Farmer leads efforts to build sustainability

By Alex Paul
For the Gazette-Times

From a second-floor home office, Rod Chambers has a clear view of his family’s farm on Harnisch Road north of Albany.

It’s a cold, wet January morning, the time of year when the fifth-generation farmer, like many of his peers, spends far more time behind a desk than the steering wheel of a tractor or combine.

The 1977 Jefferson High graduate, who holds a degree in agriculture from Oregon State University, is developing a game plan for the upcoming planting season. His family of five and three employees will plant 1,250 acres, including grass seed, sweet corn, green beans, squash, radish seed and peppermint.

Although Chambers knew as a child that he would grow up to be a farmer, he never thought that dream would include spending time on projects other than planting and harvesting crops. Mari-Linn Farm, co-owned with his wife, Kim, was recently recognized for its devotion to the concept of long-term stewardship, which means implementing, tracking and recording information about programs that reduce impact on the environment while increasing product quality.

Norpac, a Stayton-based cooperative of 240 growers with annual sales of nearly $400 million, made the award at its annual meeting. Chambers is also in his ninth year on the Norpac board of directors.

“Even though the idea was new, I knew it was the right thing to do,” Chambers said of his three years chairing the grower task force that promoted what is called the Stewardship Initiative. “While I really liked being able to do my own thing on the farm, I realized that we needed to tell people what we’re doing so the public and our customers will support us.”

The Stewardship Initiative provides measurable guidelines and standards for growers to evaluate their sustainability practices for farming activities dealing with soil and water conservation, integrated pest management, safe and fair working conditions and wildlife habitat. Growers go through a voluntary self-evaluation, and the results are reviewed by the Food Alliance, a nationally recognized, Oregon-based sustainability program.

Handwork at Mari-Linn Farm is kept to a minimum, Chambers said. Planting and harvesting are done with machinery. There is enough handwork moving irrigation pipe for all involved, he admits. Most crops are planted from March to June, often in staggered dates based on the amount of raw product Norpac can handle at any given time.

“We spend a lot of time on our spray equipment,” Chambers said of the farm’s winter maintenance program. “We check the nozzles and make sure the GPS system is working correctly. Our system isn’t fancy. When we change ground speed, the spray pressure changes. We do fertilizer mapping as well.”

Last week, employees spent several days in the shop — warmed by heat from a wood-burning stove — grinding off old paint and rust to prepare a fertilizer spreader for a new paint job. “I like my equipment to look good,” Chambers said. “People treat things better if they are kept up.”

An example of the stewardship program embraced by Chambers includes strip tilling crops into what had been a cover base. A field may be planted to oats to prevent erosion during the wet winter months. Come planting season, the field is killed. A strip tiller and planter then open a slit in the soil, inject seeds, cover the seed and pack dirt. All of this is done in a row that’s only eight inches wide.

Between the rows is protective grass stubble.

Much of Chambers’ farmland borders the Santiam River. With the approval of the state, Chambers has built numerous barriers — like jetties — that slow down water flow and therefore reduce streambank erosion.

“We’ve spent a lot of money on that,” he said. “In the summer, when the water is low, we dig holes and build rock walls. The water swirls around the rock.”

Chambers believes more than 10 percent of Norpac’s growers will participate in the Stewardship Initiative this year. Chambers said that’s a strong number among a diverse membership base. Their efforts are audited by the nonprofit Food Alliance.

Chambers believes the payoff from the extra work required to maintain the stewardship standards will be long-term.

“We will hopefully keep and recruit more customers for our products, regulators will have the ongoing confidence that we are really doing the right thing, and farming in Oregon will be attractive to the next generation,” Chambers said.

Although much of Chambers’ crop is canned at Norpac, some 87 percent of the cooperative’s output is frozen, he said. Its retail brands include Flav-R-Pac, Westpac and Santiam.

Alex Paul can be reached at alex.paul@lee.net or 812-6076.

Stewardship Initiative farm evaluation areas

• Reducing pesticide usage.

• Integrated pest management: using preventive measures such as planting resistant crop varieties to reduce crop losses due to pests.

• Weather monitoring to schedule spray applications.

• Crop monitoring and field scouting.

• Using the lowest effective application rates.

• Record-keeping at all levels.

• Spray equipment calibration.

• Hazardous materials storage.

• Soil and water conservation programs.

• Buffer strips around waterways.

• Soil erosion programs.

• Paying attention to irrigation systems.

• Nutrient management.

• Providing safe and fair working conditions for employees.

• Worker housing and family support services.

• Wildlife habitat conservation criteria.