View from the Country

Protecting one’s crops from pests, disease and weeds is in the forefront of every grower’s mind, regardless of the scale of operation. I’m planning to plant several hundred fruit, nut and berry trees/shrubs this spring on my new homestead in southern Michigan, and I’ve already ordered 1,000 feet of 8-foot-high deer fence. No messing around.

Crop protection consists of a lot more than physical barriers, though. If only fences alone could protect our plants from insects, disease and weeds!

One of the things we at Acres U.S.A. plan to focus on going forward, in fact, is educating our magazine and book readers, conference attendees and others about ecological crop protection principles and methods. As our general manager and publisher, Ryan Slabaugh, explains in this month’s opinion column, “Crop protection is a vital concept and a way to engage all farmers across the soil health spectrum …. The concept can create, and is creating, real common ground.”

In this issue you’ll read about crop protection from several different angles. Nathan Harman discusses measures farmers can take to defend against the common plant disease Phytophthora . John Kempf describes the disease triangle and preventative principles growers need to keep in mind. Steve Diver explains organic weed-control methods and the systems-based approach that together can effectively combat weeds. I’m confident you will find practical ideas that you can implement on your operations this coming growing season.

“I,” by the way, am the new managing editor of this magazine. While merely a homesteader myself, I’ve been working with Acres for several years now on various editing projects and I’ve spent time working on a regenerative cattle farm. I’m honored to have been given the incredible opportunity to take the lead on this publication, which has been serving eco-minded farmers and growers like you for over fifty years.

My goal for the magazine is to curate for you the very best information that will help you solve problems on your farms. I hope to go in-depth on a variety of production issues and to expose you to ideas that you’ll be able to implement on your farms — to make your operation more profitable, more resilient and more ecologically sound. You’re going to see more articles directly written by the leaders in the regenerative and ecological farming movement, as well as interviews that dive deep into the how’s and why’s of various farming methods.

I’m also very excited to share with you that John Kempf will be serving as the editorial advisor for this magazine. John’s ability to clearly communicate the science and research that undergirds regenerative agriculture will be an incredible benefit to our readers. John won’t necessarily agree with every word of every piece that will be published — but he will ensure that every article includes important information that leaders in this movement should consider.

So whether you’re protecting your thousands of acres of row crops, your market farm or your home orchard, I hope this issue will give you something to think about — and to implement. And that’s the view from the country.