There’s a small spattering of farms giving livestock a go in their orchards, and those who give it a shot speak highly of its value. Others want to try, but regulations can be strict and the science hazy.
With a new $2 million grant from USDA, the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) and The Organic Center are spearheading a four-year research collaboration, titled “Influence of Orchard Grazing on Soil Health and Pest Control While Mitigating Food Safety Risk,” that will determine the best practices for organic growers to incorporate livestock into their orchards.
Following USDA’s National Organic Program, growers must wait 90-120 days after incorporating raw manure into soil before harvest can begin, but there lacks comprehensive research that evaluates contamination risks and waiting periods when livestock is used in the orchard.
The study will look at the effects of livestock grazing of cover crops in organic almond, pistachio, and walnut orchards in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys of California. This research will help determine best practices for soil health and pest control, while addressing economics, food safety, and food-borne pathogens.
Soil health and pest management
The research is approaching the use of grazing in a more wholistic way by evaluating both soil health and pest management.
The use of livestock grazing has undergone its own cycle of favorability over farming’s history. While it has been long-assumed and observed on farms that ruminant animals provided benefits to the soil, rarely is livestock ever seen in orchards, nor has the science yet proven the benefit.
Not only will the project look at how grazing impacts soil biologically, chemically, and physically, including nutrient availability during tree growth and post-cover crop nitrogen use by microbes and plants, but it will also determine if grazing animals can offer a more cost-effective option for the destruction of mummy nuts during sanitation and weed control.
Food safety
UC ANR and The Organic Center will also be collaborating with the University of Rhode Island, who along with The Organic Center received $3.5 million from USDA for the organic food safety research project. New developments will include tools to improve communication and collaboration between organic agriculture and the food safety industries, as well as for management of organic soil amendments.
As part of the outreach efforts, a dashboard for biological soil amendments is estimated to be ready in the third or fourth year of the project. Additional outreach for the interdisciplinary project includes a technical report for growers, educational sessions, webinars, and social media campaigns.
Farm recruitment is currently ongoing.
Main photo: Sheep used for grazing in a conventional pistachio orchard in California.
Photos: Matt Hannon, Modern Ag
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