The promise of regenerative agriculture at the Bosque del Apache

The Friends of the Bosque del Apache are celebrating their second year of a five-year regenerative agriculture pilot project with free educational events that will highlight their project with films, workshops and projects.

The two major goals of the project are to demonstrate the efficacy of regenerative agriculture and to act as a pilot to demonstrate to others in the state how it can be used. Their focus is on improving the soil in a sustainable way that benefits wildlife.

Don Boyd, project manager, believes regenerative agriculture will become increasingly important to refuges due to budget cuts and limited resources.

“National wildlife refuges are experiencing consistent budget cuts, any refuge that grows crops, for food for birds as part of their mission is going to be challenged to do that. In part because we’re going to have less water and also because we’re going to have less labor.”

The pilot project uses BEAM (Biologically Enhanced Management Method). Compared to conventional farming, which relies on expensive fertilizer that can harm wildlife and damage the soil and water, BEAM is less labor intensive and sustainable. The benefits include reduced water use, the retention of carbon back into the soil and the elimination of chemical inputs to create natural environments for wildlife.

Project process

The regenerative project on the Bosque del Apache spans 38 acres on four plots. To remedy the nutrient-deficient soil, last fall, they planted their first multi-species cover crop, followed by more in the Spring.

Boyd said that although many people in the Middle Rio Grande Valley area plant alfalfa as cover crop, which is salt-tolerant and grows easily, it holds little water in the soil and increases soil compaction.

For the project, they use a multi-species successive cover crop in the Spring with eight plants, including red clover, black oil sunflower, and Boston plantain. Each plant contributes to the soil in different ways, including aeration, improving soil structure, adding carbon and nutrients.

“This is all from the fall planting last October,” Boyd said, waist-deep in a field at the Bosque. “This is nice stuff, and if you walk through these fields, you see a lot of insects, which is great. You’ll also see a lot of birds eating the insects. What we’re trying to do is create a really natural environment that is self-supporting, and this is looking pretty good.”

They use a no-till drill, which makes a shallow furrow, plants the multi-species seed, sprays the liquid compost extract, and covers the furrow in one single pass. The no-till farming method will help retain moisture in the soil, reducing the need for irrigation.

“When you do irrigate because there’s already a lot of water in the soil. You don’t need as much,” Boyd said.

After the cover crop reaches the right amount of growth, a roller crimper is used to bend the plants over to prepare for the next seeding.

“So, they (seeds) will germinate and emerge, and they’ll be protected by these plants and it creates a microclimate that is live mulch. If it rains or you irrigate, it doesn’t wash it off because it’s still attached to the ground,” Boyd said. “By the end of the first years, we hope to see a nutrient-rich soil that will continue to not be any fertilizer, herbicides or pesticides, or that will not require any tilling.”

Some fields did better than others; one didn’t get water at the right time, and the dry crust prevented the sprout from breaking the surface, but Boyd isn’t discouraged.

“So even though we had a quote, failure of the spring planting it doesn’t destroy the project. It might set us back a little bit in time. But it’ll still work out well,” Boyd said.

Regenerative Agriculture Summer Event

The free educational events will kick off with a movie at Loma Theater at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. “Common Ground” is a documentary about regenerative agriculture featuring actors Woody Harrelson, Laura Dern, Rosario Dawson, Jason Momoa, Donald Glover and others.

On July 27, Bosque del Apache will have a workshop on supporting farmers, land, and water; lunch will be included.

David Johnson, a molecular biologist will be one of the speakers on Saturday.

“One of the things that amazed me that I heard David Johnson say is that by the end of this project, we hope to increase the carbon content by at least 1% in the soil; for every 1% increase in carbon, you have soil, the soil will hold an additional 10,000 gallons of water per acre. For our 30 acres, that’s 300,000 gallons.” Boyd said.

The Mexico Department of Agriculture will also be talking about its Healthy Soils program, which provides financial assistance to farmers transitioning from conventional farms.

On Sunday, July 28, participants can help build a super composter with a hands-on project at the Bosque.

Registration is required for each event, but all events are free. For more information visit: www.friendsofbosquedelapache.org