These reasons and the cost of chemical controls are leading many growers to look for a new production methods. But the new way is actually the old way.

Since 1976, Paul Sansone and his wife Susan Vosburg have been practicing sustainable, "Biodynamic" horticulture at their 30-acre cut-flower operation, Here & Now Garden in Gales Creek, Ore. It's a time-tested system that is labor intensive, but results in healthier crops, lower costs and a healthier environment. For demonstrating that sustainable agriculture can be successful, Here & Now Garden has been named a GMPRO Innovator.

Biodynamic production is actually the oldest form of sustainable agriculture practiced in the Western world, Sansone said. It is the basis of modern organic gardening; its roots go back to Austrian Rudolph Steiner, who developed its principles in the early 1920s. These principles were later refined in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s by German immigrant E. Pfeiffer.

The Biodynamic system looks at a farm as an organism. Like a living being, it is fed when nutrients are depleted. The system relies on the use of compost generated from farm wastes, organic fertilizers and cultural practices such as mulching, cover crops and crop rotation.

Sansone and Vosburg spent years developing healthy soil before the first cut crops were planted. A soil rich with microorganisms is essential for producing healthy, disease-resistant crops. Sansone estimates that 99 percent of soil microorganisms are beneficial to plants, not detrimental. Soil sterilization and synthetic pesticides are incompatible with Biodynamic agriculture, he said.

Failing agriculture

"Chemical agriculture is failing. This is widely acknowledged," Sansone said. "Pests are becoming resistant to synthetic pesticides and growers are seeing decreasing returns. Sustainable and Biodynamic agriculture is definitely the future. These practices have proven to solve problems chemical agriculture creates."

Agriculture is already changing for reasons such as governmental regulation of worker protection, runoff and soil pollution.

"You can already see the shift happening. Practices such as [integrated pest management] that were once controversial are now standard," Sansone said. "We're rediscovering our roots and you can see it more clearly in certain industries. The large vineyards in California have gone to organic production because it's cheaper, easier and more effective."

Biodynamic production isn't prohibitive on quality. In fact, plants are more healthy and vigorous, Sansone said.

"I don't get a nickel more for growing this way," he said. "In the cut flower market it doesn't matter. You just need to produce quality, and our stems are as good as any. Cuts produced organically don't receive premium prices like lettuce, tomatoes or apples."

Learning from experience

Sansone hasn't always been a champion of sustainable agriculture. In 1969-70, he was teaching chemical agriculture in underdeveloped regions of Latin America. His goal was to teach people how to grow crops for food and profit.

"It didn't take me long to see that the system didn't work. The crops weren't suited to the areas they were growing. There were always lots of pests and people couldn't afford or didn't have the knowledge to use chemical controls effectively.

"I saw the idiocy of the whole system. These chemical programs might work in Iowa, but they wouldn't work in the mountains of Panama."

Sansone enrolled at the University of California-Santa Cruz in 1970 and studied Biodynamics under Alan Chadwick. Vosburg was also enrolled and the pair met at the university.

The topic was controversial at the time, but is now regarded as mainstream. The field of study is now known as the Agroecology Program at UC-Santa Cruz.

Basics of Biodynamics

Here are the production methods used at Here & Now Garden.

Cover crops. Usually two or three cover crops are grown before planting, but as many as five can be grown over a single plot the year before flower crops are planted. Cover crops include buckwheat, annual ryegrass, vetch, crimson clover, Sudan grass, fava beans, oats and alfalfa. Each has different purposes.

Vetch is a legume that helps fix nitrogen in the soil. Ryegrass adds carbon and builds up humus. The deep roots of Sudan grass break up hardpans that can develop from working wet soils.

Cover crops are mowed and incorporated into the soil before they are allowed to dry out. They are also sprayed with a organic inoculant that reduces the amount of time it takes the plant material to decompose and stimulates growth of microorganisms

One year of cover crops greatly improves soil structure, increases fertility and raises biological activity in the soil, Sansone said.

Composting. When flowers are harvested from fields, this organic material must be replaced in the beds or there is a "mining" effect. This replenishing is done primarily through compost amendments.

After flowers are harvested, plants are mowed to the ground and plant waste is collected and composted. Then a 1/4- to 1/2-inch layer of compost is added to beds. The compost piles are 12-15 feet wide, 6 feet tall and also contain manure, soil and straw. Other materials include greensand (a sandy material containing glauconite), rock phosphate, oyster shells and kelp added at a rate of 50 pounds per 25 tons of compost.

The compost is also inoculated with six herbal preparations that include yarrow, chamomile and dandelion. The preparations are available through the Josephine Porter Institute in Woolwine, Va.

The composting process takes six months to a year. When finished, the compost is rich in trace elements and beneficial microorganisms.

Raised beds. Here & Now's beds are mechanically produced by a tractor and are 10 inches high and 3 feet wide. Drainage from the beds is very good even during record-setting wet seasons like that which occurred this year, Sansone said.

Woven polypropylene fabric is laid over and between beds. Six-inch-wide holes are burned in the fabric for planting; crops are planted densely in matrix patterns -- up to 10 plants per square foot. After planting, beds are covered with a sawdust/manure mulch that was previously used as horse bedding. With a tractor attachment, 15 acres of beds can be mulched 1/2-2 inches deep in three to four days.

"The bedding comes from local stables and it's well-balanced in nitrogen and carbon. If we used straight sawdust it would actually inhibit nitrogen uptake in the plants. The manure counteracts that," Sansone said. When perennial crops mature, their leaf canopies cover the beds so the fabric is no longer needed. As 2- or 3-year-old perennial crops emerge in spring, the fabric is removed from these beds so it doesn't constrict the plants. The fabric is stored and reused.

Beds are hand-weeded annually three to four times and no herbicides are applied. Two people can usually weed 2 acres of beds in a day.

A 2-foot swath is tilled around planting areas to prevent underground weed runners from reaching crops.

Fertility. Before planting, beds are amended with a mixture of 8 parts seed meal, 2 parts rock phosphate, 1 part kelp and 2 parts greensand. Plants can also be fed with organic fertilizers injected into the irrigation system and applied by overhead and drip systems.

The amount of nitrogen given plants is always a balancing act, Sansone said. "In the cut business, an extra 4-5 inches of stem can mean $1 per bunch, so you want the growth nitrogen will give you. But that also creates problems. Aphids just love plants that are overfed with nitrogen," he said.

Overhead irrigation is used primarily when plants need foliar feeding. Drip irrigation is normally used to conserve water and reduce weeds.

Crop rotation also plays an important part in soil fertility.

"We definitely never replant crops in the same areas where they were dug. But we also try to rotate heavy feeders with plants that are lighter feeders. We also try to follow crops that are in the ground a long time with plants that have quicker rotations," Sansone said.

Insect and disease control. Insects and diseases are rarely problems. The soil that is rich in beneficial microorganisms limits harmful fungi while predatory insects keep pests in check.

The most common insect problems are flea beetles and cucumber beetles, but there are many beneficials naturally present that assist in control. Sansone's annual expenses for pesticides are usually under $300.

"We've never had to release beneficials. Since we don't use chemical pesticides, their populations are naturally high. We are pretty blessed that we aren't surrounded by a lot of nurseries. We're pretty isolated in a rural location, so that limits the amount of outside pressure from pests," Sansone said.

Pest scouting is done regularly. If populations get too high, Sansone sprays with Bacillus thuringiensis, pyrethrum or rotenone. He also sprays with several Biodynamic preparations that stimulate root growth, inhibit fungal diseases and promote flowering. The sprays are available from the Josephine Porter Institute. Other Biodynamic formulations are used to reduce botrytis and other disease pathogens. Botrytis is scouted for weekly and infected plant tissues are sent to a landfill rather than burned since the pathogen can be spread by smoke, Sansone said. If botrytis becomes a major problem, it can also be treated with copper sulfate sprays.

Here & Now Garden Founded: 1976 by Paul Sansone and Susan Vosburg. The first cut crops were started in 1988. Location: Gales Creek, Ore. Acreage: 30. Employees: 3-9, varying seasonally. Number of crops: About 100 field cut varieties, which are also sold as starter plants. Customers: Cuts -- U.S. and Canadian wholesalers. Starter plants -- U.S. and Canadian growers, garden centers and landscapers. For more: Here & Now Garden, 9922 N.W. Gales Creek Road, Gales Creek, OR 97117; (503) 357-5774; fax (503) 357-3858. Josephine Porter Institute, P.O. Box 133, Woolwine, VA 24185; phone/fax (540) 930-2463.

. © 1999 Branch-Smith Publishing