Organic grower says working with nature is key to success

The largest organic vegetable farmer on the Central Coast has a word of advice for others thinking about making the switch from conventional methods.

Dick Peixoto, who farms alongside his brother at Lakeside Organic Gardens, cautioned that learning to work with natural forces is essential, because the organic versions of conventional chemicals do not work very well.

"Mother Nature had it all figured out before we started," he said. "Every pest has its predator. We are shocked to see people try to farm organically by spraying every time they see a bug."

Lakeside Organic Gardens grows and harvests dozens of organic vegetables year-round from 3,000 acres near Watsonville and in the Imperial Valley.

Peixoto made his remarks as attendees at the Ecological Farming Association Conference looked over a 250-acre coastal block outside Watsonville that Lakeside Gardens farms in rotation with Driscoll's.

"There's a mentality out there that you just take what you know conventionally and apply to organic," he said. "I think you need to commit long term—we put on compost after every crop and cover crops are also a big part of what we do. I can show you soil samples from 20 years ago and today, and you can see that the soil is better."

Farming at Lakeside Organic begins with the soil, and the program for the soil begins with regular crop rotation, both among more than 50 vegetable crops and between vegetables and strawberries.

"We're firm believers crop rotation is an important part of organic; it helps us keep the ground healthy," Peixoto said. "All the organic strawberry growers in the valley rotate with us. We rotate with Driscoll and other growers to trade back and forth. We help each other to break the disease cycle."

Lakeside Organic also adds compost after every crop, and plants cover crops regularly to build soil health, Peixoto said, because good ground makes for good crops.

"We farm the soil and the soil grows the crop," he said. "We are constantly feeding the land, and the land feeds us. Our biggest asset is our people, and our second biggest is our soil."

Good soil grows crops that are more resistant to attacks by insect pests, which are also kept in check by providing habitat for beneficial insects.

"Every 12 to 16 beds, we put in a line of sweet alyssum to bring in the syrphid flies," Peixoto said. "The sweet alyssum is our most important crop because it cures a lot of our problems. By attracting predators, we are able to control the leafminers completely."

It also helps to have a variety growing in many fields at the same time as a fail-safe against the times when the pests gain the upper hand.

"It's an asset to have over 50 ranches up here, in case pests hit one of them," Peixoto said.

Because there are few if any effective organic herbicides, weeds are a challenge that takes more than a little imagination.

"When we started growing cilantro organically, it cost us $1,600 an acre to weed; now it's $70 an acre," Peixoto said. "We irrigate to germinate the weeds, plant cilantro seeds, wait three or four days, and then propane-flame the weeds."

Peixoto turned to organic because he said the poor returns received by the people who grow for the conventional mainstream left him little choice. Once the brothers decided to open an organic operation, he said, things moved at breakneck speed.

"We converted 50 acres to organic, hired a few salespeople and built the business up," Peixoto recalled. "We did it piece by piece. We started Lakeside Organic Gardens in 1995 and it was doubling every year. By 2001, we got out of conventional completely."

Soon after converting entirely to organic, Lakeside made the move that opened the market opportunities that come with year-round production.

"In 2003, we decided to go year-round and went down to the Imperial Valley for a couple hundred acres," Peixoto said. "Now, we have 2,000 acres up here, another 1,000 in the Imperial Valley, grow 52 vegetable crops, and because we're year-round we can go to Whole Foods and other stores."

Lakeside Organic now has 300 fulltime employees, and an additional 150 who work for the operation through contract harvesters.

It has not all been smooth sailing, however, and the company almost went under twice because of the cost of having too much ground in the three-year transition to organics.

"It is tough to survive the transition period; you need a landlord who will work with you," Peixoto said. "We look for situations where they are having problems spraying next to schools. We have seven different schools we are farming next to."

Farming next to schools gives Lakeside Organics one more way of connecting with the community, he said.

"Being a business owner is not just about making profit," Peixoto said. "It's about creating wealth for ourselves, our workers and the community."

(Bob Johnson is a reporter in Sacramento. He may be contacted at bjohn11135@gmail.com.)