Banking on Beetles in Oregon

Banking on Beetles in Oregon

Summary

The Summary and Project Objectives are combined in the Objectives Section.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Beetle Banks are undisturbed, constructed grassy mounds that provide essential over-wintering habitat for predatory beetles and spiders that act as generalist feeders among crops throughout the growing season. The beetles and spiders have the potential to limit numbers of many kinds of crop pests. Critical to the design of the bank is the establishment of mat-forming grasses, in a uniform sward or bank, with minimal invasion by other grass types or broad-leaved weeds. Our objectives in Banking on Beetles in Oregon are to help farmers throughout Oregon develop experimental beetle banks of their own design on their farms. This involves developing techniques for beetle bank construction and establishment and making preliminary assessments of their value as pest management tools in vegetable farming systems. The banks are a focus for evaluation, learning and feedback among growers using various participatory, community integrated pest management (IPM) approaches.

In 2006, we set our targets on development of bank construction techniques, bank establishment and sharing techniques through farm walks and meetings. In 2007, we are still fine-tuning bank establishment, maintenance and weed management in addition to fulfilling our objectives of understanding the characteristics of the grasses we have selected, and the occurrence and diversity of predacious ground beetles on the farms. Now that the banks are becoming established farmers are eager to know if and how they are impacting the fauna on their farms.

With two field events, two farmer presentations and numerous farm visits we also continue to bank on the network of farmers interested in beetle banks and other conservation biological control practices. In 2007, farmer involvement included continuing to experiment with bank management options, creating more banks, hosting walks, preparing and presenting posters, and giving presentations to other farmers. From spring to fall project coordinator Gwendolyn Ellen visited two participating farms, Gathering Together Farm (GTF) and Persephone Farm, three times a month from June-October to trap beetles. Because of bank establishment failure, 47th Ave Farm was only visited twice. Consultations, too numerous to count, were had with all the farmers throughout the season to discuss beetle trapping, management options, grass seed selections, and overall project direction.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Soils samples to access predacious ground beetle occurrences were taken in various habitats at Persephone Farm and Gathering Together Farm (GTF) in the winter and fall of 2007 including on established beetle banks (two at Persephone and one at GTF). Similar data were taken in winter 2006 from Persephone Farm and in 2006 and 2007 on established research banks at OSU. This summer was also the second season of gathering information on beetle populations through summer pitfall trappings and plant density measurements in the bank grasses. In 2007, pitfall traps were set in crops adjacent to beetle banks twice a month from June to October at GTF, Persephone and the research banks. With the help of a horticultural graduate student we are able to compile and begin a rudimentary comparison of data on predacious ground beetle occurrence on the farms. Though this year’s samples are still being processed the preliminary findings follow.

From the 2006 pitfall trapping at Persephone (8 stations, 3 dates), GTF (2 stations 1 data), and Hyslop (1 station 1 date) we caught 13 different species of Carabid beetles, at least 4 species of spiders, totaling 35 arthropod species overall.

From the February 2007 soil core samples, 9 from Persephone, 5 from Hyslop, we have found 18 different species of Carabid beetles, 24 species of rove beetles, more than 20 species of spiders, and 9 species of ants for a total of about 139 different arthropod species overall. There is clearly a greater diversity of beetles and arthropods in the soil core samples.

Graph

Figure 1. Total number of individuals collected in soil core samples on Persephone farm in February 2007.

As the graph shows, the teasel meadow contained the highest number of beetles at Persephone. The teasel meadow is a field margin that has not been disturbed at Persephone for a very long time. The beetle banks are only three years old. Research shows that it takes years for beetles to colonize in-field banks. Which brings up the question of “should we be seeding banks”? Also beetles experts are quick to point out that beetles tend to aggregate in areas on the farm. Because our data set is so small we could well be missing the “best sites” completely. Though it is exciting to see our data laid out on paper it is too early in our field research to make any generalizations about on-farm predatory beetle populations.

Two of the six new banks that went in 2006 succumbed to weed pressure. One, at Persephone Farm was tilled in and the other, at 47th Ave Farm’s bank, was tilled several times this summer and will be reseeded in spring 2008.

Two contributing factors to Persephone Farm’s decision to till in their 2006 bank were: 1) in the spring there was more quackgrass (Elytrigia repens) than native bunch grass on the bank and 2) one end of the bank ended up inside the chicken pen. In October 2007, they raised another bank in an entirely different location farm from hungry chicken beaks! After hand flaming the bank after several weed flushes they seeded the approximately 4 X 500 foot bank with slender wild rye (Elymus trachycaulus), blue wild rye (Elymus glaucus), and California fescue (Festuca californicus).

Persephone’s other two other beetle banks turned three this year. The bank that has served as the “poster bank” of the project, a 500 feet long beauty seeded with water foxtail (Alopecurus geniculatus), slender wheat grass, and blue wild rye hosted more broadleaf weeds this season than the previous years. Both banks were mowed in the summer 2007 for weed management.

The 4’X 560’, mechanically (and manually) transplanted bank on Gathering Together Farm in Philomath, Oregon, competed with other banks as one of the weediest (see, Flaming as a Weed Management Tool on Beetle Banks, in News from the Field 2006). The grasses rebounded from the flaming, tillered well, bloomed, and set seed. In the interest of weed management the bank was mowed in May. The bank was not irrigated this summer. The primary weeds seen this year were reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), field bindweed (Convulvulus arvensis), a small amount of redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) and other annual broadleaf weeds.

One of the valuable lessons of 2007 is that one can never do enough weed management when preparing the site for a beetle bank in organic farming systems. The longer and more repetitively one can apply the weed management techniques such as mulching, plastic, flaming, or mowing the better. Secondly, it appears that mowing the first year is more important than first assumed. Originally, we thought that perhaps the native bunch grasses needed a year before mowing to allow them to seed. However, looking at the weed invasion of the “poster bank” at Persephone Farm in its third year is a strong argument for mowing from the first year on. We are all eager to see how this bank looks in its fourth year after having been mowed for a year. Other lessons reinforced this year are that every farm and, indeed, every bank site is different and what works for one may not work at all for the others as shown by the stark differences in native grass seed and weed establishment in the banks at Persephone planted in 2004. One thing we can say for certain is that beetle banks, like predacious ground beetle populations, are dynamic and can change from season to season.

Three posters of GTF, Persephone and 47th Ave Farm were finished this spring. Farmers and Ellen designed the posters. They depict an oral and photographic history of each farm’s unique techniques used in developing and establishing their beetle banks. Each poster includes generic information on raising beetle banks for farmers. Copies of the posters are included in Appendix I.

Outreach

The beetle bank posters were a highlight of outreach for the year because the farmers really appreciated them and use them. They were also a pleasure to put together with the farmers. To date the author knows of three regional farmers’ conferences and two farmer workshops the Persephone and GTF posters have travelled to. The posters are also posted on the www.beetlebank.org website under the Beetle Banks in Oregon link. Perhaps the most successful and consistent outreach method for the posters came from GTF. They ordered four copies to display at their farmers market stands. To do the math, that is about 15-30 farmers a week times four markets (60-120 farmers) from April to November (8 months X 4 weeks = 32 weeks), reaching up to 120 farmers for 32 weeks of the year and countless numbers of consumers! It is important to mention that the posters serve the dual purpose of documenting the diversity of techniques individual farmers use to create beetle banks specific to their farming systems as well as serving as an outreach tool, providing an eye-catching graphic display of how to raise a bank and what farmers think about them.

A summary of the year’s work Banking on Beetles in Oregon, News from the Field 2007, was compiled and sent to all participating growers this winter. An updated version will be posted on the web. A copy, as sent to growers, is included in Appendix II, and all the photos are available for use with releases mailed with hard copy report.

On May 30, 2007, the three, two-year-old research beetle banks were toured by over 50 Oregon wheat and grass growers at the Crop and Soil Sciences research farm, Hyslop Field Research Station on their field day. This was the first year the banks were included in the field day tour, and there was much curiosity surrounding them. Though the research banks are not directly funded by this grant they are used to compare and do replicated studies of some of the grower-generated techniques from this project and as outreach tools for this project. Valuable connections were made at the field day that had a positive impact on this project. Please see the Contributions and Outcomes section of this report for more details on these impacts.

The project received a no-cost extension until June 2008 to continue working with Whistling Duck Farm (WDF), which was unable to participate fully over the last two years. In order to re-establish connections with farmers in the southern part of Oregon, where WHD is located, Gwendolyn Ellen conducted a farm walk in Medford on July 11, 2007. Nineteen very enthusiastic farmers attended this event. Funds for this event were donated by the Integrated Plant Protection Center (IPPC) of Oregon State University (OSU). An article on this walk published in the local newspaper is included in Appendix III. This event is mentioned under outreach as it was used as outreach for the SARE project in an indirect way. One direct benefit to this project was seen in November as the manager of the farm that hosted the Medford Walk, Stahlbush Island Farms, came to our farmer panel on beetle banks and habitat at GTF, November 2007. For other spin-off outcomes of this event please see the Contributions and Outcomes section of this report.

A farmer panel, beetle bank tour, and dinner was held at Gathering Together Farm November 2007 with participating farmers, John Eveland of GTF, and Elanor O’Brien of Persephone Farm and visiting farmer, Peter Kenagy of Kenagy Family Farms as the farmer presenters on on-farm beetle banks and beneficial habitat. Twenty-four farmers attended the event from as far North as Portland and as far south as Medford. GTF’s beetle bank was toured. The farmers presented the details and pros and cons of creating beetle banks, insectary plantings, and hedgerows on their farms. The press release, newspaper article, and participant list for this event is included in Appendix IV.

A second farmer panel entitled Implementing Conservation Biological Control was presented at the Washington Tilth Producers Annual Conference in Yakima, WA, November 10, 2007. Due to the timing of this conference no Banking on Beetles in Oregon (BOB) participating farmers were able to attend. The BOB farmers have farmers markets until the end of November. The farmers were represented by Gwendolyn Ellen. Slides were shown of the farmers’ beetle banks and their corresponding establishment and maintenance practices. The posters were also displayed. Other speakers were Brad Bailie of Lynwood Farms in Washington. Brad, an organic vegetable farmer, has created a beetle bank and other habitats on the edges of his center pivot with Dr. Terry Miller, and entomologist from Washington State University who also presented. The panel was well attended by over 25 farmers. A conference program and evaluation of this panel is included in Appendix V.

Work from the Banking on Beetles in Oregon Project was mentioned in an article in OSU’s Oregon’s Agricultural Progress Fall 2007, Vol.53, No.2 pages 6-7. A copy of this article is included in Appendix VI.

The value of the project’s website is immeasurable. The ability to say, “check out the pictures/summary/posters on the web” is definitely one of the best gifts computer technology has to offer. The number of positive comments I have received about the site and the number of people who have mentioned their visits there are too numerous to remember or count. Some memorable contacts for 2007 include: the NRCS staff member from Grants Pass, Oregon, who couldn’t make it to the Medford Walk but is looking forward to participating in the WDF Walk; the National Center of Appropriate Technology (NCAT) staff member from Davis, CA who edited the site and visited GTF’s beetle bank May, 2007 and has become an active member of the Western Region Conservation Biological Control Work Group Ellen facilitates; a researcher who is implementing beetle banks with farmers in Brazil; a crop consultant for Small Planet Foods who helped Washington growers create beetle banks; an Oregon crop consultant that works with a group of Oregon Grass Seed growers who are interested in implementing beetle banks on their farms; and countless numbers of farmers I have who wanted to learn more about beetle banks.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

As a direct result of this project two grant proposals are being submitted to USDA to fund continuing research into beetle banks’ impact on on-farm predacious ground beetle populations with three of the participating BOB farmers. These grant proposals are also to fund the horticultural graduate student we have been working with and two student workers (one in OR and one in WA) for two years. This is our first regional beetle bank proposal. We propose to cooperate with Dr. Terry Miller of Washington State University and Washington farmer Brad Bailie, who shared their presentations at the Washington Tilth Producers panel this project presented in November 2007.

Though we were not awarded a grant for the work in 2006, we continue to cooperate with the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Plant Materials Center in Corvallis. In addition to raising their banks in 2008, they have agreed to supply plant materials for our BOB cooperating farmers who wish to create insectary hedgerows on their farms in addition to beetle banks.

A reporter who attended the Hyslop Field Day wrote an excellent article about the Banking on Beetles Project for the Capital Press and spent an entire summer day shadowing Ellen trapping beetles on Persephone Farm and Gathering Together Farm. Because our close collaborations with the NRCS Plant Material Center and the non-profit for invertebrate conservation Xerces Society, a brief mention of the two sparked a spinoff article for them as well. The BOB article is included in Appendix VII. The Hyslop Field Day gave OSU researchers an opportunity to learn about the banks and enabled state entomologists Glenn Fisher and Amy Dreves, who work closely with area growers, to see them in action. It was also useful in developing contacts with local grass seed growers who are interested in developing beetle banks on their farms. In 2007, Ellen met twice with a grower at American Grass Seed Company to develop a grass seed farm beetle bank in 2008.

Though the Medford Farm Walk was not funded by this grant, one of the main objectives of holding it was to renew contacts with growers in the Medford, Grants Pass region as we will be working with participating farmers at Whistling Duck Farm in Grants Pass this spring and summer to develop their beetle banks and finish the Banking on Beetles in Oregon Project. We have funds for one more beetle bank walk slated for Grants Pass in 2008. Not only did the Medford Walk result in a growing relationship with the largest organic farm in that area, Stahlbush Island Farms, the manager was able to attend the farmer panel at GTF in November 2007. As a direct result of the walk he hosted and the positive interactions with growers at the GTF panel, he has decided to create an insectary hedgerow, and possibly implement other insectary plantings in 2008. Also, due to the collaboration with Rick Hilton, research assistant, and Melissa Matthewson, Small Farm Extension Agent at OSU’s Southern Oregon Extension Station in Medford for the first WDF walk in 2005 and the 2007 Medford Walk, Gwendolyn Ellen has been invited to do a presentation on beneficial habitat, including beetle banks, at an integrated Soil Nutrient and Pest Management Education Program (iSNAP/OSU Extension) for small farmers in Medford in March 2008. This is perfect timing to recruit interested farmers to our WDF Farm Walk in summer 2008!

Appendix I: Three Farm Posters

Appendix II.
Banking on Beetles
News from the Field 2007

Soil Sampling and Pit Fall Trapping in the Field

Mike Russel and Gwendolyn Ellen began the year searching for predacious ground beetles in soil core samples taken directly from the three-year-old beetle banks at Persephone Farm in Lebanon, OR, and Hyslop Research Station. They also collected soil samples from different surrounding habitat and cropped fields at Persephone Farm. Animals were hand extracted from these samples by arduously picking through them with knitting needles.

All of the samples have been searched and the critters extracted and most identified. Counts have been made of spider and beetle individuals. There were a number of Diplura, a primitive, blind, white, wingless, hexapod (six-legged creature) that dates back to the Devonian Period, 400 million years ago, found throughout the samples. No longer classified as insects, these hexapods comfortably make the soil their home feeding on live and decayed vegetative matter. Some are predators. Though they are white and move quickly in the soil like garden symphylans a closer look will reveal many telling differences including two long antennae at the head and two, long to forceps-like cerci (appendages that resemble antennae) toward the rear. Spiders, daddy long legs (harvestmen), millipedes, some centipedes, insect larvae, and beetles were also found.

Mike and Gwendolyn have already begun collecting similar soil core samples this fall from Persephone Farm and Hyslop Research Station. We have expanded our sample taking to Gathering Together Farm (GTF) in Philomath. GTF’s bank was a year old this summer. This year’s soil samples will increase our baseline of information, and at Persephone and Hyslop we will be able to roughly compare with last year’s samples. Please refer to the section below for a summary of the field sampling results in terms of total species richness. We are experimenting with a new technique of extracting the animals from the soil samples called a Berlese Funnel. It consists of metal buckets with funnels at the bottom and a cover with a light bulb on the top. The premise is that the bright light, heat, and dryness of the sample will cause the critters to evacuate the sample, fall down into the funnel neck, and splash into the jar full of alcohol at the bottom. We will be comparing this to the knitting needle technique during those cold, wet days of winter.

We have also continued to take plant density measurements on the older banks this summer as well as pit fall trapping. The traps were set near the beetle banks at Persephone Farm, Gathering Together Farm, and Hyslop Research Farm twice a month from June through September. The traps were left in the field for 2-3 days before being collected. With the help of Mike and student worker Alec Kretchum, all of the beetles will be identified and counted from these samples before next summer. Mike has done an excellent job of identifying the beetles from those samples and Oregon Department of Agriculture’s Entomologist, Jim Labonte, has verified many of the identifications for us.

In August and September 2007, Mike deployed an array of hobos – electronic data loggers that measure temperatures over the course of a day – to document the effect of different grasses on soil temperature. Data analysis is progressing, and the loggers will be redeployed to document cold weather conditions this winter.

What We are Finding in the Field, So Far

Here is a brief summary of our rudimentary 2006 trapping data from Persephone Farm, GTF, and Hyslop Research Station provided by Mike. From the 2006 pitfall trapping at Persephone (8 stations, 3 dates), GTF (2 stations, 1 date), and Hyslop (1 station, 1 date) we caught 13 different species of Carabid beetles, at least 4 species of spiders, totaling 35 arthropod species overall.

From the February 2007 soil core samples, 9 from Persephone, 5 from Hyslop, we have found 18 different species of Carabid beetles, 24 species of rove beetles, more than 20 species of spiders, and 9 species of ants for a total of
about 139 species different arthropod species overall. There is clearly a greater diversity of beetles and arthropods in the soil core samples.

Graph

(submitted with written report)

Figure 1. Total number of individuals collected in soil core samples on Persephone farm in February 2007.

As the graph shows, the teasel meadow contained the highest number of beetles at Persephone. The teasel meadow is a field margin that has not been disturbed at Persephone for a very long time. The beetle banks are only three years old. Research shows that it takes years for beetles to colonize in-field banks. Which brings up the question of “should we be seeding banks”? Also beetles experts are quick to point out that beetles tend to aggregate in areas on the farm. Because our data set is so small we could well be missing the “best sites” completely. Though it is exciting to see our data laid out on paper it is too early in our field research to make any generalizations about on-farm predatory beetle populations.

Beetle Banks in the Field; Lessons in Site Preparation and Weed Management

Two of the six new banks that went in 2006 succumbed to weed pressure. One, at Persephone Farm, was tilled in, and the other, at 47th Ave Farm’s bank, was tilled several times this summer and will be reseeded in spring 2008.

Two contributing factors to Elanor O’ Brien and Jeff Falen’s of Persephone Farm decision to till in their 2006 bank were that in the spring there was more quackgrass (Elytrigia repens) than native bunch grass on the bank and secondly, one end of the bank ended up inside the chicken pen. This October they raised another bank in an entirely different location. After hand flaming it several times they plan to seed the approximately 4 X 500 foot bank with slender wheat grass or slender wild rye (Elymus trachycaulus), blue wild rye (Elymus glaucus), and California fescue (Festuca californicus).

Persephone’s other two other beetle banks turned three this year. The bank that has served as the “poster bank” of the project, a 500 feet long beauty seeded with water foxtail (Alopecurus geniculatus), slender wheat grass, and blue wild rye, hosted more broadleaf weeds this season than the previous years.

Picture

Persephone’s “poster bank” front view, May 2006 Persephone’s “poster bank” side view, May 2007

The more problematic of the weeds being quackgrass, Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), and Himalaya blackberries (Rubus aremeniacus). The water foxtail portion of the bank looked as if it was going to totally die out but this years’s fall rains have begun to revive it. In contrast, Persephone’s second three-year-old bank, which contains a lot of perennial rye (Lolium multiflorum) and other broadleaf weeds, had a nice combination of native grasses and less noxious weeds this summer. Both banks were mowed this summer. The back section of slender wheat grass on the “poster bank,” which took several years to fill in (see Slender Wild Rye Makes a Comeback, June 2006 in News from the Field 2006), was mowed last summer as well. This section contained markedly less weeds than the front section of this same bank.

The 47th Ave. Farm hand-raised beetle bank began as a 4’ by 100’ swath cut through a summer cover of Sudangrass. This bank is located at the Zenger Park site. By spring many broad leaves and very little native bunch grass had emerged. Laura tilled the bank several times over the summer and re-raised it by hand. She plans to cover it with black plastic this winter to keep the weeds out and the integrity of the bank structure intact. As cold rainy temperatures dominated this October she will re-seed the bank with meadow barley (Hordeum brachyantherum), slender wheat grass, and blue wild rye in spring 2008.

The beetle bank at Hyslop that was seeded fall 2006 is a mixed bag. Weed pressure was not the major problem on this bank as it was not irrigated and it was kept mowed during the summer. There are 18 plots on the bank with 6 different native grasses and three different weed management techniques. Some of the plots fared well and others, particularly those seeded with Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha) and California fescue, did not germinate well, and native grass coverage was very low. The prior weed management treatments were crimson clover, which was allowed to seed and mowed, wheat straw mulch, weed barrier cloth, and mowing. These techniques were all applied at least a full year before the 2006 fall seeding when the entire bank was tilled and broadcast seeded with three native grass mixes and three new native grasses. The new grasses were meadow barley, California fescue, and Junegrass. The mixes were blue wild rye with water foxtail, blue wild rye with meadow barley, and blue wild rye with California fescue. Of those the California fescue, Junegrass, and water foxtail were reseeded to compensate for poor germination.

The banks that thrived through the year were the transplanted bank at GTF and the organic student’s bank out at the Organic Garden Plot at OSU’s Vegetable Research Farm. The student’s bank, a 4 X 90 foot bank direct seeded with blue wild rye and water foxtail, had a nasty patch of crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) last summer, but hand-weeding and the bank’s partial reseeding in the fall 2006 helped pull it through. Apart from some manually weeding this fall the bank seemed to be doing well. It was not mowed this summer.

Pictures

The transplanted Hyslop bank, which is a methods trial with blue wild rye, has also done well this season with minimal hand weeding and no mowing. This bank is not irrigated. There was an observable difference in height of grasses in the transplanted plots, with the transplanted plots being taller.

It also appears that the transplanted plots had better cover than the direct seeded plots but this is judging by observation only as the original blue wild rye seed proved to have a germination rate of about 2%. Even though the summer 2006 over-seeding was successful, the grass germination was not uniform from plot to plot. Early in the first season, the mulch was very important in water retention on the transplanted grass plugs and was probably an important factor in transplant survival as this bank had late and little irrigation during the planting year. The original variety trial bank at Hyslop, which was seeded in 2005, is also doing well. The California oatgrass (Danthronia californicus), Roemers fescue (Festuca romeri), and orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata) plots, which were originally quite sparse, have filled out very nicely this year.

Picture

The 4’ X 560’, mechanically (and manually) transplanted bank on Gathering Together Farm in Philomath, Oregon, competed with the student bank as one of the weediest (see, Flaming as a Weed Management Tool on Beetle Banks, in News from the Field 2006). The grasses rebounded from the flaming, tillered well, bloomed, and set seed. In the interest of weed management the bank was mowed in May. The bank was not irrigated this summer. The primary weeds seen this year were reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea), field bindweed (Convulvulus arvensis), a small amount of redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus), and other annual broadleaf weeds.

In conclusion, some of the lessons we learned this season are that one can never do enough weed management when preparing the site for a beetle bank in organic farming systems. The longer and more repetively one can apply the weed management techniques such as mulching, plastic, flaming, or mowing the better. Secondly, it appears that mowing the first year is more important than first assumed. Originally we thought that perhaps the native bunch grasses needed a year before mowing to allow them to seed. However, looking at the fall of the “poster bank” at Persephone Farm in its third year to weeds it is a strong argument for mowing from the first year on. It will be interesting to see how this bank looks in its fourth year. Other lessons reinforced this year are that every farm and, indeed, every bank site is different, and what works for one may not work at all for the others as shown by the stark differences in native grass seed and weed establishment in the banks at Persephone planted in 2004. One thing we can be say for certain is that beetle banks like predacious ground beetle populations are dynamic and can change from season to season.

Outreach and Events

Posters on the beetle banks of Gathering Together Farm, The 47th Ave Farm, and Persephone Farm were completed with the farmers’ help and have been shown at various functions throughout the year. A farmer panel, beetle bank tour, and dinner will be held at Gathering Together Farm this November with John Eveland of GTF, Elanor O’Brien of Persephone Farm, and Peter Kenagy of Kenagy Family Farms as the farmer presenters on on-farm beneficial habitat. Thirty-one farmers have registered. The Farmscaping for Beneficials Project will present a panel on Implementing Conservation Biological Control at the Washington Tilth Producers Annual Conference in Yakima, WA this November. The Banking on Beetles in Oregon farmers will be represented by John Eveland (invited) and Gwendolyn Ellen. Other speakers will be Brad Bailie of Lynwood Farms in Washington. Brad, an organic vegetable farmer, has created a beetle bank and other habitats on the edges of his center pivot with Terry Miller, and Entomologist from Washington State University who will also be a presenter. The Banking on Beetles Project has been highlighted in an article in OSU’s Oregon’s Agricultural Progress which is due out this fall. Gwendolyn Ellen will present the Banking on Beetles Project at UDSA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program’s 20th Year Anniversary Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, March 2008.

The Farmscaping for Beneficials Project received an extension on the SARE Grant, Banking on Beetles in Oregon, to continue working with Whistling Duck Farm in Medford on constructing beetle banks there in spring 2008. We decided not to pursue funding from the Organic Farming Research Organization last year and will plan to seek funding this winter to continue taking on-farm predacious ground beetle population data correlated with on and off farm habitat and how we might measure their effectiveness in organic pest management systems. We will also seek program funding to continue developing methods to enhance beneficial habitats such as beetle banks and insectary hedgerows.

Appendix III: Medford Walk Article
Scanned article from Medford Tribune

Appendix IV: GTF Panel Press Release, Participant List, and Article

Event Release

Local Farmers Discuss Habitat for Beneficials over Organic Harvest Dinner

EVENT DATE: Monday, November 5th, 2007
PLACE: Gathering Together Farm, Philomath, OR
TIME: 3:30 – 7:00 P.M.
REGISTRATION REQUIRED: CONTACT Gwendolyn Ellen, 541-737-6272, gwendolyn@science.oregonstate.edu

Are you interested in planting hedgerows on your farm but are not sure what their impacts on your fields will be or what plants would work best? Are you interested in planting annual wind blocks or other flowering plants as insectary plants among your field blocks but are not sure where to begin or just what an insectary plant should be? Are you wondering what a beetle bank is? Are you already creating or conserving habitat on your farm? Is so, you are invited to join us in a discussion with local farmers who are exploring some of the same interests on their farms. The afternoon includes a tour of habitat laden fields, including a beetle bank, and concludes with dinner, on us!

Farmers John Eveland of Gathering Together Farm, Elanor O’Brien of Persephone Farm in Lebanon, and Peter Kenagy of Kenagy Family Farms in Albany, all local experts in the field of habitat enhancement in addition to growing vegetables, will team up to describe their mature hedgerows, intricate insectary plantings within their transplanted crops, beetle banks and on-farm native grass and other seed nurseries that all interweave to provide patchworks of diverse habitat over their farms throughout the seasons. We will be discussing what has worked and what hasn’t in the “scaping” of these habitats, how much they cost in terms of labor, time and space, what we are learning from them and their long term value on and off the farm. We will be asking just how much diversity is enough and what we need to know about the effects of farm beneficial habitat to figure that out.

If you are a local grower who has experimented with habitat and/or annual insectary plantings or have established habitat on your farm we’d like to learn about your farm and the techniques you have employed. So come join us for what is sure to be a tasty and informative evening. We’ll start out touring Gathering Together Farm’s year-old beetle bank, weather permitting, and then return to the Farm Stand for stimulating discussion. We will end with a delicious, organic harvest dinner prepared by Gathering Together’s own farm chef, JC Mersmann.

This event is free and registration is limited. To register please contact Gwendolyn Ellen at 541-737-6272, or gwendolyn@science.oregonstate.edu

This is a BYOB (bring your own bug) event, so if something has been bugging you and you don’t know what it is, pop it in a jar and bring it along. BYOB events are sponsored by OSU’s, Farmscaping for Beneficials Project at IPPC who is working to support grower-led activities that build the knowledge and implementation of conservation biological control (CBC) on local farms. Conservation biological control can be defined as methods used on and around farms to restore and enhance beneficial organism populations that can increase to numbers that may limit pest populations. Such methods may include insectary plantings, beetle banks and hedgerows.

Scanned Participant List

Scanned Article from Register Guard

Appendix V: Washington Tilth Producers Conference Program, November 2007 and Panel Evaluation – All scanned documents.

Appendix VI: Oregon AG Progress Article Fall 2007 – Scanned article with picture

Appendix VII: Scanned Capital Press Article on beetle banks and farmers.

Collaborators: