O'Dare's ten varieties of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, and culinary herbs require less water and fertilizer with Chellemi's system. Jim Stapleton, an integrated pest management plant pathologist with the University of California, has also been looking at combining soil amendments and solarization as an alternative to methyl bromide for vegetables, ornamentals, and strawberries. His approach is essentially the same as Chellemi's, but he is developing the biologically based technique to work in an arid, desert environment instead of a humid, subtropical climate. He is experimenting with a variety of crop rotations and amendments that best suit his climate and the economics of the region. Many large farmers in California are committed to an intensive production schedule, growing two or three crops a year on the same land.
Some crop sequences are more likely to result in fewer soil pests.
Organic farmers have been quicker to adopt the solarization and soil amendments techniques. Everyone has to accept the new idea and decide to apply it. The small organic farmers make all or most of their own decisions. And methyl bromide has worked so well for so many years, there has been no impetus for non-organic growers to look for alternatives. Stapleton is also working on the problem of producing clean nursery stock for farm planting without the use of methyl bromide.