Paicines Ranch Management Practices
Located in California, Paicines Ranch consists of 7K acres of rangeland, 550 acres of row crop ground, and 25 acres of vineyard, all certified organic. Historically, one of the fields suffers from low-diversity annual plants with poor feed value. The ranch interseeded a cover crop mix into the pasture and adopted new management practices to boost diversity.
Paicines Ranch utilized BeCrop® Technology to understand the impact of their new management practices e.g., no-tillage and no agricultural inputs, on the biology of the soil in comparison to their neighbors who use conventional vineyard management practices.
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The Solution
Paicines Ranch applied BeCrop® technology to analyze 6 samples that were taken from two different sites from the organic and conventional vineyards during different ages of grape maturity including early spring, bloom in June, and veraison in early August. BeCrop® technology observed higher richness and functionality in the organic vineyard blocks at Paicines Ranch.
The ranch presented a large diversity in microbes providing ecosystem services and had a greater diversity of microbes with a 10% unique presence compared to the other site. Nutrient cycling was not as robust as they wanted, so Biome Makers' agronomists recommended adding biological inputs or including applications of compost tea or worm castings to improve nutrient cycling communities.
Results
The results from BeCrop® technology confirm that their management practices allow for a greater diversity of microbes to thrive. The greater microbial diversity likely has an impact on the plant communities. The ranch will implement worm castings by building space on the land for a worm casting farm in order to increase nutrient cycling in the fields.
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“BeCrop does a better job of showcasing what the microbes are doing.”
Greg Richardson
Director of Research and Monitoring at Paicines Ranch
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