The Siebert Ranch and Vineyard's Sustainable Agriculture Practices

Siebert Vineyard
Sustainable Agriculture Practices

"Sustainable agriculture" was addressed by Congress in the 1990 "Farm Bill" in which the term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:

    A. satisfy human food and fiber needs
    B. enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends
    C. make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls
    D. sustain the economic viability of farm operations
    E. enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

( see http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/AFSIC_pubs/srb9902.htm)

Our practices are sustainable in the following ways.

A. Satisfying human food and fiber needs:

Our vineyard blocks are part of a diverse family farm, are our cash crop, and provide the raw material for the production of premium wine.
We also have sheep, which graze the grass and provide wool and meat.
We have a few chickens for eggs; and
We have a kitchen garden.

B. Enhancing environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends:

Only half our farm is vineyard; the other half pasture, woodland and creek habitat. Although some more land could be put to vineyard use, we believe the environmental cost would be too high.
We protect the creek areas with fencing and keep the sheep out of these areas, so that native riparian plants will regenerate and thrive and new oaks will grow up to replace the old ones.
We encourage the natural succession of plants and habitat development around our diversion pond, even though some water is "lost" to this habitat.
In our vineyard floor, we maintain a permanent sod cover. A variety of grasses and small leafy plants promote a robust habitat for wildlife diversity.
We may have to irrigate somewhat more (because the sod competes with the grapes for moisture) but the habitat and erosion control benefits outweigh the irrigation cost, in our estimation.
We encourage native birds with habitat protection and by providing nesting boxes.
We promote excellent habitat for native hawks and barn owls that in turn help us by controlling gopher and rodent populations.

C. Making the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls:

We use a drip irrigation system, which is inherently water efficient.
We have developed redundant irrigation supplies, with both wells and a pond available.
We monitor our wells for potential falling groundwater levels and our surface water retention pond for water quality and environmental effects. We have the ability to use groundwater to maximize surface water habitat, or surface water to protect water table, if necessary. (So far, neither is in any way imperiled).
We regularly maintain our irrigation system to maximize efficiency.
We employ deficit irrigation practices. Even in a hot and dry year such as 2007, we irrigated with less than 6 inches of water for the season. On average, we put on about 4 inches in a year.
We run our pumps (which are electric) only on off-peak times.
We maintain sheep on the property and in winter we graze them in the vineyards. This saves mowing with equipment and the resulting soil compaction, fossil fuel use, etc. The sheep are very effective and thorough, and we also save in-row cultivation or herbicide spraying for the time they are in the vineyard.
We minimize the use of pesticides. We never use restricted use chemicals. We use Integrated Pest Management techniques. Key is that we use cultural practices to encourage health (treating the cause rather than the symptom). We continually monitor our vineyard and only use pesticides in very limited circumstances and in limited amounts as follows:
We use a small amount of herbicide to control weeds just in the vine rows, that is, for an area about 1/4 that of the vineyard floor, or about 4 acres (out of the 15 acres of vineyard and the total 31 acres of the property). We use about three pints of herbicide for the entire vineyard per application. We have explored alternatives, but they generally involve additional cultivation (which use more energy and damage soil structure), inordinate inputs of labor, or significantly greater use of fossil fuels. So far we have concluded that 100% elimination of pesticide for this application is not appropriate. By using sheep in fall and winter, we only need to spray once in spring, before the vines develop suckers at the base, and perhaps one more time, after removing suckers, but only if necessary. This compares to 4 applications in standard practice. Moreover, we can spray a low application rate, because the sheep leave the weeds very short.
The second situation in which we use pesticides is to protect against fungi and mold in spring. All vineyards have this issue. Our primary tool is sulfur dust, which is a very traditional treatment and is OMRI-listed (Organic Materials Review Institute). Depending upon conditions (primarily weather) we may make one or two applications with a synthetic fungicide in the period from April through June.
Finally, we will use targeted spot applications (utilizing a small hand operated knapsack sprayer) of a broad leaf-specific herbicide to control thistles and blackberry and certain other weeds in our pasture areas.
We mulch the annual prunings and return their nutrients to the soil.
We coordinate with neighboring farms with large livestock to bring in manure, to compost it, and amend our vineyard soil.
We test each block of our vineyard annually for soil conditions and nutrient levels.
We fertilize at different rates for each block depending upon testing analysis. Some blocks may not need fertilizer at all.

D. Sustaining the economic viability of farm operations:

There are challenges to maintaining family farms. The pay is not great and the risks are high and the land is too expensive. Estate taxes often force the next generation to start out with a hefty mortgage. A great number of farms do not pass from one generation to the next. We count ourselves lucky that we were able to take up the farm after Ken's grandparents died.
We are members of the Russian River Winegrowers Association, the Sonoma County Winegrowers Commission, and the California Winegrowers Association. We are also members of the Farm Bureau. We give annually to the American Vineyard Foundation. Through membership in these groups and in our own advocacy, we advocate for the continued health of grape growing and farming in general.
We manage the farm directly and do much work around the farm ourselves. We have only one employee. We pay crop insurance so that we can continue to pay the bills if there is a crop failure. In sum, we are very careful with our expenses so that we can remain viable.
We take continuing education courses in farm related subjects. We sponsor continuing education for our vineyard employee.

E. Enhancing the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole:

Our farm is part of a greenbelt and scenic corridor separating Santa Rosa from the Larkfield area to the north. The zoning of our property deliberately reduces its value by restricting development. Furthermore, we ourselves have resisted the urge to subdivide and develop our property as allowed under that already restricted zoning limitation. We believe maintaining this property as a farm stands for the continued viability of farming and provides “green” benefits to the city as well.

We try to share our love of this land with everyone we know and regularly host visitors. We have many urban friends for whom this farm is their lens to view and understand farming.
We support our neighbors. For example, the neighboring high school uses our property for cross-country running practice each fall, and many neighbors jog or walk up and down our road for the view.
We give at least 1% of our annual gross income to local not-for-profits.