Better and Better

“A lot of the ground that was classed as marginal ground when we were farming traditionally, just keeps getting better and better.”

Brent Harris grows a diverse rotation of potatoes, corn, barley, organic vegetables such as peas and beans, cover crops, and even cranberries on his sixth generation family farm in Delta, British Columbia. On top of this diverse crop rotation, an on-farm brewery makes use of the malting barley, as well as hops from a neighboring farm.

The multi-generational Harris family works together to produce healthy and nutritionally dense food.

When Brent started farming, his family had a dairy farm as well as a row crop operation where they grew mostly peas and potatoes and some beans. The vegetables that grew closer to the dairy farm always grew better because they received a regular manure application. As he started moving in the direction of organic crops, it was critical to have a good crop rotation, to apply compost, and to plant cover crops, which according to Brent, are “Just good farming practices.” Brent says that “there were a lot of challenges with growing organic, but the thing that always really excited me is that when you’re when you’re doing the good rotation and the compost and the cover crops and the other practices that you need to do when you’re organic, that a lot of the ground that was classed as marginal ground when we were farming traditionally just keeps getting better and better.”

Brent seeks to quantify the improvement in his soil through regular soil organic matter and soil nutrient testing. Working with a consultant, Brent even has a research team conducting soil respiration tests that could be a scientific indicator of life in the soil. And although he has not pursued nutrient density testing in his vegetable produce, he does see a difference in the taste of his vegetables. “You know, I’m sure I’m a little biased, but we quite often get feedback that our potatoes taste very good.”

Organic farming and insect pressure

Now that the farm is organic, Brent has very limited tools for adjusting nutrients and preventing disease insect pressure. Initially, he wondered “How are we going to deal with the aphids? How are we going to deal with the wireworm and potatoes? How are we going to get the yields without being able to put prescriptive fertilizer mixes on?” Not that Brent hasn’t had to deal with any of those issues, but the problems haven’t been as severe he thought they might be. As time goes on, the hot spots of insect pressure have become less and less of an issue.

Brent has found that “when the aphids come, there’s a food source, and a lot of the predators that you don’t really see start to move in, as well as the ladybugs, which are much more visible. You start seeing a few of them and then all of a sudden, you’ve got all these ladybugs and there are no aphids out there. Part of it is that we’re not going out there and killing those beneficials or their beneficial food source by spraying. But we’ve also got strong background levels, whether it’s in our hedgerows, or whether it’s a carryover in the cover crop, or from having promoted these beneficials in previous years. So when there are some aphids there, there are lots in the neighborhood that are going to come and establish themselves and bring the field into balance. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and it’s really amazing how things can come into balance.”

Cover crops as wildlife habitat on the farm

Another major challenge is that the Harris farm is a major stop on the Pacific flyway, meaning they get a lot of geese and ducks. 10,000 snow geese passing through can leave nothing left in a field. A local organization called the Delta Farmland Wildlife Trust provides funding for farmers to plant wildlife habitat. Brent has found that what’s good for the conservationists is often good for the farmers.

Brent plants pollinator mixes and grasslands for the wildlife that bring in pollinators and beneficial insects for his farm. He follows his cash crops with a cover crop mix in order to keep the ground covered year-round. Later in the season, he’ll plant winter cereals and barley. The way Brent looks at it, even if a field of purple top turnips gets completely destroyed by the waterfowl, what remains provides a lot of organic matter for the next year’s crop.

Lately, when Brent designs his custom mixes with Green Cover, he’s been adding more legumes to go along with Brassicas with the goal of producing nitrogen. Since most legumes winter kill in the harsh Canadian winters, getting significant nitrogen is something Brent is experimenting with. Brent is also very careful select cover crop species that will complement his cash crop. For instance, even though Austrian peas would grow really well on his land, he never puts them in his cover crops because he grows peas as a cash crop. And since he doesn’t grow Brassicas as a cash crop, he loads his cover crop mixes up with lots of Brassicas.

Getting Started with Soil Health

Brent tells us that if you’re just starting out trying to improve your soil health practices, you’ve got to get your feet wet and start doing it. “You can read about it and watch videos, but you have to experience the benefits first-hand.” Using a program that helps pay some of the costs to put a cover crop in can certainly help when adopting soil health practices. “But at the end of the day,” Brent says, “if it didn’t do any good, we wouldn’t do it. The reason we’re doing it is because it’s the right thing for us to do on our farm.”