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Klaas
and Mary-Howell Martens,
Penn Yan, New York
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"Successful organic
farming involves much more than simply the avoidance of certain
prohibited materials."
- Mary-Howell Martens |
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Soon after Klaas
Martens and his wife, Mary-Howell, decided to stop using synthetic pesticides
on their legume and grain farm in upstate New York, they started digging.
It wasn’t just the soil on their 900 acres they hoped to turn over;
they also sought old research and forgotten information about organic
farming methods.
They found it. Unearthing a series of research papers on weed control
and soil science from the late 1930s and writings on soil chemistry
from the 1940s and 1950s was just the beginning. The couple also
discovered a wealth of information in the memories and experiences
of older people in their small Finger Lakes community of Penn Yan
who had farmed before the use of synthetics became widespread.
Mary-Howell
Martens says the collective wisdom they’ve tapped in their efforts to
grow the best crops without chemicals points them in one direction:
soil health.
The more they’ve
studied, the more they’ve come to believe soil composition matters more
than any other weed and pest control regimen, no matter how strict.
In fact, she claims that, “anyone who thinks they can get into organic
farming and just depend on mechanical weed control is in trouble.”
That’s not to
say the Martens don’t own and use their share of cultivators and rotary
hoes on their soybeans, wheat, triticale, corn and red beans. They’ve
just come to believe their strongest ally in the fight against weeds
and pests isn’t something you can hook to a tractor, release from a
sprayer, or even see with the naked eye. Instead, it’s vigorous microbial
activity in the soil, in combination with a proper balance of nutrients
and minerals.
In his efforts
to promote the maximum amount of biological activity in his soils, and
to maintain the kind of mineral presence that both feeds plants and
heightens tilth and absorption abilities, Klaas Martens has discovered
the secret isn’t necessarily in inputs. He uses ground fish and an organic
bio-stimulant, but has concluded that “a lot of it has to do with cover
crops and a good rotation schedule.”
He refers to
an early paper by German scientist Bernard Rademacher: “If each crop
is grown after its most suitable predecessor, the competition of weeds
is checked through its vigor alone.”
Pests appear
to like the Martens’ soil improvement efforts about as much as weeds
do. A recent extension service test of their 100-acre sweet corn crop
yielded absolutely zero cutworms. Klaas later discovered some worm larvae
on a few ears while harvesting, but the plants were the cleanest he’d
ever seen or grown.
“They didn’t
get sprayed once,” he says. “To my mind, those results are due to a
good rotation schedule and strong plants in good, supportive soil that
are healthy enough to discourage infestation without a lot of help from
me.”
In recent years,
Mary-Howell has published several articles in Acres USA magazine about
the education she and her husband have undergone in their quest to make
organic growing profitable. Her articles detail the weed and pest management
practices they’ve adopted, provide rotation strategies, list their tillage
and cultivation practices — as well as the equipment they use — and
discuss the economics of growing organically as opposed to using chemical
inputs.
In her writing,
she makes clear that she and her husband believe both in doing their
homework and in making farming a community affair. In the years since
they switched to organic growing, about six neighboring farmers have
followed suit. When others expressed interest, the Martens instituted
regular monthly meetings where they and their fellow organic growers
trade tips and get to know each other better.
“Klaas and I
are so grounded now in studying soil chemistry and plant pathology,
and rediscovering the expertise that was out there and generally available
before chemicals made it all seem unnecessary,” she says. “We like to
see what we can do to support one another, how someone who has been
organic for a while can help someone who is just getting interested.”
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