Kristin is helping to create a more efficient operation that is less dependent on synthetic inputs, while building community engagement. In the two and a half years she has been in her role, Kristin has influenced the farm - continuing to expand their soil building practices, and planting 1.5 miles of hedgerows. She is also restoring a 5-acre swale situated between two almond orchards, to attract pollinators, beneficial insects and birds to the farm.
Dr. Sara Kross is a conservation biologist and agroecologist at Columbia University. Her research program focuses on human wildlife interactions in human-dominated landscapes. She has studied how songbirds and raptors provide pest control services to many crops in California and to wine grapes in New Zealand.
In all of the research she has conducted, she found that when farmers provide habitat for birds, even just a few trees on the field edges or nest boxes and perches, the benefits almost always outweigh the risks.