Aiming for Efficiency

Long range planning is an essential tool of the Muller & Sons Farms.  Tom Muller, Yolo County Resource conservation District board member for 20-plus years, believes change is required to survive in the dynamic business of farming.

 “The question my partners and I ask each year is ‘how can we do this cheaper, better and continue to keep our yields where they are or increase them,’” Muller said. “Everyone has to have the vision to ask what’s this really doing to my bottom line? We also need to be conservation minded and make our farming practices sustainable.”

 One example of change is canal bank and ditch management.  “We used to disc and spray them and we still had weeds constantly. Now we plant grass and mow them twice a year with vineyard mowers,” Muller shared. “This produces a lot more habitat and we have less dust, use less fuel, it attracts beneficial insects, and looks more pleasing.”

Over time discoveries have become conventional practices. For example, instead of  discing the ground twice, chiseling it and bedding it up before planting, Muller’s practice now is to plant a wheat crop right into the old residue of sunflowers or corn from the previous year’s crop, or lightly break up the ground by going over it once and then plant into the existing beds.  “Even though some farmers in Yolo County don’t think they’re practicing conservation tillage, in essence they are because they have changed their practices over the years,” Muller said. “Burning is no longer common and it seems a lot of farmers are practicing minimum tillage.” One of the biggest obstacles to conservation practices is equipment. Muller said different ideas often require special equipment that hasn’t traditionally existed in this area.

Conservation efforts are always influenced by economics: supply and demand and conservation costs. Muller said he works with 55 different landlords, leasing 90 percent of the land he farms. The landlords want to make money which means they want profitable crops. “We’re trying to make our rotations sustainable. We are blessed to have landlords that understand the value of healthy soil,” Muller stated. “We understand they would like the most income per acre, and we are trying to do that for them and ourselves. In order to accomplish that we have to have good rotations, good soil health which in turn will make healthier crops and hopefully a better return on investment.”

Vetch has assisted this dilemma. For the past 20 years and particularly the last 10, Muller & Sons Farms has used vetch as a quick way to increase organic matter in the soil. In just one growing season vetch can be disced into the ground in the spring, making it ready to plant tomatoes.  “You can’t do this every year because it’s expensive. We are basically adding organic matter to the soil and not changing crop rotation.”Vetch is one of the many pleasant surprises farming has brought to the Muller family. Tom said there are more good surprises than downfalls for which he’s grateful.

 “My main goal of being on the RCD board is to have Yolo County be on the cutting edge of what government is mandating,” he said. “RCD is a great mediator. When the state comes in, we can say we have a solution to that particular problem. Instead of mandating, the government can work with us to figure out a common solution. Partnering with the NRCS makes the process even much more successful.”

Tom farms with his two brothers Frank and Louie, both graduates of UC Davis. He graduated from Cal Poly in 1982. Their dad brought the business from San Jose in 1969, moving to Yolo County because of urban sprawl. Muller & Sons and Yolo Vineyards are separate entities. Article by Barbara Fleck for the Yolo County RCD "Conservation Quarterly", Volume 8, Issue 3, Fall 2004.