Enjoy this Month’s News From the Wild!

Diverse Vineyards & Landscapes Support Better Pest Control

Diversity is the key to success at Matthiasson Family Vineyards. They grow wine grapes across the Napa-Sonoma region, with a diversity of plants at each site–grape vines, cover crops and native habitat. Having variety allows them to make different kinds of wine, manage fertility and spread risk when pest pressures, heat, or smoke from fires threaten.

To manage pests, they rely heavily on beneficial insects. To support these natural enemies, they incorporate habitat anywhere they can. One of Steve’s favorite species to use is Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis). It's an overwintering habitat for Anagrus, the parasitoid wasp that helps to manage pest leafhoppers. Anagrus needs to overwinter on an alternative host insect and the Coyote Brush is a great site for supporting those hosts.

“We're trying to create a functional ecosystem that sort of takes care of itself so that we don't even notice the pests and don't have to think about the pests. To have the whole place in balance, that's the overall goal.”

Learn more about the diversity at Matthiasson Family Vineyards in this video featuring Steve Matthiasson and researcher Houston Wilson, who discusses leafhopper biocontrol in vineyards.

Midwest Programming Takes Flight

This fall, we worked with a carpenter to build 100 songbird nest boxes and are now installing them on farms for the 2025 nesting season. In September and October, WFA’s Courtney Tchida and Alayna Mechlewitz were out in the field where they installed songbird nest boxes at several sites. They installed five next boxes at Urban Roots’ Rivoli Bluffs Farm & Restoration Site, a three acre growing site for youth programs in East St. Paul. The farm grows fruits and vegetables and looks forward to the boxes attracting insectivorous birds and providing a learning opportunity for their students who will monitor the boxes. At Gibbs Farm, a historic educational site located in St. Paul, they monitored four existing nest boxes and installed two additional ones. While monitoring, they found that all four boxes had been occupied by Tree Swallows that likely helped with pest control.

LangeTwins Family Vineyard Field Day
Biodiversity to Optimize Production

Thursday, November 21 in Acampo, CA from 8:00am to 1:00pm

The event will feature talks and demonstrations at four different stations on the vineyard. Attendees will hear from an array of speakers on topics ranging from enhancing pest control through natural enemy insects and birds, to vermiculture benefits and regenerative vineyard practices.

Additionally, a farmer/manager panel will share experiences in establishing natural habitats for pest control and the benefits achieved. Attendees will have opportunities to engage with speakers and explore these topics firsthand.

Whole Farm Sustainable Pest Management Webinar Course

We have completed the first three lessons in our 12-lesson virtual course for PCAs, CCA, scouts, growers and other agricultural professionals about whole farm pest management. Covering the latest research, the sessions are given by experts in entomology, plant health, plant pathology, microbial pest control, ecology, avian pest control and whole farm management.

Continuing education credits from California Department of Pesticide Regulation and American Society of Agronomy are offered.

Watch the recordings from the first three lessons and register for the rest of course!

WFA Welcomes New Team Members

We are thrilled to introduce two new fellows who are joining Wild Farm Alliance this year—Alayna Merchlewitz and Rowan O'Connell-Gates. Both bring unique experiences and skills that will enrich our team and further our mission to support wild farming practices.

Alayna Merchlewitz, Minnesota Working Lands Conservation Corps Fellow, has experience educating a wide variety of folks on land stewardship, specifically in regards to growing native habitat and food in their communities. For the past three years she worked at the non-profit Metro Blooms, where she shaped their workshop and training programs to teach Minnesotans how to plan, install, and maintain pollinator habitat + stormwater infrastructure. Her deep passion lies in sustainable food systems, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to support WFA’s mission and highlight the invaluable work of farmers.

Rowan O'Connell-Gates, GrizzlyCorps Fellow, is based in California and brings a background in communications and production agriculture to his fellowship. His past two years were spent splitting time between the cellars and vineyards at Matthiasson Wines and Domaine de Montille. An interest in policy and land use management led Rowan to the GrizzlyCorps fellowship. He's excited about the opportunity to help Wild Farm Alliance shape the future of regenerative agriculture and food systems.

Upcoming Seed Saving Events in Minnesota

Join the Twin Cities Metro Growers Network and MN SEED Project (a project started by WFA’s Courtney Tchida) this fall and winter for a workshop series that will teach you how to collect, clean and sow native seeds to grow your own beautiful and beneficial native landscapes. Growing native plants on your farm and garden attracts beneficial insects and abundant soil life that help crops thrive. By creating more spaces for native plants, anyone can support healthy ecosystems across our landscapes. Attend any or all three events!

These events are free to attend with advanced registration to prepare supplies.

Support New Grower Resources

WFA’s latest video and our new Whole Farm Sustainable Pest Management course shared in this newsletter are just a few examples of the many tools that we offer growers and other land stewards to increase diversity on the farm, and the abundance of beneficial wildlife that can make a difference to the bottom line. We rely on individual donations to fund our work and the creation of new materials. Help us continue to create and distribute new resources for farmers and ag professionals with a donation today!

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