Organic Hobby Farming. Andy Tomolonis
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For detailed technical reports on a property’s geology, land slope, drainage, average temperature, and rainfall, along with such valuable information as its suitability for crops, consult the national database that has been more than a century in the making. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) keeps detailed records on the physical characteristics of land across the United States, updating the information as new reports and surveys are completed. (See “Soil Surveys” for information on how to access the database.)
According to David Hvizdak, now retired soil scientist for the NRCS, soil surveys began in the late 19th century. Until recently, information was collected and recorded in hardbound reports that were used by farmers when buying or leasing land. Today, the information is posted online, where it can be updated by scientists and used by anyone with a computer and access to the Internet. The depth and accuracy of information has improved with recent onsite land surveys.
For farmers, the information will help determine things such as mean temperature, rainfall, length of the growing season, the soil’s capacity to drain or retain water, the depth of the topsoil and subsoil, and whether the land is stony, hilly, or prone to flooding. The survey can help steer you away from land that would be better left unfarmed.
Testing the Soil
Ask for the farmer’s record of soil tests to determine whether amendments are needed to increase soil nutrients, improve tilth and structure, or alter the pH (acidity/alkalinity). Also take your own soil samples around the property and send them to a reliable soil-testing laboratory for a thorough analysis. For your produce to be legally certified as organic, the land it came from must have been free from prohibited chemicals and non-organic produce for three years.
Keeping this in mind, it’s worth checking soil to make sure the land has not been damaged by recent years of chemical farming. You might find residual pesticides, poor quantity of organic material in the soil, erosion, or compacted soil. If the previous farmer used an integrated pest management (IPM) program on the property, the impact should be less severe. In an IPM program, farmers monitor their crops and use physical traps to determine an optimum time for action. Physical barriers, natural pests, and biological controls are used before spraying pesticides. It’s a practice that is more environmentally conscious than repeated chemical sprayings throughout the year.
These considerations are also important for farmers who are leasing land. Using organic amendments to increase soil fertility can be an expensive investment, often required over a period of years. You should only make such a costly soil investment if you can work out an acceptable long-term lease for the property. Otherwise, all of your hard work might just benefit the next person who rents the property.
Soil scientists take samples and make observances, then update the information online after others at the NRCS have approved it.
Soil Surveys
The NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) is actively surveying land—visiting sites to view the terrain, observing and documenting soil properties and morphology, and then posting the data online periodically upon undergoing a quality-assurance process by the agency. That makes their online database the most complete and up-to-date source of land information available.
To get started, visit the NRCS Web Soil Survey home page at websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov, and follow instructions on the page. If you’re more adept at maneuvering a tractor than a computer mouse, the home page contains a help link and instructions to walk you through the basic steps.
With a little practice you can learn to home in on a particular area that is displayed in a satellite image map on the screen. With tools at the top of the map, you can draw a rectangle or polygon around a block of land and designate that specific property as an “Area of Interest.” Once the land is highlighted on the map, click on tabs to access reports about the property. After completing the exercise and collecting pertinent information, you can save it for future use.
Canada’s National. Soil Database
Canadian growers have an online resource for soil information recorded by the Canadian Soil Information Service, CanSIS for short, which operates under the umbrella of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. To find soil data, go to. sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/ and follow the quick link to Soil Maps, then Soils of Canada link. You can view a map, click on the information in a text box in the left margin, and find such attributes as the land’s drainage, surface material (down to 1 yd. [1 m]), and the amount of organic and mineral content.
Other links on the page will take you to print maps that have been scanned and uploaded to the website. These maps have areas that are color coded and delineated with numbers, with corresponding information contained in documents that you can download.
Looking for Water
One of the most important considerations in locating viable farm property is making sure there’s enough water to keep the crops irrigated and farm animals happy and healthy. It’s a bonus if the property has a pond or river within its boundaries. If it doesn’t have any obvious water sources, find out if there is a well, and ask whether the water supply is reliable year round. Talk to someone in the community’s conservation district or water department about the long-term health of the aquifer. If the area is drought-prone, there may be restrictions on use. Make sure there’s plenty of water available during the summer, when you’ll need it most.
It’s a good idea to have a second option for water, in case one source fails. If your farm is supplied with public water, you may want to install a private well for irrigating crops. Many communities enforce public watering bans during the summer months, and other communities charge high fees for water use. Check with the cooperative extension office or with other farmers in the area for a reputable well installer who can give you more information and cost estimates.
In addition to looking at groundwater sources, check the rainfall totals for your region.
Just as inadequate water can be problematic, too much water can harm the farm—especially when you want to get started with the season in the spring. A low-lying field that’s covered with puddles until June won’t be ready to till, rake out, and prepare for planting until late in the growing season, wasting valuable time. So keep in mind that while land near a rising river may be fertile and flat and provide a steady source of water, a rainy spring and early summer could shorten the growing season.
A landowner and conservationist with the NRCS uses a soil probe to take a soil sample on a farm near Iowa City, Iowa. Information from around the country is available at the agency’s website; search for Web Soil Survey. Inset: A soil scientist conducts a soil test on a farmer’s field in Virginia.
Dealing with Lead Contamination
Organic farmer John Mitchell, owner of Heirloom Harvest CSA in Westborough, Massachusetts, also recommends testing the soil for the possibility of lead or other potentially harmful materials. Lead and other soil contaminants aren’t confined to urban areas. Land that was used for agriculture before the EPA began banning the most dangerous agricultural chemicals could still be contaminated with toxic materials. Some areas that were used for apple orchards in the early to mid-1900s, for example, could have been repeatedly exposed to lead arsenate, which was widely used as a fruit-tree pesticide.
Lead remains in the soil for decades and can be harmful in several ways. It’s most likely to contaminate the hands of anyone working in the soil, but it can also be inhaled in dirt and dust that’s kicked up by tools or machinery. Although leafy vegetables can accumulate some amounts of lead, fruiting crops cannot. The most likely way to actually ingest lead is by eating root crops to which small amounts of contaminated soil have clung.
Most university labs will check for lead content as part of a routine soil test. A natural level of lead in soil is roughly 7 to 20 parts per million (ppm) (7 to 20 mg/kg), but some urban areas