Case Studies: Borderview Farm
Roger Rainville and Heather Darby
Borderview Farm
Alburgh, Vermont
We met Heather Darby (agronomic researcher at UVM Extension) and Roger Rainville on his family's 200-acre farm on the Vermont-Canadian border where they have been conducting Canola (rapeseed) crop trials. Roger, like many other multi-generational Vermont farmers, has recently sold his dairy herd. He still raises and sells heifers in addition to growing oats, corn, alfalfa and hay, but is ready to try something new and visionary on his land. With that motivation, he attended a workshop hosted by Heather at Vermont Technical College featuring farmers using alternative energy sources, and agreed to be part of her crop trials when he learned about agricultural feedstocks for biodiesel.
The project is funded through a SARE grant and is in collaboration with the University of Maine, where the Vermont crop has been sent for seed pressing and biodiesel production. The UVM Extension trial was funded for only one season, so results will not be conclusive. But the trials will help determine which canola crops, of the twenty-five commercially viable varieties they're looking at, are best suited to grow in the Northeast. Planting was later than ideal (May 27th, 2005) because of the inordinately wet weather, and was quickly followed by extreme heat, so results will reflect those variables. The whole process is one of experimentation, and like so many others interviewed in these case studies, Roger and Heather are "learning as they go". Each variety was sown in a patch measuring 5 by 20 feet, and each is replicated 4 times in the 3/4 acre dedicated to the canola seed trials. They studied susceptibility to diseases and insects as well as germination speed, and harvested the plots separately to determine crop yields and volume of oil produced.
They found that growing canola in rotation with other crops (like corn) is effective in controlling weeds. A pre-plant herbicide didn't work very well, but after some initial concern, Heather saw how competitive the canola is with weeds. The seeds they used in the trial are everything from heirloom varieties to "Roundup Ready," and though she'd like to grow canola organically (especially for food grade oil), she's found it almost impossible to locate guaranteed organic seed.
Both Heather and Roger imagine the development of a central seed oil crushing and biodiesel processing facility in their area, and Roger mentions the possibility of it being right there on his farm. They believe that farmers will find it very attractive if it can be shown to be an economically sound investment for them: one that could enable them to meet their energy needs while also providing income. With their combined initiative and vision, they plan to build on what they've learned from the crop trials to create a working model of a farm growing and producing its own source of energy.