The Western Farmer Stockman magazine ran a story in its July issue about RR sugarbeets (bet you can’t wait), and a farmer with a RR alfalfa field. The alfalfa grower now applies Roundup annually to this field, and it is quite productive. What I found interesting, however, was that the article said:

His enthusiasm for the technology is tempered with concerns. Unlike corn and other annuals, alfalfa plantings last several seasons with numerous opportunities for flowering and seed production by plants missed in harvest. Bees and other pollinators can carry the RR alfalfa pollen to other alfalfas. The escaped RR pollen can transfer glyphosate tolerance to seed produced by alfalfa plants, often miles from the source…..
In Idaho, conventional seed growers aren’t convinced the buffer the state’s ag department mandates between varieties of alfalfa is enough (900 feet).

As organic producers, RR alfalfa is a big concern. Our commitment to you is GMO free food. If a neighbor plants RR alfalfa next to us, how will we protect our fields, and maintain our commitment? I get so frustrated with agriculture as an industry. More and more people want GMO free food, why is American agriculture continuing headlong down this path of genetic modification, especially when it is so difficult to contain (avoid contamination on a broad scale as has happened with corn)?

It seems that American Agriculture, as an industry, has forgotten who the actual consumer is. We farmers produce food for people. We feel that very acutely here at Alderspring. American agriculture should produce the food people want. Instead, the industry tries to convince people its OK to eat GM food, or irradiated food, or cloned meat, or any of the other things that agriculture, in its drive for efficiency, has come up with. Why do other countries refuse American beef? They don’t want hormones! Let’s grow what they want–beef without hormones–instead of trying to convince people that beef grown with hormones is perfectly safe (I know I’m not convinced!).

I’m thankful every day that we can grow our own food, but I’m frustrated for so many of our customers who cannot find the food they want because American agriculture refuses to produce it for them.

• Started up the new irrigation system (hooray!). After some problems and delays on the part of the partners installing the system, and after we spent two anxious weeks hoping the weather didn’t get too hot before we had an operational system, we finally turned on the water Tuesday. Spent two days cleaning clogs and fixing kinks, but some 400+ acres of pastures are now turning a glorious green. The long ditch we used from the river for water supply has been abandoned to keep more water in the river for spawning salmon and steelhead that migrate up to our valley from the Pacific some 900 miles downstream.
• The contractor finished installing the new cattle waterers. These are needed because the new irrigation system no longer relies on open ditches, which had also served as livestock water.
• Fed our last load of hay (hooray!). On a normal year, we would have been done feeding over a month ago. But this hasn’t been a typical spring. Plant growth is nearly a month behind normal (in some ways a blessing because we didn’t have water anyway until the new system was operational). We had to feed hay for about 3-4 weeks longer than we planned, a daily 3 hour job.
• Still calving. While the bulk of the mother cows have calved, we still have about 1/5 of them yet to go. We check them at least twice a day to see if anyone needs help. Thankfully, no one did.
• Got a family milk cow. We’re wondering if this was a good idea. We’ll try to write about why later.
• Turned out about 1/3 of the mother cows with the oldest calves on the range. This involves making sure the cattle are paired (don’t want to send a calf up there without a mamma), and up to date on their vaccinations. We also made sure all the water systems were operational on the range (to keep the cattle from stream water sources), the fences tight (about 30 miles worth) and closed about 20 gates that were left open by fall hunters.
• Took down the hay corral that protects stored forages from deer and elk through the winter. This hay corral is in the way of the new pivot path so had to be removed. We stored the materials away to use for a new corral this fall when we figure out where to put it. Then we cleaned up the area so it could be farmed.
• Cleaned up debris and garbage left by irrigation system installation.
• Filled in, leveled and seeded old ditches that are no longer needed because of the new irrigation system.
• Removed old fences that were in the way of the new irrigation system path (a pivot tangled up in an old barbed wire fence is an expensive proposition). Salvaged potentially useable wire, prepped the rest for recycling, and stored old wood posts in the firewood cutting area. Nothing goes to waste around here!
• Turned out the finishing yearling cattle on pastures. This required ensuring water is available, fencing a paddock with electric fence and moving cattle to the paddock. The kids did most of moving on horseback, and even had a friend to help.
• Removed sod from the new garden spot. We’ll put composted manure on it and finish working it up this week.
• Worked on house plan designs and layout to try to increase solar efficiency without compromising the magnificent views. Our log builder needs final plans soon.

Our plan is to pump water out of the river below the critical flow areas—about 2 miles below where our ditch used to divert water. The Nature Conservancy, Bonneville Power Administration, local Soil and Water Conservation Districts and Idaho Department of Fish and Game have been very willing partners in the project.

For us, it will mean far more efficient use of water (leaving more water in the river for fish) and better yield and quality on much of our acres due to more uniform water distribution (to produce even better grassfed beef). It also means working daily with the contractors who are installing the system, and coordinating with all the cooperating parties on a nearly daily basis. It’s been very busy.