Our Process
Our orchard was planted by others in the late 70s, but the chosen location was ill-suited for a pecan orchard. We purchased the property to retire on in 1996, but we changed our minds for another, better location. At that time the orchard was in very poor shape. On the spur of the moment I decided to try my hand at growing pecans knowing absolutely nothing about farming, pecan horticulture, tractors, irrigation, farmers markets, or soil health. We assumed direct management in 1999 but were bluntly told by an Extension expert that “We were wasting our time.”
We persisted in trying, and after a few years we concluded we were wasting our time using conventional methods. We needed to find another approach, so we attended a week-long seminar given by Elaine Ingham, founder of the Soil Foodweb organization in Oregon. Elaine’s message promoted the merits of the soil food web, the collective populations of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and on up the food chain. At that seminar Betsy Ross Builta and I decided to collaborate. Betsy was a believer in Elaine’s message and was a purveyor of soil-applied microbiology. Thus started an eighteen year collaboration.
Building and husbanding soil microbiology is the most important action we take in growing our pecans. The immediate impact has been to improve soil structure by aggregating the individual clay particles into clumps. Clumps have larger diameters and create space between each other. The spaces allow much improved drainage and aeration. Clumping is the first of the natural processes we have come to recognize. The trees and crops improved, but there remained much opportunity.
The orchard had been planted on an old cotton field which meant that critical nutrients were very low. We corrected that with fertilizer amendments. The growth rate of the trees accelerated. Bigger trees need more water; the irrigation system was next upgraded. Our sequence of improvements went like this:
MICROBIOLOGY --> STRUCTURE --> NUTRIENTS --> WATER
In 2021 we invited leaders and researchers from the Noble Research Institute in Ardmore OK to visit. Noble is actively promoting the principles of Regenerative Ag. We discovered that Betsy and I had already adopted five of the six principles without my ever having heard of Regenerative Ag. Noble was starting a six year soils research program, and we accepted their invitation to join.
During 2024, I decided I needed to connect our multi-year effort toward soil health through microbiology and the principles of Regenerative Ag. The diagram below shows that connection.
“No till” means no mechanical disturbance to the soil and has come to include minimum mowing. This avoids disturbances to soil microbes and represents reduced inputs.
“Covered soil” means no herbicides and maintains year round ground covers which help keep the soil cooler and increase food exudates delivered to the soil and the microbes.
“Live roots” enable a large portion of the food products grown through photosynthesis in any live plant to move into the soil. This feeds the microbes which, in turn, provide mineral nutrients to tree roots.
“Biodiversity” in the ground vegetation, including the pecan trees, promotes microbial biodiversity in the soil. A few years ago friends in the Williamson County chapter of the Native Plant Society identified 75 different plant species, almost all of which were volunteers provided by birds, wind, and critters. At least half are natives.
“Animals” , especially larger species, promote mineral cycling and soil fertility. Because of our age, this is the one principle we do not use.
“Context” means these principles need to be adapted to our location and business goals. This is the gateway to describing our business model.
The key elements of the business model are the last two. We have come to embrace the idea of minimizing inputs by making maximum use of natural processes embedded in both the Regenerative Ag principles and our efforts at building soil health. This is still a work in process
-
We stopped using herbicides many years ago.
-
In recent years we have stopped applying dry synthetic fertilizers. In their place we apply algae and liquid humates. Along with 4-6% soil organic matter and our belief that soil bacteria are able to sequester atmospheric nitrogen, our trees grow vigorously. Many natural products are coming commercially available, allowing us to continue seeking "better."
-
During the last two season we have applied a natural silica compound to the foliage to deter sucking insects like aphids. We are having good success with yellow aphids but still trying with black pecan aphids.
-
A new strategy for crop protection is called Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR). Rather than trying to kill insects or disease with synthetic pesticides, SAR strives to increase the plants own defenses or immune system to ward off the worst of the damage. Another example of harnessing natural processes to reduce inputs and cost.
-
Pecan scab, the most important foliar disease will be treated next season with natural agents that do not kill the scab but rather increase the tree’s ability to resist the disease.
Our focus today is reliance on natural agents and natural processes to reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.