Lockeford farmer Chris Locke's sustainable farming methods were recognized by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, which named him an Integrated Pest Management Innovator, according to an article in the Stockton Record today.
According to the DPR news release, Locke has worked closely with UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Joe Grant for the last seven years to establish an innovative, sustainable operation.
Record reporter Reed Fujii wrote that Locke's great-great-grandfather, Dean Jewett Locke, founded the community of Lockeford after moving to California during the mid-19th Century Gold Rush.
Perhaps Chris Locke's deep roots in the land have inspired him to try sustainable farming methods, which include hedgerows of native and flowering perennial plants, bushes and shrubs to attract, preserve and enhance populations of beneficial insects, plus bat houses and owl boxes. He worked with Grant to test "puffers," battery-operated units that periodically send out a puff of codling moth pheromone that make it nearly impossible for the male insects to find a mate.
"It's just been, so far, an unqualified success," the article quoted Grant.