The Balanced Organic Systems Approach
by Jim Travis
In this section we will discuss our approach to organic fruit growing. We call it the Balanced Organic Systems Approach, or BOSA, a major theme that provides the framework for growing organic fruit.
So what is the Balanced Organic Systems Approach?
The Balanced Organic Systems Approach — A Definition
The unique requirement to organic fruit growing is that there is balance within the orchard system and that this balance is supported through the practices employed by the orchardist. Because the approach is a balance of many parts, there is no single orchard practice that fully ensures healthy fruit or fully remedies problems that commonly occur throughout a growing season. There are no silver bullet solutions. The orchard is a complex system with many interdependent components. It’s the organic orchardist’s responsibility to guide the orchard systems and practices to achieve and sustain orchard balance which will in turn produce quality organic fruit.
With that in mind, let’s begin…
Jim’s Story - Experience and Lessons Learned
Crimson Crisp apples ready for harvest — Travis Organic Orchard
When I was born, my father had a fruit farm in south central PA and I grew up around the fruit world. My chores at home always had something to do with growing fruit or vegetables. My job for nearly 30 years at a major university was as a fruit specialist where one of my primary responsibilities was testing the latest synthetic pesticides and advising farmers on their use. We all knew that chemicals were the key to good, clean fruit – or so we thought. When I had about 20 years on the job, a group of organic famers began to press me to test organic materials. I understood these materials to not be effective, and was not interested in testing products that were certain to fail. But, the organic farmers were relentless. Eventually, we struck a deal: I would do the best job scientifically to fully test the organic materials, but if they failed, I would be left alone to return to my research on synthetic pesticides. So I began trials to control diseases on apples using organic materials, a waste of time I was sure. There was severe disease pressure that year and I did not expect them to perform well, but my research assistant and I did our best to position them to be effective. It was such a severe disease year that some of the most effective synthetic fungicides did fail. But, to my great surprise, some of the organic materials actually worked and were effective at controlling diseases on apples. This was the beginning of my change in thinking: What if we could grow fruit organically? What if there is another way?
Another Way Forward
Organic orchard at bloom — Travis Organic Orchard
I don’t believe we live in a world where all is lost. Where all that exists are weeds to steal nutrients and water from trees, pest insects to damage the fruit, and rots to destroy every apple. I don’t believe that the only solution is more pesticides sprayed at higher rates and more often. There are many naturally occurring tools ready for our use to grow healthy fruit. Sunlight will kill fungi that cause fruit rots and blemishes on the fruit. Air circulation within the orchard will change the environment in the tree and further suppress rots and blights. Naturally occurring beneficial insects will suppress pest insects. Healthy soil, full of nutrients and teeming with life and microorganisms that have not been suppressed by chemicals will grow healthy, disease-resistant trees. Understanding the diversity of life that naturally exists in an organic orchard is the beginning of understanding organic. Organic fruit growing is not substituting organic sprays for synthetic pesticides or even believing that organic materials are the primary tool to suppress pests or fertilize trees. Organic focuses on what is naturally occurring and on the grower practices and tools that encourage and sustain the natural orchard system. Extreme diversity of life and complexity in the organic orchard system is its strength! An orchard system that consists only of fruit trees and grass is a weak system that must be maintained or controlled through artificial means. It’s the great diversity and complexity within the organic orchard that provides the opportunity to grow fruit organically, naturally.
Reducing Complexity Through Systems Thinking
How can the orchardist understand and support such great complexity and interaction within the orchard? It's straightforward—break the organic orchard system down into small understandable concepts and units. Once it’s understood and mastered, pull it all back together again into the dynamic functioning system it is naturally. That is how we will present the systems approach throughout our Organic Orchard discussions.
Let me give you an example. There are 30 or so insects that are key to growing fruit organically. Some are pests and some are beneficial to the trees and fruit. The orchardist understands and supports the orchard by dividing them first into pest or beneficial then by time of the season when each occurs. Insect pests can be broken down even further into the type of damage they cause such as surface damage, internal fruit feeding, or damage through sucking out nutrients. The bottom line for the orchardist is that all 30 insects don’t need to be considered all at once. Normally, only three or four insects are a primary concern at any one time in the growing season. Of those three or four, maybe only one or two have been a problem in the past. Whether or not they are a problem this year can depend on temperatures or rainfall. The orchardist progresses through the season identifying these key problem insects for the moment and focusing on their suppression. The orchardist knows which orchard and weather conditions trigger which insect pest and which beneficial insect is likely to emerge to suppress that pest. The primary goal of this site is to make a complex orchard system not only understandable but in fact a vital tool in growing beautiful, healthy organic fruit.
Green stink bug feeding on Crimson Topaz apple near harvest — Travis Organic Orchard
Ladybird beetle larva feeding on aphids— Travis Organic Orchard
Growing Organic Fruit - It can be done!
This site and this discussion of a Balanced Organic Systems Approach is a small beginning to the discussion: What if there is another way? Can we begin to see the bigger picture that includes the whole of the orchard and farm environment, naturally balanced orchard practices, and healthy food? This discussion doesn’t provide all the answers to growing organic food but it does begin to show there is a way forward. Much more grower discovery, scientific research, and agricultural business support is needed to reach the full potential for growing food naturally and organically. But, after growing up around fruit, studying fruit production in college, working as a fruit scientist, and as a fruit farmer, I am telling you, it can be done! So, let’s continue our discussion of growing fruit organically.