The silver idea? To plant rye between their orchard trees.

Then they cut it down and leave it there.

Seems simple enough. But it works.

Piled about a foot thick initially, the rye breaks down relatively quickly once cut.

Then, out of the mess comes the magic.

"The mulch encourages our worm population to thrive which is great for our trees and the soil," said McLeod of the process. "The decaying mulch adds nutrients to the soil for our trees to enjoy, and helps retain moisture for the roots. It also prevents weeds from growing between the trees."

The idea placed second behind a computer program in use by a Brampton, Ont. farmer that makes planning a snap.

With the program, the farmer can select a crop, enter how many weeks it is for sale, as well as the quantity and price. The program then calculates work required, a succession planting plan and can generate the seed order, a greenhouse, field planting, transplanting and a harvest plan.

Imagine your great-great grandfather booting up the old PC to see when it's time to plant the potatoes!

"Farming is certainly an age old way of making a living," said Carrot Cache spokeswoman Mary Lou Morgan.

But she admits that like any long-term enterprise, the ways it's done are often modified over the years.

In many cases, like at Makaria Farm, the type of farmer dictates farm practices.

And instead of farmers growing up on the farm and inheriting the family business, which does still happen, particularly in the dairy industry, these days people are actually choosing farming as a profession.

"The new trend to local, in-season agriculture is attracting many young people -- some of whom do not have agricultural backgrounds," said Morgan. "They are university educated people learning on the job and farming in unique ways."

The well-educated, environmentally concerned duo of Walker and McLeod come at farming at a different angle then perhaps their forefathers would.

But it works.

"All over Canada there are unique stories of this new type of farming," Morgan said.

It's crucial to keep the ideas coming, says Sean Darling, Director of the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands' Innovation and Climate Action Branch.

"It's important to bring new ideas," he said. "

Whether they come from new people entering the market or whether they come from other parts of the world, or research, you do need to have that new way of looking at things."

He said like any other industry, farming needs innovation to remain adaptable to varying conditions brought about by climate change, shifting global markets and so on.

"Innovation is a key to maintaining appropriate market shares and maintaining prosperity and if we're going to grow we have to be innovative," Darling continued. "Either innovative products, or new ways of doing things."

That's not to say that the past isn't equally important.

"It's a combination of needing new entrants, new people, new ideas yet not losing that wisdom of the years and years that this has been going on," he said.

"We obviously want to keep the lessons of time and what we've learned over the years and what has been effective, but also look at those areas where there's opportunities to do things differently."

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

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