Sustainable Agriculture

*New Video: Scouting for Mummy Berry Disease

NCAP is working with farmers and researchers in the Northwest to implement healthy farming practices and reduce the use of pesticides. 

Agriculture is the largest user of pesticides in the country. Potatoes are the most pesticide intensive crop grown in the Northwest.  

NCAP works with farmers to reduce their pesticide use. We believe that food production should benefit clean water, clean air and human health. 

Your Support Matters

Your support of NCAP is creating a hopeful future for Northwest farms, farmers and consumers.

Cleaner Water

The water on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation was so contaminated with toxic chemicals that residents—members of the Shoshone and Bannock Tribes—could not drink it.  

In the early 2000s, NCAP worked with the Tribes and potato growers on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation to implement green manures as an alternative to fumigant use—reducing pesticides on reservation potato farms.  

Bye-Bye Blight

Early blight is a major potato disease—a disease that typically results in spraying lots of chemicals. Enter Bacillus mycoides isolate J, a bacterium that helps potato plants defend themselves against early blight. We’ve become the microbe’s p.r. agent—by supporting on-farm demonstration trials that share with farmers the effectiveness and economics of this alternative practice. 

Organic Taters

Our work to expand organic potato production includes educational field days and workshops. NCAP supports university research on production and marketing. We brought together organic potato growers from five western states to identify how they control insects, diseases and weeds.

Farmer-to-Farmer

One of the great joys of our work at NCAP is meeting the Northwest’s organic farmers—some with decades of experience tested in the field. We believe their knowledge needs to reach more farmers.  

That’s what our Farmer-to-Farmer educational programs are designed to do. Our series of educational events, field days and conferences puts organic farmers—all experts—in front of other farmers. It’s the best way to share information—and spread the word on organic farming.  

When you buy food from farmers who don’t use pesticides, you are benefiting clean water, wildlife, human health and the sustainability of agriculture.