An interview with...

John Diener
President of Red Rock Ranch, Farmer

 

Give me a little thumbnail sketch of your farm and acreage?

We farm around 4,000 acres here in the western part of Fresno County. We're in an area that is known as West Lands Water District and we have approximately 4,000 acres of land that we grow a variety of vegetables as well as agronomic crops. We farm lettuce for the people in Salinas, we grow cotton, alfalfa, tomatoes for the processing industry here in California, we have string bean that we grow for the freezer, we have almonds, and we have wine grapes that we grow on our farm as well as various forages in our salt water management program.

What is the air situation and air quality and the problems according to the government and the problem here in this valley. Paint a picture if you will for those who don't know.

Diener- In the central valley here in California we have one of the most impacted air basins in the United States for various constituents. One of those is CO2 and in our project we're are attempting to demonstrate with biodiesel, we're trying to come to grips with the loading question that comes from diesel engines. Diesel engines today are one of the items that people are trying to restrict the use of to clean up the air in the central valley of California. And by using biodiesel we're able to offset a large portion of the CO2 omitted because we recycle it with our Canola Project as you will see.

What made you so forward thinking in the beginning?

In 1984 the Questerson Reservoir came in the forefront because of the migratory water foul were impacted by the Selenium content of the water that was coming from the drain tiles within West Land Water District. At that time we knew that we had to do something on our farm, that we were still going to have the ability to drain the land getting the salt out from underneath it but do it in an environmentally acceptable way. And so we set about in about in 1984 coming up with some type of remediation program.

So you did what?

We came up with a method of recycling the water beneath the ground on to secondary crops that we normally don't grow in our area, that are tolerant to the salinity, or the saltiness of the water. And be recycling the water we used up the H2O, but left the salt behind, and in doing that we had to move it through our system and we call that the integrated on farm drainage management program that we have on Red Rock Ranch. And a final product of that is the salt itself coming out of solution at the bottom end of our system.

Now one of the things this allows you to grow crops that wouldn't normally grow here. Would you explain to people that don't understand that this soil was good for farming.

Actually, the soils that we have here are some of the best soils in the world. The problem was of the Fertile Crescent. People hadn't been good stewards of how they managed those soils. And so as far as learning how to manage those soils through our drainage program, we have reclaimed those soils back to their full productivity. And in doing that we have come up with secondary products like canola, that we are not only using as a biodiesel product but as a feed supplement to the dairy industry in California.

Now tell me how the canola then fits in with this?

The canola is one of those crops that we grow in the recycling phase of using this tile water over many times. And that way we take a product-the water-which would have had to been a waste product and cost us money, as a resource and use it to water and irrigate the canola with so that we can grow a useful product and generate economic revenue into our AG enterprise.

Let's talk about that, because there is no point in just growing this crop.

Yeah, that crop particularly is not of great enough economic value for farmers in California to grow in. But because it does satisfy one part of our recycling program and generate some economic revenue to our system then it is of great benefit to our overall productivity as well as economic health and sustainability of our farm.

How so, what is the market?

The market for this product is the biodiesel, which is developed from the oil that comes from canola-which is abut 40% oil. The balance of the product is a high protein meal. The high protein meal has been concentrated through the oil extraction process. And in that process also contains a very high amount of selenium. In the dairy industry, because ruminant animals need a various amount of scalinium in their diet to prevent a disease called white muscle disease, we have been able to use the canola to help build an organic form of selenium that is very available to the ruminant animals like the dairy cows. That east side of the San Joaquin Valley came from different geological materials than the Westside. Our soils came from the ocean; there soils on the eastside of the valley came from the granet in the Sierra Nevada's. Those soils are deficient in selenium. And as such there is a large supplementation of the dairy industry with selenium, while toxic and harmful to migratory water foul is entirely necessary and in a very big part in building the nutrition value for these animals. And so it is a big part of it and we would very well fit into their program with out material. Not only taking care of an environmental problem of the migratory water foul, but also enhancing the availability of a product locally to the dairy industry, which are in need of having a product like this.

Basically, the canola meal is a product that is used in the dairy feed business and would be used as a supplement for selenium in their feed.

Now basically you're saying that you are doing four different things on this farm: you're taking the salt out, you're cleaning the soil, you're recycling and producing it. Can you just take off those four things as to what this farm is doing?

As part of our integrated on farm management program we are reclaiming the soil, taking the salt out, we're growing products like canola that take CO2 out of the air and recycle it as biodiesel, we're taking the minerals from the canola and using them as a feed supplement, and we're handling the salt at the tail end of this deal as a mineral to be used in economic value.

Now how are you using this diesel? Tell me about its uses on the farm.

On our farm were using the biodiesel for our diesel-operated vehicles. We have some pickups and some tractors and some very stationary engines that we are able to use the product in.

So how does it work, tell people that may not be familiar with it.

The oil is vegetable oil but when we mix it we mix it 50% with diesel, and have an additive called maxi-lube that we add to this product to be able to blend the two together. And it enhances the burning characteristics of it; we are able to have better performance that is more horse powered, cleaner burned characteristics- cleaner admissions on it, and able to use that on farm to keep the sustainability of this farm going.

Basically, your philosophy is the highest and best use of the land, how does this fit in with your philosophy?

That's right. Well basically the best and highest use of our land is growing permanent crops and vegetables. With salt affected soils you can't do that. So by tiling the land-we have the ability to reclaim that land and get it to the higher value crops. At that point then, we have to decide what we are going to do with the water coming from there with the salt in it. And so the highest and best use for that particular land is growing canola, which will give us the biodiesel and protein meal that we have talked about.

So who else can do this? Where does it go, what does it take for other farmers to do this?

Well in the central valley from Bakersfield all the way up to Redding, there is approximately 1,200,000 acreage of land that have perched water tables-salt affected soils. And so anyone that has to deal with on farm drainage-water coming out with salt in it- would be able to utilize this methodology and this product on their farm to help reclaim some of that water and make it in a beneficial use for them.

Are you a leader? Are you talking to other farmers?

There is approximately five new farms in the area from Bakersfield up to Firebaugh that are currently working towards the typed of program we have. They have already instituted at least two or three of the phases that we have in our project. And we currently are working very hard on the saltine of our product right now. So there are other people coming on as they see what we're doing is successful.

How does it make you feel?

My family came in 1929 here and we have been farming here since then, and we attend to pass it on to the next generation. We're just trying to make it last.

So you feel this is going to keep this in your family?

(nods his head yes)