Across the country, farmers growing apples and other tree fruits are intensifying their efforts to mitigate the challenges posed by increasingly erratic weather patterns driven by climate change, from spring frosts to drought. Tactics include frost fans, misting and mulching. Plus, in some cases, growers are planting new trees that they believe will help them to prepare for a more resilient farming future. With these strategies, farmers hope to keep their precious fruits from being destroyed by the elements, protecting their livelihoods—and the quality of the fresh and local produce that consumers can enjoy.

Behrens, who is also president of the Michigan Cider Association, has recently embarked on a new challenge: taking over a tree fruit farm close to his cidery in the Grand Rapids area. The farm—which had previously been with one family since 1907—grows apples, peaches, pears, plums and cherries. There is also a market and bakery onsite. Being a cidery and a grower has some advantages: The fruit has a clear path to production even when packing houses are overrun, and using hail-damaged fruits is easier. 

But although residents of the snowy Mitten State might have enjoyed the warmer winter weather, farmers had other concerns. Behren’s orchard has been running about five weeks ahead of last year, in terms of the activity that the team has been seeing in the trees. For tree fruit farmers in the area, he says that late-season frost is the biggest single risk. “You increase your odds of that exponentially as you get into warmer winters and earlier springs.” 

A cold wave with a frost and freeze after bud break can mean no crop. Tree fruit in Michigan, including the apple crop, was severely impacted by late frosts in 2012. And in both 2020 and 2021, tart cherry production was slashed by more than half. This instability, combined with low prices for crops due to imports from Turkey, means a risk of losing a strong farming tradition in the nation’s top cherry state.

Long before fruits reach stores and customers, protecting a crop from a late cold snap can be a knife edge. “A three-degree difference for an hour or two can be the difference between a 10-percent crop loss and a 90-percent crop loss,” he says. Many orchards use frost fans to mitigate the issues of cold weather that comes too late in the year. But, in some cases, the weather gets so cold it doesn’t matter whether the farm has frost fans or not. Although some apple varieties can withstand cooler temperatures, when frost hits trees that are well into bloom, deploying mitigating measures can be a waste of energy for farmers. In these extreme cases, “it’s a whole bunch of money down the drain for nothing,” says Behrens.

Farmhaus Farms grows apples, peaches, pears, plums and cherries. (Photo credit: Alyssa McElheny)

Across the country, in the Pacific Northwest, spring frosts also pose risks for growers. At Finnriver Farm and Cidery on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, operations director Andrew Byers has been using misting as a strategy to keep pear trees cool in the spring. The team has set up overhead misters with a thermostat when it reaches 40F or so during the day in February. “By evaporative cooling, we can keep the pear trees wet, and that keeps them a little bit cooler,” says Byers. This can “trick” the trees to avoid early blooming. “We can slow the buds despite a warm spell early on.” Naturally, this is an easier method to use with plenty of access to water. “It would be a difficult proposition in the Central Valley of California,” says Byers. 

Finnriver focuses on antique apple varieties from the UK, France and Spain, and he is working on breaking up the orchard’s monoculture. “When we feel vulnerable to the climactic changes that we’re seeing—like increased heat, less dormant period in the winter and erratic springs and erratic summers—the answer to me seems to be diversification,” says Byers. He explains that some of the diseases that live in soils and plant root tissue impact apples more so than other tree fruits. 

The team is planting other kinds of trees, including fruits with which the cidery already ferments, such as plums and elderberries. “Pollinator resilience is also a pretty big issue in this idea of erratic climate,” says Byers. This is another benefit of diversity, as plums bloom earlier than apples, whereas elderberries bloom later.

Byers has also ramped up efforts with mulch and compost additions in the orchard since the 2021 heat dome. “We just watched the trees sizzle,” he says. Now, he’s putting wood chips at the base of the trees. “That is creating this fungal network, as the wood chips break down,” he explains. Like a giant sponge, this helps to improve water resilience in the root zone of the trees. It’s a tactic that avid home gardeners can also employ, to help with conserving moisture and moderating soil temperature.

The farm has previously operated with a dwarf orchard, but Byers says that he is now four years into an initiative to plant larger trees, as part of a goal to look at longer-term climate resilience strategies. In a dwarf orchard, trees can be planted more densely, and they produce on a faster timeline than larger trees, with the first harvest ready just four years after planting. But these small trees only have around 20 years of productivity. The new semi-standard trees will require more space and take between seven and 10 years until the first crop is ready. But the change may be worth it: The larger and taller trees will remain productive for up to 100 years, and crucially, these larger trees will provide additional shade and have better water retention.

After looking at climate modeling provided by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe, Byers decided that preparing for hotter, drier summers in the future should be a priority at the orchard. The new trees with deeper root systems will be an important part of that. With these measures, he is hoping to play his part in ensuring that fruit production continues in the face of climate threats. “We are standing on the shoulders of centuries of apple growing and trying to figure out the best fit pathway for the conditions that we have now.”

The post How are Tree Fruit Farmers Adapting to a Changing Climate? appeared first on Modern Farmer.

Drought conditions can drive up the protein levels in barley, which means lower fermentable extract in the brewhouse and, ultimately, this leads to higher grain costs for brewers. Plus, high-protein grain can give malts a darker color, which means a hazier appearance in the beer; it’s particularly unfortunate for brewers aiming for a paler beer style with brilliant clarity. 

It’s not just dry weather that causes problems for beer’s key crop—if it’s too hot or too wet, barley also suffers from increased disease and pest pressure. Too much moisture at the wrong time can also pose problems for farmers before the crop is even in the ground, by creating soils that are easily compacted when tilled or driven on. Like many crops, barley can be finicky, needing the right conditions to flourish.

As weather becomes more erratic, most regions that currently grow barley will encounter issues of some kind. But a greater variety of barley offers more options to farmers and, ultimately, more tools to mitigate the impacts of climate change. “One of the strategies that we’re going to have to employ, I believe, is to have more barley, and more diverse barley, grown in more places,” says Patrick Hayes, professor of barley breeding and genetics at Oregon State University. 

Hayes has been working on barley varieties that are suitable for planting in the fall and winter. He developed Thunder, a two-row winter barley, which is on AMBA’s recommended variety list. “The rationale for the fall planting is that, in many areas, you can capitalize on available precipitation and, thus, indirectly achieve greater water use efficiency,” says Hayes. Another of Hayes’ developed varieties is Lightning, a promising barley that shows resistance to diseases. Lightning is facultative, meaning it does not require exposure to a prolonged cold period in order to flower, and it can, therefore, be planted in either fall or spring. It also shows resistance to pre-harvest sprouting—a highly desired characteristic for malting barley, since the malting process requires germination. 

In the Midwest—where barley was much more plentiful prior to Prohibition—there’s yet more interest in winter barley. Origin Malt in Ohio works closely with the farmers that grow Puffin, a proprietary winter malting barley that was bred to tolerate the extremely cold winters common in the corn belt. Meanwhile, at the University of Minnesota’s Smith Lab, the team is also focused on winter barley, which could solve other problems that farmers face in the Midwest. For example, very wet soils during the springtime can delay the planting of conventional spring barley varieties. “Growers are often waiting to plant, for the soil to dry out,” says Kevin Smith, professor of plant breeding and genetics. In addition, winter barley will be ready for harvest earlier in the year, which will help it to avoid diseases that typically affect spring barley late in its growing season. 

As well as helping to shore up beer production for the future, winter barley can be part of a continuous living cover system. When paired with a summer annual, it can benefit ecosystems and improve soil health. “We have an experiment with winter barley and soybeans,” says Smith. “That could actually be a profitable system for farmers.”

Kernza in the field. Photography courtesy of Patagonia Provisions.

As farmers and brewers seek to play their part in looking after our land for the long term, some believe that perennial grains are an important aspect of this. One such grain that has gained some traction with brewers is Kernza, the trademarked name of a strain of wheatgrass. It has long roots that remain in the ground year after year, which help to prevent soil erosion and sequester carbon. Sandy Boss Febbo, owner and brewer at Bang Brewing in Saint  Paul, MN, has been brewing with Kernza  for more than six years. She says seeing Kernza  in the ground really brings home the difference with the root structure, compared with annual wheat. “To see the soil benefits in real time is pretty incredible,” she says, referencing a dig-out at a Kernza  farm, where she saw a root structure more than eight feet deep.

Patagonia Provisions released a beer made with regenerative organic certified Kernza  in 2016. “We saw an opportunity to try to create some market demand for a type of grain that really hasn’t had much success yet in the market, that’s unusually good for the planet,” says Paul Lightfoot, general manager of Patagonia Provisions. The company recently launched the Good Grain Collaborative, a program in which 11  partner breweries, including Bang Brewing, will each brew a Kernza lager using regionally sourced organic ingredients. 

Some brewers have described Kernza as having a spicy flavor, while  others say that it has a nutty note. “It’s such a beautiful grain,” says Boss Febbo. While using the flavorful Kernza in the brewhouse is rewarding for many brewers, it is not without challenges. The smaller Kernza  seeds make it tricky for brewers to mill themselves. When brewing with raw Kernza, malted barley is still needed, as malt has the enzymes required to convert starch into fermentable sugars. And since the supply markets for Kernza  are small right now, the grain price is higher. “Our goal is to bring the prices down as demand and as volume scales up,” says Lightfoot. 

For now, alternative grains such as Kernza  are promising but nascent. For new barley varieties to make their way into our beer, malt houses will need to get on board. Many of them could be unwilling to contract entirely for a brand-new variety right away, so more markets for barley must be found. “As we think about developing better malting barleys of different sorts to deal with climate change,” says Hayes, “we also have to work together to develop those other markets so that farmers aren’t just left sitting with this stuff.”

The post The Future of Beer Grains is Uncertain. Can Farmers and Brewers Protect Your Pint? appeared first on Modern Farmer.

But the important differences between sotol and tequila happen long before a glass is poured. In the case of agave plants used to produce tequila or mezcal, after the piña (the heart of the agave plant) is harvested, a new agave must be planted. How long the new agave plants take to reach maturity can vary a lot depending on the species, but for some wild plants used in mezcal production, it can take up to 35 years. Conversely, when the desert spoon plant is carefully harvested, the root system of the plant is left intact, allowing the plant to regrow. 

During Prohibition, sotol was often smuggled across the border from Mexico into the U.S. But more recently, amid the craft spirits movement, sotol could be set for a new heyday. 

“Sotol utilizes little to no heavy machinery to create, due in part to the traditional hand-harvesting techniques,” says Ricardo Pico, global sotol educator at Casa Lumbre, which produces Nocheluna Sotol. He explains that the process for making the brand’s Nocheluna Sotol starts with a team of seasoned sotoleros selecting mature plants, sourcing from ranches that are environmentally supervised and managed by local authorities. Once harvested, the sotol hearts are cooked in underground ovens at an average temperature of 300 degrees Celsius (572 degrees Fahrenheit) for 72 to 96 hours, prior to a week-long fermentation process in open-air pine wood vats before the copper still distillation process. 

Permits to wild harvest sotol are given by the federal government agency called SEMARNAT (Secretaria de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales). “In order to get these permits, a landowner who wishes to extract a sotol plant from their own land must present a study made by a registered forestry engineer  (ingeniero forestal) that outlines the extraction plan for the five years the permit is given,” says Juan Pablo Carvajal, founder and chief production officer of Los Magos Sotol. Only 40 percent of the available mature plants may be harvested, and one piña will yield a single bottle. The plant’s leaves are left behind to nourish the ground. Along with complying with the regulation set by the federal government, the Los Magos team works on propagating the seed by cleaning it and spreading it on the harvested land. 

The Desert Spoon plant grows throughout the Chihuahuan desert. Photography courtesy of Los Magos Sotol.

Across the border in Texas, the Dasylirion texanum plants—known as Texas sotol—grow wild and weed-like. “We have over 50,000 acres that we can harvest from, but we typically work from one side of a ranch to the other in 12-year cycles,” says Ryan Campbell, co-founder of Desert Door Distillery in Driftwood, TX. Once they identify a plant that is ready for harvest, they trim the leaves off and harvest the heart of the plant right above the root system, so that the plant can regenerate. Plus, they take care to harvest only 20 percent of the mature plants on any acre of land. It’s an approach that Campbell says allows for the biodiversity of the area to remain in natural balance. “We have seen greater health of the non-sotol plants in areas where we have harvested,” he says. “We attribute this to the churning of the ground and left-behind leaves adding life into the soil.” 

Sotol could help meet consumer demands for tequila and mezcal. Interest in agave-based spirits has been escalating fast, and, according to the IWSR, this growth is set to continue: The category is expected to grow at 7% volume CAGR, 2021-2026. The plants can’t always keep up. In recent years, there have been shortages. Fewer agaves will ultimately mean higher prices. Plus, this scarcity has prompted some producers to harvest immature agaves, depriving bat populations of an important food source. The desert spoon plant could be part of the solution to these problems.  

“To make sotol a sustainable industry, we need to become successful farmers to ensure the population continues with responsible cultivation practices,” says Pico. He points out that sotol plants require a smaller amount of water in cultivation fields compared with agave-based spirits and believes that sotol cultivation could be part of an exciting trend for desert farming. “The plant is relatively easy to germinate and reproduce, so we expect to build a sustainable sotol plant market in the near future, where local farmers can benefit from the growing demand,” he says. With careful harvesting and the expertise of dedicated sotoleros, this spirit could prove a sustainable choice for environmentally minded drinkers, even if tequila stocks have another dry spell.

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