season oil seeds and small grains, we are also asking early stage questions about their fit within no-till and minimal residue management systems. In the next quarter we will also begin a project that will expand the scope of our research beyond our production fields. Specifically, we will examine the impacts of our supply chain choices on consumption of fuel, fertiliser, and agrochemicals. As a small volume oilseed producer, NPP will continue to rely on contract manufacturing relationships. All available facilities involve transporting our crop and utilise a variety of techniques to extract oil including mechanical and solvent processes. The interplay of cost, distance, and efficiency needs to be better understood.
Conclusions
Sustainability within specialty crops such as meadowfoam, grasses, and radish is a virtually unexplored field. The ability to conduct research on minor crops is not only budget constrained, but also limited by the ability to obtain information on every facet of the production system. For example, the chemicals used on meadowfoam are not broadly used. If lifecycle or sustainability assessments of chemistries are going to be available, they will likely be for the chemicals used across the great majority of agricultural commodities – for example, glyphosate. The establishment of a body of knowledge on small crop sustainability will necessarily require assessment of a more limited number of variables. OMG will move forward through a combination of modelling (utilising frameworks from other crops), direct measurement of variables such as soil erosion and nutrient application, and an evaluation of the supply chain spanning our farms through finished oil product warehouses. The topic of sustainability in raw material sourcing is evolving. As we know, companies need metrics by which to make decisions, and several customers have posited the question about how to assess sustainability in raw materials, especially naturals. The challenge is creating a framework which focuses on key sustainability drivers such as CO2 emissions, water usage, and social dynamics, while being sufficiently flexible to address differences in regional agricultural practice, transportation, and manufacturing processes.
References
1 Adams WM. The future of sustainability: re-thinking environment and development in the twenty-first century. IUCN: The World Conservation Union, Report of the IUCN Renowned Thinkers Meeting, 29-31 January 2006. 2 USDA. 2007 Census of Agriculture. National Agricultural Statistics Service. 3 USDA. Report released by National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Agricultural Statistics Board, 2011. 4 Oregon Seed Council. The Economy. [Online] (www.oregonseedcouncil.org/economy). 5 Coba K. Oregon Department of Agriculture. National Association of State Departments of Agriculture. [Online] 2012. (www.nasda.org/cms/8825.aspx). 6 National Council on Farmer Cooperatives. About Co-ops. [Online] 2010. (www.ncfc.org/about-ncfc/about-co-ops). 7 Steiner JJ, Griffith SM, Mueller-Warrant GW, Whittaker GW, Banowetz GM, Elliot LF. Conservation practices in western Oregon PPCC perennial grass seed systems: I. Impacts of direct seeding and maximal residue management on production. Agronomy Journal 2006; 98 (1): 177-86. 8 National Research Council. Impact of Genetically Engineered Crops on Farm Sustainability in the United States. The National Academies Press. 2010, pp. Committee on the Impact of Biotechnology on Farm-Level Economics and Sustainability. 9 Steiner JJ, Mueller-Warrant GW, Griffith SM, Hittaker GW, Banowetz GM. Meadowfoam management in perennial grass seed production systems. Corvallis, OR : Seed Production Research at Oregon State University, 2005. 10 Mellbye ME, Young III WC, Garbacik CJ. Longterm evaluation of annual ryegrass cropping systems for seed production. Corvallis, OR : Seed Production Research at Oregon State University, 2009. 11 USDA. About Us. National Institute of Food and Agriculture. [Online] 2011. (www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/extension.html). 12 Eleveld B, Silberstein T, Mellbye M, Young B, Lahmann E. Enterprise budget: annual ryegrass, conventional tillage, volunteer seeding and no-till. Willamette Valley Region. Corvallis, OR, Oregon State University, 2010. 13 Banowetz GM, Griffith SM, Steiner JJ, Gavin WE, Mueller-Warrant GW. Sustainability in seed production enterprises – what we’ve learned. Corvallis, OR. Seed Production Research at Oregon State University, 2009. 14 Oregon State University Extension Service. 2011 Oregon County and State Agricultural Estimates. Corvallis, OR. Oregon State University Extension Service, 2011. Special Report 790-11, April 2012. 15 2008 Oregon County and State Agricultural Estimates. [Online] (www.oregon.gov/ODA/ about_ag.shtml#Statistics_and_Oregon_State_ University_studies_available). 16 Council, Oregon Seed. Oregon Seed Industry – Fact Sheet. Received March 12, 2009 as part of House Bill 2186 and Senate Bill 928 testimony packet compiled by Oregon Seed Council, 2009.