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Biological Agriculture High Brix Success Stories

The importance of Soil Testing

I invite your support for:

The Nutrient Dense Project:
Science by the people,
for the people
http://nutrientdenseproject.com/

* HighBrixGardens.com - Note the superior mineral content of high brix green beans.  Plants raised on high quality, well balanced soil have little attraction for pests.

* AgriEnergy Resources - 200 bushel corn applying only 75 lb nitrogen  
                                     Biologically farmed fields - see the results 

BioAgNZ - 

The consultant, Dr. Arden Andersen, has a medical practice in Goshen, Indiana - www.bornclinic.com. Here's his blog on Beyond Organix http://ardenandersen.blogspot.com/2007/05/beyond-organix.html (Comments)
Notice the California growers group listed last on the page:

Beyond Organix of Fresno, California provides cultivation instructions to, and markets the fruit from, 20 orchards at premiums of three to four times the average. Beyond Organix follows biological agricultural practices of soil aeration, compost application, extensive liming, low to no N use, mineral rebalancing, and two green crops a year between the trees. The orchardist must achieve brix levels above 14 in their trees' leaves. The sweetness and taste of the peaches, citrus and apricots they produce are such that grocery chain buyers queue up to forward-purchase their fruit before the season starts. Having Beyond Organix fruit in the supermarket makes a 1% to 3% increase in the total supermarket annual turnover. Demand for premium quality fruit vastly exceeds the supply, and the return to the grower increases each year.  California Tree Ripe is one of their growers.

This page refers to biological agriculture and the association with quality: 

Biological agriculture is a mix of conventional and organic farming practices involving careful crop and soil monitoring to ensure optimum yields, nutritional density and humus production. It focuses on re-establishing mineral balance and enhancing beneficial microbiology in the soil. 
Applying biological agriculture perspectives and methods results in:

• higher mineral and antioxidant levels in produce
• reduced erosion, fertilizer use, leaching
• increased soil fertility, yields and storability
• fewer insect, weed and disease pressures

* California Tree Ripe -the website of a California fruit grower associated with Beyond Organix, that gets exceptional quality. http://www.caltreeripe.com/index.php

* T and J Enterprises - High Brix garden examples - http://www.tandjenterprises.com/garden2008.htm 

* GrowingYourGreens - on YouTube - www.growingyourgreens.com 
A Californian gardener, he talks about using a refractometer to check brix levels  
Beware, not everyone does well on the raw vegan diet he seems to advocate, and his methods are kind of resource intensive, with all those raised beds.

* Honey Brook Organic Farm in Pennington NJ is the largest CSA in the country and "they blow away every farmer in NJ in terms of BRIX....At least as many as I have been able to test...Farmer Jim rocks!" (Comment of a BrixTalk member)

 * Transforming Barren Land Into Fertile Ground  at Remineralize the Earth. More stories under "Transforming/Testimonials"

* In these videos at Photonic Water Joseph Johnson, of ABC Organics, talks about raising brix levels in strawberries using structured water as well a appropriate soil amendments.

 * The Chef's Garden in north central Ohio -
 http://www.chefs-garden.com/research-and-development - supplies high quality, high brix veggies to restaurants, even as far away as New York City.

 “I’ve never tasted blueberries this good.”

   From High Brix Gardens blog

Story of Saratoga Apple and their effort to raise high brix apples in New York State.

Story of Adams Farm in raising high brix crops in Florida and their website www.adamsfarminc.com

Importance of Soil Testing

Some ecological innovative farmers claim they can get good results without soil testing and amending, but many soils are so depleted or unbalanced that will not work. Here's a story illustrating that:

Albrecht's Animals - Barb Lee's story of frustration with growing healthy animals on her small farm outside Portland, Oregon, until she tested the soil and added proper amendments - with the result her horses and other animals are now thriving. To quote her:

"Dr. Albrecht’s science was proven.  When the grass plants had all the soil elements to fabricate protein from the products of photosynthesis (sugar and starch), the grass would become fit food for grazing animals."

More fantastic blueberries