Renew America Success Stories

The Lighthouse Farm Network

Description

The Lighthouse Farm Network (LFN) is a collection of "lighthouse," or model, farms demonstrating alternative farming methods that are both economically viable and ecologically sound. These farms serve to guide other farmers interested in reducing chemical inputs through a process of farmer-to-farmer sharing. To help facilitate this communication, LFN sponsors monthly meetings and field days and provides technical information and support to all those interested in biologically-based practices.

The Lighthouse Farm Network grew out of a campaign launched by the California Action Network in May 1990 called "Farmers for Alternative Agriculture Research (FAAR)." With the help of farmers, researchers and agricultural experts, FAAR published a report, Reducing the Use of Pesticides in Agriculture: A Farmer's Perspective, which offers a blueprint for moving agriculture to more sustainable methods. The publication comes at a time when farmers across the country face the possibility of losing many synthetic pesticides in the near future due to public pressure, regulation and diminishing effectiveness of such pesticides.

By employing sustainable agricultural methods, farmers can engage in a transition from an industry that is currently chemically-intensive to one that is environmentally-sensitive. Right now, agricultural chemicals are commonly found contaminating our food supply, drinking water, air and rivers. Their routine production, transport and use are responsible for acute poisonings of agricultural and industrial workers; chronic, debilitating health problems in rural communities and destruction of the soil. In a sustainable agriculture environment, soil will be enriched, rather than impoverished, by growing food.

Reducing the Use of Pesticides in Agriculture: A Farmer's Perspective identifies initiatives to provide financial incentives that reward environmentally responsible farming while making environmentally ruinous methods more costly. It calls for the dissemination of information regarding the benefits inherent in sustainable agriculture, for strengthening communication between farmer and consumer through a public outreach program and for new research into ecologically sound farming systems that do not rely on synthetic chemicals.

"We believe that research over the past few years has been directed toward increasing crops -- and making more money -- but what people didn't realize was the environmental cost of using chemicals," says Paul Buxman, a peach grower and blueprint signatory.

Reducing the Use of Pesticides in Agriculture: A Farmer's Perspective has been endorsed by organizations representing more than 1,000 family farmers and California's Lieutenant Governor.

Program Highlights

Sustainable Agriculture Techniques

• Use of pheromone decoys. Pheromones from the female of a destructive insect species are applied to trees, diluting the scent of the females that may be present and reducing the likelihood of species reproduction.
• Planting of cover crops. Various weeds and flowers are planted among the crops to provide a home for beneficial insects and to supply the soil with nutrients.
• Use of natural predators. Farmers make their crops hospitable to spiders, ladybugs, wasps and beetles, which feed on potential pests and predators. This can be accomplished through:
• Importation of natural enemies to combat non-native pests.
• Habitat enhancement to support natural enemies that are already present.
• The release or application of natural enemies onto crops so their numbers will be temporarily high enough to suppress pests.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Lighthouse Farm Network (LFN) is a program of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers Foundation. LFN works cooperatively with numerous organizations and agencies including the University of California, the California State University, the California Polytechnic Institute, independent pest control advisors, agricultural policy experts and environmental organizations.

Budget: $70,000 annually.

Community Served: Farmers across the country who have access to information regarding the environmental and economic benefits of non-traditional agriculture.

Measures of Success:

Organizations representing more than 1,000 families have endorsed LFN's call for a shift toward sustainable agriculture.

Success stories designed by Mark Nowak

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