We at Agro Roca strongly believe in the fundamentals of organic farming. My father Enrique who was one of the pioneers in organic growing here in Argentina is a staunch believer of farming together with nature instead of against it.   He believes that organic production is to conventional production what sailing is to operating a motorboat.  Both boats will take you somewhere. But the knowledge required to operate the two types of vessel is very different. Sailing requires more knowledge of the environment. You must understand aerodynamics, the wind, the weather in the area where you are sailing, and the climate of the seasons. To go fast, you must integrate all this knowledge with your knowledge of the boat. To go fast in a motorboat, you must use more gas.

The farms of Agro Roca actually comprise several orchards totalling about 300 ha located in the province Rio Negro in Argentina. Most of these orchards are between 2 and 5 ha in size and are separated from each other by a row of poplars that serve as windbreaks. For organic growers they also act as barriers to protect their fruit from chemical sprays, which may be applied by their neighbours.

To minimize chemical contamination even more, Agro Roca has made a particular effort to select orchards that share few borders with conventional neighbours or none at all. Most of their orchards are located directly along the river, which has a minimum width of 200 m. The land immediately along the river also serves as a flood plain and is rich with abundant natural vegetation.

Interview

N&M: How did you become an organic fruit producer?
Enrique: In the 1970's, I was testing pesticides for several companies. I saw that pesticides create continual escalation - more powerful, more poisonous applications led to ever more bugs, rather than fewer. This is because broad-spectrum pesticides killed everything, including beneficial insects and natural enemies. So while we were killing the identified pests, others were taking over because we had killed their natural enemies at the same time. As we looked for stronger and stronger pesticides, the bugs were winning. Also we discovered that nature adapts to new chemicals so that what works this year may not work next year. I asked myself "Can this be the right path?"

My first illumination was the realization that I had to think of bugs and pests differently.

N&M: How did you do that?
Enrique: By really thinking about what was happening in these orchards. A worm that is eating my apples can be viewed either as my enemy or my competitor. If he is my enemy, I should kill him. However, if he is my competitor, I should learn to live with him.

My question became how do I control my competitor? By keeping him out of my area by creating problems for him. The way to upset insects became available - pheromones. They are an excellent tool for making bugs want to leave the area.

N&M: What was the next illumination?!
Enrique: That getting rid of a pest, even by benign means, does not guarantee that he will not return. Plus, pheromones only exist for about 120 insects-there are others. I had to think further. I realised that an apple infected by so many insects is like a man who goes to the doctor with several symptoms - back pain, poor sleep, no appetite, headaches- only to be told they are all from the same cause.
Conclusion: what appears to be many different diseases and pests are all symptoms of only a few root causes. The main root cause is that balance is missing - and without beneficial insects, balance cannot be maintained.

N&M: Do you do all your own research into these topics?
Enrique: Not all. I wish I could express my gratitude to all the university researchers worldwide who study tiny critters and work with us to make use of them to control pests. Investments in research are fantastic for industry - we could not farm organically on a commercial scale without their results. It started for us in the 1970's when a doctoral candidate from Stuttgart came to work with us for four weeks. She was doing a dissertation on a tiny mite that eats pests. It worked for us!

Ten years ago, I introduced the white wasp from the north of Argentina to the Rio Negro area. The Indian name is kamurati. It controls aphids. We now have thousands of nests that we imported. As these wasps are not indigenous, we made sure that there is a natural predator before introducing them. Woodpeckers prey on them and keep the population in check.

Do you know how a wasp kills an aphid? By cutting off its head. The wasps build their nests by spitting up saliva, dead aphid bits, and other material. The result looks like a beautiful feather light concrete. The interior of the nests is even more spectacular - curved layers like an onion.

N&M: Enrique, you seem passionate about bugs!
Enrique: I love this. This is my hobby and my passion. People would have a greater respect for nature if they saw how complex and fantastic it is.

N&M: What other developments have helped you?
Enrique: Other than the mite research and the pheromones, there were sulphur lime (the first organic pesticide), and chaoline, a product that keeps many insects away and causes the rays of the sun to be reflected from the leaves, thereby reducing the temperature of the tree and the stress on the tree.

It is interesting to note that all food was organic until the 1930's. Pesticides came into widespread use about then, and farming changed rapidly. There are many other advancements and improvements to be investigated that are all certified organic. Agro Roca has often been the first user of new products for organic food, importing them into Argentina, trying them, and then selling them to others if they meet organic principles and prove to be effective.

Which leads to my third illumination - you can never ever control 100%. You must expect some damage and accept that the balance of nature means that part of your production will be eaten by your competitors. This understanding relieves the stress of the ensuing problems quite well!