OFFICE 805 925 2478
SALES 805 925 2585
BONIPAK PRODUCE INC
P.O. Box 5079
1850 W STOWELL ROAD
SANTA MARIA
CALIFORNIA
93456
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Betteravia Farms, the growing team at Bonipak, is always looking
for new ideas in farming that can improve the quality of the
produce we grow and enhance our soil management operations.
Through seminars, industry research and in-the-field testing, we
are constantly educating ourselves. Every field that we plant
undergoes some sort of test or trial. Crop spacing, seed coating,
water trials, fertilizer trials, variety trials... are just some of the
tests we do on a regular basis. Data is collected, analyzed and
logged. And results are used to implement new procedures if we
determine them beneficial to our operation.
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The Santa Maria Valley in California's central coast is home to
Betteravia Farms and over 14,000 crop acres of multi-commodity
farmland. Additionally, another 2,500 crop acres in California and
Arizona are farmed under Bonipak contractual agreements.
In 2002, Betteravia was ranked 16th nationally in number of crop
acres farmed, and in 2003 they received a prestigious, national
Grower Achievement Award honoring outstanding growing practices.
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All the commodities grown at Bonipak are available year round.
One of the reasons this is possible lies in the way we manage
the soil. Unlike previous generations at Bonipak, today we're aided
by technological advances not seen before in farming. But we still
have that same love for the land as we did in the beginning.
We know that through care and responsible growing practices we''ll
leave this land for the next generation as bountiful as it is today.
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Other growers, even today, are using what we consider to be old
methods when it comes to cultivation. They use Moldboard plows
and other high-horsepower equipment to go into a field after harvest
and begin turning the plant beds under. Soil is taken from about
18 inches down and rolled up to the surface. The n the process of
creating plant beds begins all over again. It's called "deep tillage,"
and the equipment needed to do it is heavy and requires a lot of
diesel fuel.
At Bonipak, we've learned to do it another way. It's called
"minimum tillage" and it's a completely different method of treating
the soil. We leave the recently harvested plant beds in place, and
gently cultivate them into the soil using the plant residue as a
natural source of fertilizer. Instead of plowing the bed down into
a deep unusable location, we're keeping it on top, letting the
organisms in the soil break the plant matter down. Through the
microbial process that takes place in the soil, a reservoir of nutrients
is released. Along with maintaining all the beneficial insects that
are active there, we now have an increase in nutrients in the soil.
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With the capabilities of our on-site laboratory we're now able to
measure nutrient levels in the soil and hence, use less fertilizers
because of the natural nutrients created by minimum tillage.
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We've taken on the philosophy that we're not farming crops, we're
farming the soil. If we make sure the soil is in good condition, where
it's active and healthy, we know that the plants we grow there will be
healthy, vigorous and disease resistant. Healthy plants have the
natural ability to resist disease and pests which in turn cuts down on
the usage of pesticides and herbicides.
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In the past, fertilizer and pesticide application was always done on
a schedule. It was a "spray and kill the bug" philosophy rather than
having the plant defend itself. We're now working on developing
new, resistant varieties that can battle insects and diseases on their
own. Using cover crops, compost, crop rotation and select planting
locations we're able to minimize the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
Unlike the days of aerial spraying that covered the entire field,
spraying today is done by tractor, is more precise and effects only
the immediate problem areas.
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In the mid-1990's, computerized electronic drip irrigation was a new
technology. At Bonipak, we embraced this new process almost
immediately, and we cut our water usage and fertilizer usage in half.
Today, all Bonipak growing fields are irrigated through this process.
However, we're never quite satisfied with the status quo. We are
constantly evaluating new materials and methods to improve upon
irrigation and our overall growing operations.
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