That’s what Tom Arden learned after living on nine acres in the Indian Ridge neighborhood just south of 5000 North. For the couple that had spent most of their lives crowded up against the eastern seaboard, buying a large piece of property was a dream come true.
During the summer of 2010, however, the Arden’s felt the full weight of owning their own piece of valley open space when they hauled 400 pounds of weeds from just three acres of their property.
In 1996, when the Indian Ridge neighborhood was first etched out, a farmer still worked much of the acreage, Arden said. But when houses and roads went in he eventually gave up the effort, though Arden’s 400 pounds of thistle and other noxious grew without any effort at all.
After the summer of the weeds, Arden started looking around for a farmer who would take an interest in working his land. He had to luck until a got a letter in the mail from Ed Harshberger.
Harshberger offered Arden, an eight year contract in which he would take care of Arden’s 9-acre yard by planting and cutting sainfoin, a type of alfalfa useful for feeding cattle. After four years, the time it takes Harshberger to cover his set-up costs and turn over a profit, Harshberger will pay Arden $20 an acre for the use of his land. Harshberger calls his small business of four ranchers, Weed Control, a symbiotic relationship between open-space landowners and local farmers. Using sainfoin Harshberger converts a landowner’s average $20-$40 per acre weed control expense into economic gain—production of cattle feed for ranchers and a cash payback for the landowner. Harshberger’s contract allows the landowner to break the lease without ppenalty should the land owner decided to develop or sell his property. Plus, with Harshberger working the land it qualifies for agriculture land tax status, which means a significant reduction in proerty taxes.
Harshberger chose Sainfoin for his crop because of its ability to handle the challenges of farming semi-developed land. Sainfoin can grow with only needs 12 inches of water a year, according to a report by Montana State University. This evades the problem of having to water a track of land without an irrigatin system. Also, because it grows very straight, it is easy to cut and harvest with small machines maneuverable in housing developments. Sainfoin’s sugary pink flowers may also attract few deer or elk.
But Philip Davis of Intermountain Aquatics, a company that also provides weed control services, warns that sainfoin may not be a panacea. It is not strong enough to choke out noxious weeds and therefore requires well-prepared soil to produce a substantial crop. Though it can grow with only 12 inches of water per year, sainfoin does better with greater amounts of water. Davis also points out that anytime land transitions away from agriculture, should either Harshberger or the landowner decided to end the lease, weeds have a chance to take over.
Harshberger, a fourth generation rancher, includes soil preparation and elimination of choking weeds as the first step in his cultivation process and also plans to irrigate where he is able. Has has already found 3.600 acres of openspace its landowners are willing to let him make agriculturally productive and is still looking for more land he can prepare for next year. The parcel sizes vary, some as small as a few acres. However, he has also contracted with adjacent land owners whose parcels conjoin to create larger fields.
For the landowner, Davis says, that the starting point of a weed control program is determining a purpose for the land. Intermountain Aquatics takes a natural revegitation approach to weed control through chemical spraying, manual removal of weeds, and planting of native species, while Harshberger replaces weeds with useful crops. For agricultural purpose of feeding cattle, Harshberger made a good choice in sainfoin. Davis could think of no native plant that rivals the tonnage sainfoin produces and the nutrition it provides for cattle. Though sainfoin is not a native plant, originally coming from Europe and Asia, not all non-native species are bad, according to Davis. Sainfoin does “not have the ability to alter entire ecosystems,” he said and Intermountain Aquatics even uses small amounts of it in their seed mixes to help hold back weeds as native plants take root. Sainfoin can be used for agriculture without damaging the native environment.
About his purpose, Harshberger is clear.
“We are a small group of regional farmers and ranchers that think that by utilizing your vacant land we can expand and become more productive in the face of rising costs and pressures that push out smaller producers like us. We see a need to work together for the purpose of being more efficient and in turn producing more useful assets such as hay and beef products. We also share the idea that the use of vacant land will help others maintain and improve their property,” the Weed Control blog, tetonweedcontrol.wordpress.com.states.
When development and agriculture work together, everyone can benefit.
This article appeared in the Teton Valley News on 4/19/12.
