Missoula office nurtures organic trend-County horticulturist says local approach beginning to take root across the country

"All of a sudden," says Helen Atthowe, horticulturist for the Missoula County Extension Service, "organic is cool."

By DARYL GADBOW of the Missoulian

She bases her observation on several current trends:

* Sales of organic fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy and grains have increased significantly across the country. The main reason for the rise, says Atthowe, is growing interest in food safety and health. Second, she says, is concern about the environment.

* The Missoula County Extension Service received 261 organic production and certification inquires in 2002, including 43 calls from outside the county. When Atthowe suggested that those callers contact extension agents in their own counties, they told her that their agents had no information about organic farming or gardening.

* Other state and federal agencies are starting to seek training in organic methods.

* As of Oct. 21, 2002, any food sold as organic must meet criteria set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The National Organic Rule reserves the term "organic" for foods produced without hormones, antibiotics, herbicides, insecticides, chemical fertilizers, genetic modification, or radiation.

* Research into organic farming is on the rise.

Atthowe is on the board of directors of the Organic Farming Research Foundation, which funds research in organic production.

"This year," she says, "I’m in the process of reading 40 research proposals. They range from how to use compost teas effectively for disease control, to how to design an agro-ecosystem to encourage beneficial insects and soil microbes that will suppress disease and insects.

"And guess who’s applying for those research grants? It’s very exciting. The proposals are coming from federal ag-research personnel and land-grant universities all over the U.S. So what we’re seeing is the conventional researchers starting to move in this direction, not just the organic farmers and nonprofit organizations."

"Twenty years ago," Atthowe adds. "I never thought I’d live to see this day."

Of course, she says, nothing about these national trends is new in Missoula.

"Missoulians have been pushing in this direction since 1995," says Atthowe, who started work for the county extension service that year. "Finally, in 2002, we have a federal rule governing organic food. Now, with increases in sales, all of a sudden organic has made the federal radar screen. Missoulians knew this years ago."

Because Missoula residents were so far ahead of the national curve in appreciating and requesting organic methods, the Missoula County Extension Service was forced to become knowledgeable about them far sooner than other agencies, Atthowe says. And because of the demand, the local extension service has developed a unique, comprehensive program to provide "least-toxic-option" pest management and methods.

"The way it happened in Missoula," says Atthowe, "is that Missoulians said we want less pesticide use. The City Council had a debate whether to take a legislative or educational approach. The extension service and local professional landscapers and nurseries stepped in, along with the Montana Nursery and Landscape Association that’s based here. So a neat partnership was formed. We got together and started offering an integrated pest management program, or IPM program, to help reduce pesticides in Missoula."

The goal, she says, was to reduce pesticide use voluntarily among professional horticulturists, without legislation.

"We got great results," Atthowe says. "What’s exciting to me is people in the industry started out in a confrontational mode with groups in Missoula concerned with pesticides. We took an educational approach. We looked at alternatives to pesticides, because we didn’t want it to be polar opposites, where you have no pesticides and no pest control, or great pest control and excessive pesticides.

"So we were looking for a happy medium, trying to find methods and materials that have less impact on humans and animals and non-target pests, while still providing adequate pest control."

Here are some of the accomplishments of the Missoula County Extension Service’s IPM program:

n Last year, 25 representatives of major Missoula nurseries (Caras, Marchies, Ibey, Earth and Wood) and retailers (such as Cenex, Ace Hardware, Home Depot), as well as smaller pest management consultants (including Able Trees) completed the IPM Certified Plant Professional course.

n Caras Nursery has voluntarily removed the pesticide Diazinon from its retail store and is offering organic and least-toxic pest management alternatives. Caras Landscaping Division has initiated an organic lawn-care program.

n Cenex, Marchies, Ace Hardware, Earth and Wood and Ibey are offering organic/least-toxic fertilizer and pest management materials. Earth and Wood and Able Trees are trying to develop an IPM program to market to their clients.

n With a grant from the USDA, the extension service completed an extensive review of the sustainable and organic agriculture research literature, and published a 740-page horticulture manual and produced an interactive CD-Rom database on least-toxic-option pest management.

In addition, says Atthowe, "we’re the only extension service in the Western region that offers a Master Gardener Program that focuses on organic production methods – which Missoulians should be proud of because they asked for it, and they got it." The 14-week program is offered each year from September to December.

In an ongoing project in the Missoula County IPM program, volunteers from the Master Gardener Program monitor three sites weekly in the growing season. They make timely pest management recommendations on MCE’s "pest alert" phone line and through its annual diagnostic plant clinic. No-spray recommendations are given when pest populations are below a certain level.

The plant clinic, set up in 2000, specializes in least-toxic pest and sustainable agriculture plant care solutions. Almost 1,500 clients were assisted with their horticulture problems in a seven-month period (March through September) in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, the clinic helped 1,746 clients.

The extension service also produces a pest management calendar for Missoula County that incorporates information from its Master Gardener monitoring program and its literature review for the horticulture manual. The calendar lists common pests and diseases, and recommended least-toxic and pesticide treatment alternatives.

"This is our eighth season for the calendar," Atthowe says. "And we’re starting to be able to say ‘not necessarily’ for pesticides more often, because we’re finding these least-toxic options are working in many cases."

An increased awareness and concern about noxious weeds in Missoula County led to the development in 2000 of two new IPM information pamphlets: "Weed Management for the Naturalized, Interface and Open Space Areas" and "Weed Management: Revegetation Species that Resist Invasive Plants." Both pamphlets will be part of a new course called "Master Invasive Weed Manager" offered by the Missoula County Weed District.

The extension service is working on a joint project with the Missoula Parks and Recreation Department looking at alternative methods of managing weeds on city parks using experimental organic compost applications.

Atthowe spoke recently at the New Mexico Organic Farming Expo on organic soil management and the farm as natural habitat.

"That’s another thing Missoulians have shown us," she says. "Their interest forced us to be experts on native plants, butterfly gardens and birds. It’s not what we normally think of as horticulture. When I first got here eight years ago, I said ‘Why do they want me to think about this stuff?’ "

Now, Atthowe is completely caught up in the organic movement. As a board member of the Organic Farming Research Foundation, she attends meetings around the country twice a year, keeping up on the newest advances in organic materials and methods.

She tries to bring as much back to Missoula as she can from those meetings to install in the IPM course and the Master Gardener course. "Because," she says, "it’s all changing."

When she’s not bringing Missoula residents the latest in organic science at the extension service, Atthowe, is a commercial organic farmer.

Her 30-acre Biodesign Farm outside Stevensville produces organic vegetables utilizing the knowledge she’s gained filling Missoula residents’ demands for ever more information. Conveniently, Atthowe’s farm is also the official "experiment station" for all of Missoula County Extension Service’s continuing research in growing things organically, and the classroom for the Master Gardener Program.

The tomatoes she grows are gorgeous.

Reporter Daryl Gadbow can be reached at 523-5264 or at [email protected].

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