Braga Fresh to bring regeneratively grown crop to market

In what one California-based company calls a “major step” in trialing a low soil tillage concept to improve the carbon content in soil, Braga Fresh, home of Josie’s Organics, will harvest and market a trial crop of regeneratively grown fresh vegetables beginning on Earth Day, April 22. 

Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming that seeks to increase biodiversity, enrich soils, improve watersheds and enhance the ecosystem. Farmers practicing regenerative agriculture, like Braga Fresh, aim to reverse climate change by rehabilitating soil organic matter and biodiversity.

The focus of regenerative farming on soil health promotes the natural cycle of building carbon content and nutrients in the soil to strengthen photosynthesis in plants for a more nutrient dense food, says the company. 

With the ultimate goal of reducing the soil tillage now used by the fresh vegetable farming industry, Braga Fresh is in the second year of small-scale trialing of regenerative crop practices on the company’s home ranch in Soledad, Calif. Through the trials, the company wants to understand the implications and identify the aspects of regenerative farming that may be applied to current commercial fresh vegetable and leafy green farming.

“The objective of our regenerative farming trials is to increase soil carbon and decrease consumption of diesel fuel that powers the tractors conducting the tillage operation,” CEO Rodney Braga said in a release. “Those changes would reduce our overall CO2 emissions aiding us in the goal of being carbon neutral by 2025.” 

The first regenerative trial crop was planted in early 2021 under the supervision of Eric Morgan, vice president of environmental science and resources for Braga Fresh. Cover crops, data management, companion plantings, crop rotation, intercropping, water management technology and soil testing are all tools and metrics used for the trials. 

In April 2022 the company will harvest its third regeneratively grown trial crop, which includes organic broccoli, organic red and green leaf and organic Iceberg lettuce. All the trial crops will be packed and sold under the Josie’s Organics brand and meet Good Manufacturing Practices and Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement standards, said the company.

“Tillage operations currently employed by our industry weakens soil aggregate stability that leads to reductions of soil microorganisms that populate the soil microbiome,” said Morgan. “We believe that most common tillage practices utilized by the industry inadvertently increases crop water consumption and creates a need for excess fertilizer. Our overall intent with these regenerative crop trials is to confirm our hypothesis and feasibly overcome these farming challenges.”

Braga’s CEO said while the company is in the early stages of its trials and still has a lot to learn, taking the trial crops to market demonstrates its commitment to continuous learning and improvement. 

“Soil health has long been a part of our farming program; we have a robust soil testing program that is key to our organic farming,” added Braga. “Trialing regenerative practices will help us identify feasible low tillage practices for fresh vegetable production and still maintain the quality expectations of retailers and consumers.”

For a short introduction to the Braga Fresh soil testing program watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqWujZVOkkw.