Stahlbush Island Farms

Marion Blackberries (Frozen)

On Stahlbush Farms the same crop is never grown on the same ground two years in a row. This helps to break disease and insect cycles, it further controls weeds and it improves overall soil health, thus reducing the need for pesticides. The ground is covered in specific crops during the winter months to generate nitrogen in the soil. Crops such as crimson clover, Austrian peas, fava beans, micah barley and annual ryegrass are chosen specifically for their ability to generate nitrogen in the soil.

Stalhbush Farms is also committed to using and preserving clean, healthy groundwater. They have done extensive work with Oregon State University to understand nitrogen movement in the soil. One of their findings is that cover crops capture and store nitrogen making it available for future crops. Their goal is to prevent any nitrogen from leaching into the groundwater. Having all of their ground covered in cover crops during the winter months helps to prevent this from happening.

The goal at Stalhbush Farms is to use mechanization and computer technology coupled with intensive management as a substitute to chemicals. If chemicals are necessary they always look the organically approved chemical list first. They have also adapted one of the strictest soil residue testing procedures in agriculture. They look for over 20 different chemical residues that could potentially be present in soil. The soil samples are sent out to an external lab for testing and if the soils exceed the Stalhbush internal tolerance they are rejected.

Stalhbush is a firm believer in recycling, reusing and composting products. All water is used a minimum of three times in the food processing plant, all cardboard and wood are recycled, and all plant waste is composted.