Basin well-suited for organic farming  

Despite challenging climate, number of organic growers in Basin has increased  

By DD BIXBY
H&N Staff Writer

June 1, 2008

   The Klamath Basin seems ideally suited for organic farming practices. 

   Carol and Gene Logan farm all natural lamb, beef and organic produce in Klamath Falls , using chickens for most of their pest control and soapy water when the bug population explodes. 

   Carol Logan got into gardening about 60 years ago with the women in her family. Her grandmother would give her garden a weekly dousing of soapy laundry water, not because the organic market was booming, but because of the cost. 

   “They talk about conventional and organic, and the organic is the way they used to do it,” she said. 

   The Logans farm a half of an acre and sell mostly at the Klamath Falls Farmers Market, which Carol Logan helps coordinate. 

   Organics at the market 

   This year the Farmer’s Market begins Saturday, June 14, in downtown K lamath Falls on Ninth Street between Main Street and Klamath Avenue . 

   The Logans say organic practices aren’t necessarily more expensive, but they are more labor intensive. 

   Brian Charlton, Kla math Basin Research and Extension Center crop agent, said the number of Basin growers using organic production has been increasing in the last few years. 

   Charlton said two years ago about 2,000 acres of alfalfa hay were in organic production and he guessed that that number was up.

Between 5,000 and 7,000 acres of small cereal grains in the Basin are organic

   He also estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 acres of small cereal grains were in organic production. 

   Organic potato production is between 600 and 650 acres, which is a trend that’s been growing each year, he said. 

   The Klamath Basin , with its high altitude and shorter growing season, is almost perfect for organic production, Charlton said. 

   “While our growing conditions are often considered challenging … all afford a reduction in disease and pest pressure than in areas with longer growing seasons,” he said. “With that, your chances of raising an organic crop and having higher yields and quality with reduced inputs have a higher probability.” 

   Close to a good market 

   Proximity to California markets also sets up organic farming quite well, too, he added. 

   In addition, flood fallow programs operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services National Wildlife Refuges and the Bureau of Reclamation help prepare fields for organic production. 

   In the program, the land is flooded and under water for two years, and then it takes an additional year before it’s ready to be leased to local farmers and put back into production, said Greg Austin, deputy project leader at the refuges. The time underwater drowns out diseases and pests as well as puts more nutrients into the soil. 

   There are about 20,879 acres of these lease lands on the Lower Klamath and Tule Lake refuges and about 5 to 10 percent are underwater each year, Austin said. After three years, the land can be considered organic.

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