Green manure program hopes to reap sweet success

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Journal Writer

FORT HALL - Local potato farmers may have found a spicy weapon in the battle against weeds, pests and wind erosion.

Oriental mustard-seed plants and a host of other crops were showcased on a windy Tuesday at the Fort Hall Indian Reservation as biologically-friendly “green manure” agents that could change local agricultural practices.

The rows of arugula and mustard blends look attractive from the road, but their planting in mid-August by University of Idaho research and extension scientists wasn't done for aesthetic reasons.

After being cut several weeks from now, the plants will work their way into the soil over the winter, providing a new energy source and injecting natural chemicals that keep harmful nematodes at bay.

“What the oriental mustards have is a chemical compound that has a fugicidal effect,” explained John Taberna, a Blackfoot seed distributor who's been working with green manure for several years.

Taberna said he and his business partner currently have 25 customers using green manure crops that cover 10,000 acres in Bingham County alone.

“The majority of the guys have purchased more every year,” said Taberna, taking a bite of a mustard leaf to show its flavor. “It's a learning curve.”

On the Fort Hall Reservation, concerns over pesticides leeching into groundwater prompted the tribe's business council to officially aim to reduce pesticides by 15 percent in the next 20 years.

Tribal Agricultural Resources Manager Tom Liddil said farmers around Idaho are watching closely to gauge the success of the test fields in Fort Hall.

“When we have a failure or we have a learning experience, it costs us a lot of money and a lot of time,” Liddil said. “The real world met the university this time and it was perfect.”

Thanks to a two-year, $69,000 grant from the American Farmland Trust and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U of I program will offer 50 acres of free seed next year to three growers each on the Fort Hall Reservation, and the Power and Bingham County Conservation Districts.

U of I research and extension scientist Pamela Hutchinson led about 40 people on a tour of the test fields north of the Fort Hall town site Tuesday, and said the project differed from most agricultural experiments conducted by her office.

“When we do things at the research station, we want things under control,” Hutchinson said. “We've done green manure trials at the station before, but nothing like this.”

Hutchinson said green manure has been used successfully in Washington, but its long-term benefits are still relatively unknown in Southeast Idaho, despite the burgeoning success of seed sellers like Taberna.

According to preliminary estimations compiled by Hutchinson, a farmer could save $61 per acre by using mustard plants or other green manure and bypassing traditional fumigants and pesticides.

But a quick look at the five-inch tall plants lining the test field showed the difficulties involved with using the alternative technology.

The sandy and dry nature of the soil necessitates frequent watering and the so-called volunteer wheat that pops up after harvest every fall can crowd out some of the healer plants.

“Success or failure really depends on your management in the fall,” Hutchinson told a room full of listeners. “You really have to know how to deal with the volunteer wheat.”

In addition to the arugula and mustard, four other plants are also being grown at the test field. The plants will be individually analyzed in order to ascertain their specific benefits.

Green manure?

It might sound stinky, but to frustrated farmers who've seen their costs escalate for years, it just might be the smell of promise.

By Dan Boyd

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