What is the purpose of a Hedgerow?

A Hedgerow is used on many organic farms worldwide to help imrpove agriculture in many ways. They stabalize the area, improve soil, water runoff, act as nitrogen fixers and help fight off pests and improve the pollination process in crops!

 

The Soil On Our Project Site

Through our labs in class we learned that the soil on our site has a special composition because of the floods that went through the area years ago. The texture and composition of the soil on the organic farm was a sandy clay loam but varied greatly throughout the surrounding area on the farm because of the landscapes history.

Eighty five percent of the soil on the farm was classified as a mollisol. The soil had a a texture of sandy loam with a little bit of clay and is classified into the soil series of Chehalis. The composition of this soil creates a good structure for aggregates  and perfect drainage which is important in the swampy area the farm is located on.

The farm is located in an agriculture area that is known to be a large flood area East outside the town of Corvallis.

Environmental Benefits of Hedgerows in Agriculture

During our work on the Native Plant Hedge Row, we learned the environmental benefits of using Native plants on an organic farm. Not only does the native plant row benefit the growth of the plants but it also decreases use of pesticides, provides a habitat for wildlife, conserves water, and decreases soil erosion.

Pesticide Use:

Many farms use poisons and toxic chemicals to control pest populations on their crops. These solutions can permanently damage the soils, put harmful chemicals into our food, and wipe out important insect populations.

On organic farms, farmers use plants in the Hedgerow that attract predator insects, which will kill off specific pests on the crops. The flowers that the plants seasonally bloom throughout the year attract things such as bees and wasps, which in turn kill bugs that eat the fruits of the growing crop. The hedgerow is a very environmental replacement for pesticides.

Hedgerows act as a secure habitat for many small
animal populations

Habitat for Wildlife:

When agriculture takes over large areas of land it also takes away a big chunk of habitat for the animal populations living there. Hedgerows being planted are almost a way for the farmers to give back what they have taken. The small shrub life and large Nitrogen fixing leaves provide a new home for birds, rodents, and insects that lost their habitat from the agriculture fields.

Conserving Water:

Hedgerows retain a large amount of water and reduce evaporation and desiccation by blocking dry winds in the summertime. This in turn reduces the amount of irrigation needed for the crops.

Decreasing Soil Erosion

Irrigation and water runoff can cause major soil erosion within agriculture. A hedgerow provides the perfect blockade to trap soil particles lost through runoff and act as a major absorber for excess water.

Cool Facts We Learned

Through our project and further research, we learned some pretty cool things about Native Hedgerows all over the world.

-Native hedgerows serve multiple functions on an organic farm such as serving as a windbreaker for smaller fragile plants, reducing groundwater pollution and dust drift, increasing biodiversity, and creating a beneficial habitat for vital pollinators.

-The best way to keep unwanted plants out of native hedgerows is to establish lanes for mulching and mowing between plant rows. 

-Some native northwest plants that are known to attract animals and therefore are suitable for Oregon native hedgerows include elderberry, oak, serviceberry, Oregon ash, hawthorn, Oregon grape, and salal. 

-  It takes 4 to 8 years to start a hedgerow, and 30 years for it to reach maturity!

-The most effective hedgerows are oriented perpendicular to existing winds.

-Some species of plants should be avoided in hedgerows because of their invasive nature or popularity with certain pests or diseases. Blackberry bushes are known as an invasive species, and were one of the plants we removed from the native hedgerow at the OSU Organic Farm. 

-Ancient native hedgerows have been protecting many of the farms in England for centuries and have become a significant feature of the English landscape. A Countryside survey in 2000 revealed that England has over 350,000 miles of hedgerows. 

Above picture is a fully matured, ancient English Hedgerow

-The United States didn’t adopt hedgerows and use them as agricultural windbreakers until the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Shelterbelt program was created in the 1930’s. The program gave grants to farmer to plant trees around the borders of their farms to serve as barriers against wind and dust.