In March 2020 in San Diego, a small group of farmers decided to activate the “hub” concept and launched Foodshed Small Farm Distro and Resource Hub. Foodshed works directly with farmers, eaters, and entrepreneurs to cultivate an equitable food system in San Diego while addressing the challenges posed by the climate crisis.
Foodshed believes soil health is the key to a thriving local food system, it is the infrastructure from which a myriad of co-benefits can be cultivated. Recognizing healthy soil as vital public infrastructure they’ve uncovered an urgent need to measure the impact of carbon farming for the sake of our own stewardship as well as to communicate effectively with local policymakers. These parallel needs have encouraged them to develop data collection and assessment tools that really work for farmers. They are currently using these tools to gather baseline data and are ready to scale up their use.
For their seasonal soil health assessments, in addition to some of the quantified results from traditional micro and macronutrients soil lab tests, Foodshed integrated Solvita (Basal Soil Respiration) test for measuring soil respiration in fresh soil samples and microBIOMETER®, as microbes are excellent predictors of soil health. microBIOMETER®, a professional lab-grade soil test kit for determination of soil microbial biomass and fungal to bacterial ratio, is an invaluable tool to help them understand their soil’s biology and it’s capacity to integrate nutrients, hold water, increase biodiversity, and strengthen the microbial community.
Using the Soil Mentor Regen Platform as their data management app, they can analyze changes in different soil health indicators from year to year, compare results from farm to farm and in their bioregion. COMET Planner is the evaluation tool that allows them to calculate and validate carbon sequestration potential occurring on their farms by providing estimates of the net greenhouse gas reductions for specific agricultural management conservation practices.
They are dedicated to investing in building soil biology to increase our resilience. Their program demonstrates how we can leverage carbon farming investments to create real equity, and highlights the importance of accessible and affordable tools like the microBIOMETER® to their success in analyzing soil and compost across our farms’ network in an efficient and effective way.
Mike Ellis of Mt. Hope Farms
We had the pleasure of speaking to Mike Ellis of Mt. Hope Farms as he shared his experience with microBIOMETER®. We also learned a lot about his family farm in Molalla, Oregon.
“Had a great opportunity to take my new microbe test kit out for a spin. It was quick and easy to get results and gave us a great insight into where we are at today. I’ve only run a few tests but it was easy and an invaluable tool to immediately see exactly where we are at, soil microbe wise.
I plan to be using this quite frequently to evaluate how we are doing with our farm/soil stewardship goals. We plan to do testing before and after applications of a number of commonly used products on our farm so we can evaluate if each one is helping or hurting our microbes. This way if we do have to do anything that will hurt them, we can hopefully follow it with products and practices that will help them heal.” –Mike Ellis
About Mt. Hope Farms
Mt. Hope Farms is a multigenerational family farm specializing in growing unique berries such as aronia and haskap as well as table grapes and in making fruit spreads in very small batches. Mike and his wife, Laura, represent the 3rd generation farming this land. Mike grew up farming with his dad, who he still farms with, and his grandpa, until he passed away at 92 (still farming and never fully retiring). Farming is part of the Ellis DNA and even though their boys are still very young, they want nothing more than to be on a tractor or out working in the vineyard or fields. They are truly a family farm and make all decisions together.
For many years, the family farmed larger commodity crops (such as grass seed, wheat, clover seed, radish seed, etc.). While they still grow some of these, namely grass seed, clover seed, and radish seed, they have been working hard to transition over to crops that can be grown on a smaller amount of acreage (requiring less rental ground), take less large equipment and can more easily be grown according to their biological and organic farming standards, making them more sustainable. They also needed to begin switching to crops that would carry through to the next generation, crops that would prove to be long term investments. Crops like their grapes and berries are long-term crops that will still be producing once their two sons are older and ready to take over operations, if they choose to.
All of their food crops have great flavor, are highly nutritious and nutrient dense and are less common than many already found in the Willamette Valley. To achieve this requires a healthy and highly productive soil. The only way that they believe they can consistently hit their yield and quality goals is to pay close attention to the soil fertility and soil microbial health. Every generation of their family has done their best to leave the land better than they have found it, regardless of whether it was rental ground or owned ground. Prior generations did the best they could with the understanding, knowledge, and tools that they had, and Mike is beyond grateful for all that they did. Now it is their turn and they will do all that they can to continue that tradition, not just for themselves but also for generations to come.
