The flat black soils of the Salinas Valley support an agricultural community that runs like a huge machine to deliver produce to consumers all over the world- production, marketing, chemical inputs, labor, transport, and information all mesh together.

Israel Morales, ranch manager for American Farms, is a grower with 33 years of experience farming thousands of acres in the valley. He understands that the machine will come to a stop if the black soils are allowed to wash away. So he is developing techniques on organic acreage that preserve the soil and prevent nutrient leaching while maintaining profitability. He is also adapting these techniques for application on his non-organic ranches.

Farming on this large scale bears little resemblance to most urban people’s vision of farm life. The farmer doesn’t live on the farm, own the land, choose the seed, harvest the crop, or keep animals. When a large-scale farmer like Israel is successful using organic techniques, planting beneficial plants that nurture good bugs, managing healthy soil, avoiding leaching and runoff, and adopting many other “sustainable” practices, other large-scale growers may start to pay attention.

Israel manages about 2000 leased acres 10 miles south of Salinas. Three parcels are certified organic and comprise 300 acres. American Farms grows many vegetables -from broccoli to zucchini- but the mainstay is lettuce, including packaged-for-market, leaf, and spring mix. Morales plants on 80-inch wide permanent beds that are designed to act as reservoirs to hold moisture in the root zone. The standard industry practice is to plant on 40-inch beds that are re-made every year. The wider beds expose less soil to drying, reducing the possibility for erosion.

Some of Israel’s beds have been intact for seven years. “After harvest we come and work the same bed until it is ready, then plant. The conventional way is to disc, knock everything down, and then rebuild the beds. We want to keep the moisture in the bed. The more you stir up the soil, the more you loose microbes and moisture.”

“We are using organic techniques on conventional land. We are kind of mixing the two of them and we are learning. Years ago it was really tough to grow organically. We have learned through the years about reduced fertilizer application, and how to better manage soils to keep nutrients available.” These techniques reduce the farm’s off-site nutrient run-off.

On the organic acres, Morales plants a line down the middle of chosen rows with a mix of beneficial plants that provide habitat for insects that prey on pests. “You have to have a house for your beneficial bugs. We have a lot of different seeds that we use; white alyssum, bachelor button, and cilantro - that’s some of them. You try to get the flowers to come at different times. And you have to be careful what you plant so that it does not become a weed later. You can find all kinds of bugs, ladybugs and worms. It is incredible what this has done for the soil.”

Another departure from normal practice is Israel’s practice of placing sprinkler pipe permanently every few rows. Since the beds are permanent, the pipe does not need to be moved, and labor savings offsets the extra cost of installing the pipe. This arrangement also makes it possible to water more often and with less water as the plants mature, thus keeping water near the surface and preventing runoff.

“You can over-water and lose the nutrients, and you kill everything in the soil. I water more often, but in the long run I use less water and keep the nutrients working on the surface. We don’t water much when the plant is small but when they get bigger like this we do light water. By not turning over the soil, planting the beneficial cover and using permanent beds, all this life in the soil keeps the nutrients near the surface where the plants can reach it and it is not leached off into the ground water”.

Interviews conducted in 2002