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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Farmers sowing seed money
  • Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:28:38 -0600


http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6172932
Farmers sowing seed money
>From bottlebrush squirrel tail to little bluestem, native grasses are
cash-cropping up to help
By Nancy Lofholm
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 06/19/2007 01:56:47 AM MDT

Delta - A small but growing number of farmers in the state are heeding a
call from public-land managers to turn over some of their acreage to native
grasses.

The grass seed is in high demand because of the trend to restore damaged
land - gas-well pads, burned forests, highway strips and overgrazed
property.

On Kenny Hines' farm, corn spreads as far as the eye can see around an acre
that some neighbors have mistaken for a weed patch. But the heavy seed
heads of mountain brome and basin wild rye nodding in the wind over this
patch represent a new cash crop.


project on the Uncompahgre Plateau in western Colorado has created a large
market for specific native plants to reseed areas trampled by overgrazing
or charred by wildfires: More than 50 species have been identified there as
critical for deer habitat.

Mesa Verde National Park is working to reseed burned areas with genetically
identical native plants.

And the Bureau of Land Management alone needs 1 million to 3 million pounds
of seed annually in the Western states, depending on numbers of wildfires.

In the past, much of that has come from Canada and Northwestern states in
the form of generic wheatgrass.

"If we have a choice, nearly all the grass seed we buy would be native,"
said Scott Lambert, national BLM seed coordinator.

So farmers are being goaded into growing plants and harvesting seed of
fancifully named native plants such as bottlebrush squirrel tail, needle
and thread, mutton grass, mountain brome and little bluestem.

They are getting help from a Colorado Department of Agriculture plant
center near Meeker where researchers look for native species that reproduce
well.

On five acres at the Colorado State University Extension research station
near Hotchkiss, plant experts try to grow species tailor-made for specific
areas. Scientists have been growing native plants from seed collected on
the Uncompahgre Plateau. For the past two years, the station has been
passing on seed and grants to farmers such as Hines who are willing to try
out native grass and what are called "forbs" - any native plants that
aren't grasses.

"We're estimating we will need 500 acres of native-seed production for five
to 10 years just to do one elevation on the Uncompahgre project," said Ron
Godin, a soil scientist at the Hotchkiss research station.

Godin also has contracts with national forests and the Nature Conservancy
for other reseeding projects around the state in the next year.

Walter Henes of Southwest Seeds, near Dolores, is one of the few
native-seed growers in the state who has been in the business for decades
rather than a few years. On a farm where his father began growing native
seed 30 years ago, Henes has planted 600 acres of native grasses, but he
sticks to more tried-and-true varieties. The seed he harvests goes to coal
mines, energy companies, road departments and logging companies.

"There is more demand than seed," Henes said. "There is more and more of an
environmental push to do what's right and correct for the ground."

Fruita farmer Tad Hutchins has been growing native grass for 19 years for
Southwest Seeds on desert land that was formerly covered in grease weed and
salt grass. He also is pleased by the increasing demand for a crop he said
he has fallen for over the years.

"In good years this field is truly lovely," he said as he looked out over
acres of waist-high Western wheatgrass.

Hutchins faces the same noxious native-grass nemesis as other growers -
jointed goatgrass, bindweed, cheatgrass and flaxseed mustard - tenacious
weeds that make growing natives difficult until they are well established.

North Fork-area growers Dave Herz and Carl Roberts have not had much
success growing native grass, but they will continue to try because of the
ultimate prize it could bring.

Some seed can bring up to $100 per pound, and a good year can bring 100
pounds per acre.

"On years when I've hit some serious licks I've made $600 per acre in
profit," Hutchins said. In bad years he has sold the grasses for hay at $50
to $60 per acre.

"I think once we get this established, we can make a little money out of
it," said Hines, who chuckled as he looked over his unusual field. In 40
years of farming, he said, he never envisioned he would be growing wild
grass.

Nodding brome
June grass
Mutton grass
Galleta grass
Little bluestem
Sideoats grama grass
Thickspike wheatgrass
Tufted hairgrass
Bottlebrush squirrel tail
Spike muhly
Bluebunch wheatgrass
Plains lovegrass






  • [Livingontheland] Farmers sowing seed money, TradingPostPaul, 06/19/2007

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