You’re right there is no ultimate farming method (I guess if you were big agro you might feel otherwise). In my opinion there can’t be just one method of farming for everyone but what works for each region. This could very well be a never ending discussion. I’ll continue to navigate around the UC Davis agricultural site. Thanks again!

Thanks for your great question and interest to know how your food is grown. Here’s some of what Jim had to share regarding farming methods available to him:

“Many of us refer to the websites at UC-Davis for guidance in these matters as they have done and continue to do much research in this area so we can apply their methods in the future. It is perhaps fair to say that the final solution for the ultimate farming method is yet to come. One remains hopeful…

Finally, each method above also has shortcomings, for example, the manures used often in organic farming contain excessive amounts of salts and heavy metals (living beings must excrete this undesirables somehow) which tend to build up on certain soils. We won’t need even to debate the fact that there only is enough manure on earth to feed perhaps half or less of the world population! Thus, for fertilizer at Haag Farm we use a varying combination of winter cover crops and (factory-made from natural gas) ultra-pure 32% Nitrogen liquid (UN-32) which is fully soluble and applied in our irrigation drip system, one drop at a time. Many more comments can and should be made, but that’s it for now, as my wife called me for dinner” – Jim Haag

I’d love to have clarification on something mentioned in your post. You mentioned using a “biologically integrated approach that includes both mulching walnut leaves over the tree rows and mild herbicides, spreading chipped walnut prunings over the entire orchard floor, and conventional fertilizer…” in growing your delicious walnuts. I’ve been trying to educate myself more on the nomenclature of organic, conventional, biodynamic…etc. and I’m a little confused on the use of “conventional” fertilizer.

When doing a little research one finds that many will use a comparison of organic vs. conventional and differentiate the two as organic = no chemicals and conventional = use of chemicals. Can you explain a little further? My boyfriend and I are now in a bit of a debate on the definitions. Feel free to email me directly.

Thank you!