After last year’s trials with two different harvesters, this year was the first year Burroughs Family Farms was able to use catch frames for off-ground almond harvest. It was a major — and exciting — milestone for the certified regenerative organic farm, which even led to demo field days and a special shout out during a farm-to-table dinner event celebrating the new film Common Ground.
“It was definitely a learning curve,” said farm co-owner Benina Burroughs Montes of the new harvesters. Montes immediately saw the potential of leaving the soil covered and not having to spend time and energy to have a bare orchard floor. “But I think we’re going to get better and better, and I think that the Central Valley needs to move this way sooner than later, just on dust alone.”
Conventional until 2000, the farm wasn’t always the beacon of regenerative practices that it is today, though some regen practices were happening on the farm before full transition, such as fertilization with compost and manure.
After learning that converting to organic wasn’t going to be as scary as they initially thought, the family began converting the first block of almonds to organic in 2006. Then came new generations to the family, and Montes decided she didn’t want her children nor employees exposed to so many chemicals.
“I also just liked the way organic was more so than conventional,” said Montes. “Conventional is more like a reaction and a prescription, and I want to be proactive and preventative.”
The over 1,100-acre farm has been certified organic since 2015, and then leveled up to certified regenerative organic in 2020.
Organic vs. regenerative: What’s the difference?
The term “regenerative” is currently undergoing a detanglement of possible definitions in the industry. For this operation, it means using five basic principles of regenerative farming: keeping the soil covered, not using tillage, integrating livestock, having diversity on the farm, and not using synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides.
“A farm can be organic and not being doing any of those things,” Montes said.
Incorporating these practices has improved soil health and increased nutrient density in the crops.
The economic feasibility
Transitioning to this style of farming is playing the long game. The farm’s crops — primarily almonds and walnuts, but also now eggs and lamb — can command higher prices, but they are also more costly to farm, and consumers’ loyalties can waver in accordance with the contents of their wallets. But, ultimately, this farm continues to forge its path in constantly trying to farm better.
“The long-term plan is that it’s actually going to be cheaper to farm this way, as water costs get more expensive, as shipping, fertilizer, and products get more expensive. We have less resources, and we need to be more efficient,” Montes said. “If we can be self-reliant, I think it’s actually going to pay off in the long run to be cheaper to produce products that are still good.”
The other part to this, Montes said, is that the farming community at large is still thinking in a monoculture frame of mind.
“If you can do stacked enterprises, where you’re not just growing almonds, but you’re also growing pounds of lamb, or pounds of chicken, or eggs per acre, then you’re diversifying your risk and you’re diversifying your income,” Montes said.
The farm is on a journey. It’s not a race to the finish line, but it is a race against time as resources become more limited.
Regenerative farming is a commitment, and Burroughs has experienced its share of hiccups. As the farm continues to learn, there have been valuable let’s-not-do-that-again teaching moments, such as when some unprotected young trees were inadvertently sacrificed during some sheep grazing.
But somebody has to start these trials, this research.
“If we just keep waiting until there’s no risk at all, I don’t think we’re ever going to make a forward path,” said Montes.
One such example will be the farm’s experiment into incorporating pigs, which will follow this year’s mummy shake. Montes candidly admits she doesn’t know if it’ll work for winter sanitation, but she’s excited to find out. Either way, the farm will soon be offering grain-free pork.
Allocating efforts
A common plight for farmers is having to educate the public on how food is actually grown when consumer demand, well, makes demands. Generally speaking, people have traded knowing where things come from for convenience and having a broad variety of foods available at all times.
“There’s so much disconnect that it’s hard to even know where to start on educating about why regenerative is important. We definitely need to get people more connected back to the land so that they can understand the cycle,” Montes said. “I don’t have a good answer other than we as farmers need to protect our resources as best as possible, because there’s a lot fewer of us that can make really good changes that make an impact, versus trying to educate millions or billions of people who are not connected to the land.
“So I think that’s the way we need to look at things because we’re not going to be able to buy our way out of climate change and limited resources, we’re going to need to protect those things.”
Main image: Ward Burroughs of Burroughs Family Farms gives a farm tour during a farm-to-table dinner event.
Photos: Matt Hannon
