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The topic of soil compaction often arises when talking about the heaviest of farm machinery — four-wheel drive tractors, grain carts/buggies, and manure spreaders — but sprayers should also be at the forefront when it comes to trying to minimize compaction.
Hutton grew up working to build soil health through methods like no-till and cover crops, because Chesapeake Bay Watershed soils are typically low in organic matter. Grain farming is very rewarding, but there’s basically zero contact with consumers, says Hutton. And that changes the investment and how we look at things there.
Thanks to his 24-48-hour paddock rotations, his 50-pair cow-calf herd grazes lush, diverse grasses, cover crops and innerseeded corn stubble, beginning in early May and into January. Then, after a 30-40-day rest period, he was able to graze his herd in the remaining oat/rye/radish cover crops.
It turns out a system that relies less on row crops isn’t just good for a time- and resource-strapped young farmer. It works as both a cover crop and forage for the cattle, and it’s helping Bedtka build up organic matter in his soil. Any day you can graze is better,” says Bedka. That’s where the sorghum-sudangrass comes in.
Anyone who’s spent time in Mexico can report firsthand on the country’s deep reverence for corn, that infinitely versatile and nutritive grain that forms the base of the country’s daily bread, the tortilla, as well as a multitude of other traditional foods. A kaleidoscope of native corn varieties, plus colorful beans in a range of shades.
For example, many more are planting cover crops, with acreage increasing by 17 percent between 2017 and 2022. The EPA also reported lower nitrous oxide emissions from feedlot manure, captured in manure lagoons, “which are major sources of both methane and nitrous oxide,” said Lilliston. “So, produced a record corn crop.
Selling the ripper and investing the money into well-planned cover crops is a safer bet. There are several strategies we can use to maximize ground cover in crop fields throughout the growing season. Cover crops are the “Swiss army knife” of tools for addressing compaction.
Poor soils can cut crop yields by up to 50 percent—which, if we’re not careful, could result in more soil being tilled to grow more crops, which degrades more soil, which pushes us closer to climate catastrophe. So they’re working to highlight how perennial grains can help rebuild soils. And they’re pushing innovation.
As discussions around sustainably grown grain become more prominent, it raises the question, “What qualifies it as sustainably grown?” It’s a question that has multiple answers since the current sustainable grain market is segmented, with multiple programs initiating their own certification requirements. Consider this scenario.
For three years, Nathanael Gonzales-Siemens drove up California’s coast for 14 hours every month for a routine task: milling his grain into flour. “I We’ve got 150 acres of grain.” He found this disconcerting, not only for himself but the future of small-scale grain farming in California, once known for its golden hills of grain.
Crop rotation is a common agronomic practice that involves the systematic sequencing of different crops in a specific field over several seasons. This technique aims to enhance soil fertility, control pests and diseases, and optimize crop yield.
Agroforestry—the integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems—has been used since ancient times to produce fruits, nuts, coffee, cocoa and medicinal herbs. A small sheep herd that was on the property from when her parents farmed the land was integrated into organic crop rotation. They were a rough crew of sheep!”
Consumption of crops or animals grown on PFAS-contaminated land puts humans at high risk of illness. A series of special fundraisers and an emergency relief fund helped to keep farms afloat in the aftermath of the discovery, and since then, some have changed what they grow or altered their crops.
When Jeff Broberg and his wife, Erica, moved to their 170-acre bean and grain farm in Winona, Minnesota in 1986, their well water measured at 8.6 Those tiles, which were first installed in the mid-1800s and have now largely been replaced with plastic pipes, ultimately allowed farmers to grow crops on land that was once too wet to farm.
This threatens native crops and wild species. The vineyards are weeded only using hoes, never herbicides, and fertilized with manure. Kernza® is a deeply rooted perennial grain harvested from intermediate wheatgrass and provided to the breweries by A-Frame Farm in Minnesota. “By
Who manages land determines which scientific perspectives, crop choices, traditions, and skills shape the landscape, with profound implications for its ecological sustainability. In cropping systems, it may include increasing structural diversity of the crops themselves, as by having cut and uncut strips of alfalfa.
I confess to being a recovering engineer, but this is a useful way to conceptualize an invisible process that’s happening in crop fields and in pastures. An average corn crop in Iowa is pulling in around 30,000 lbs. Some carbon accumulates in the plant as it grows and ends up as crop residue and root biomass that decays after harvest.
Most folks and organizations are aligned on the need to protect and support soil health, which can in turn improve carbon sequestration, crop yield potential, water infiltration and retention and reduce erosion. On the farm, they minimize and reuse waste streams by recycling animals and manure that act as food for black soldier fly grubs.
“The ARA adopts many strategies pioneered in California” said CAFF Policy Director, Dave Runsten, “such as the Healthy Soils Program, the diversion of organic matter from landfills, and the Alternative Manure Management Program. It’s a hopeful sign that our advocacy is moving from the state level to the national stage.”
From 2014 to 2021, Minnesota farmer James Wolf raised organic soybeans, corn and wheat, selling the grains to farmers across the midwest, both for seed and animal feed. Selling organic grain allowed Wolf to make more money than selling conventional grain—a lot more money. It’s also not cheap. There are also some hidden costs.
All five are row crop and livestock producers who are leaders in adopting new technology in many different ways. “We’ve even got into artificial intelligence when it comes to grain marketing.” “So us as farmers can help the ethanol industry lower their CI score by producing a low CI grain.
Power of State Policymaking The Cohort for Rural Opportunity and Prosperity (CROP)—a subset of SiX’s Agriculture and Food Systems program—currently includes elected officials from 43 states who are positioned to advance socially and ecologically responsible rural, agricultural, and food policy.
Farmer-Led Watershed Councils are groups of farmers who work together to share ideas and resources on adopting practices like limiting tillage, planting cover crops, diversifying rotations, increasing nitrogen efficiency, and engineered structures that limit erosion. What does a farmer-led council do?
The birds spend every day outside—where they eat a combination of dry grain, sprouted grain, bugs, and plants—in one paddock, and when the plants there have been sufficiently grazed down, they’re moved to a second one. They need to make sure [crops] can continue to be grown in this rapidly changing world.
Some have joined groups to learn about innovative farming practices such as cover crops, minimum tillage or low-disturbance manure application. The groups are incentivizing a lot for cover crops to hold the soil on the ground and help scavenge nitrogen,” Daun said. So many farmers don’t have control of the narrative.
improving irrigation efficiency, restoring pasture, cover cropping, or nutrient and pest management). Alternative Manure Management Program (AMMP) The RPFSA does not contain a proposal to support AMMP technologies as envisioned in the ARA or the COWS Act.
From losing seed crops as wildfires rage for weeks, to losing entire crops as a result of erratic freezes, to losing farms as drought dries up available water, farmers’ risks are rising. CalCAN is a member of NSAC and played a part in developing the original version of the Agriculture Resilience Act.
Blessings, joel HILLSDALE COLLEGE PARALLEL ECONOMIES—AGRICULTURE Joel Salatin This spring when Russia invaded Ukraine, fertilizer prices increased in some cases 400 percent and global grain shipments sputtered, our farm didn’t feel anything because we don’t buy fertilizer and we don’t buy foreign grain. Poop covered the streets.
From losing seed crops as wildfires rage for weeks, losing entire crops due to erratic freezes, to losing farms as drought dries up available water, farmers’ risks are rising. Currently, CSP only offers SAPs for Resource Conserving Crop Rotations , Improved Resource Conserving Crop Rotations , and Advanced Grazing Management.
Many of our neighbours who have larger farms — grain and cattle — they’ve had to sell out and move because of flood years, drought years, and this increasingly warming trend we’re seeing.” Then, we planted green manures and cover crops to help build up the topsoil again, which had been pretty depleted over the years.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, the same farmers struggling with the effects of climate change, like drought, are revolting against stricter regulations on pollution from livestock manure. Beef is considered the least efficient type of meat.
Although it is generically called the “farm” bill, it is really a food and farm bill that funds programs covering crop insurance, financial credit, and export subsidies for farmers, as well as nutrition-assistance support for low-income households. The most recent farm bill , enacted into law in December 2018, expires at the end of September.
Together, Harold and his brother, Chris, and his father, Gerald, work collaboratively as partners to manage 5000 acres of irrigated land producing potatoes — varieties of chippers, russets, and red Mozart potatoes — along with other field crops, including hard red spring wheat, winter wheat, barley, sunflowers, green peas, seed canola.
The initiative aims to triple the productivity of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa in 20 years by promoting green manure and cover crops that restore soil health, combat drought, and enhance farm resilience. Abdou Tenkouano, former Executive Director of CORAF, tells Food Tank. Every seed is important. Every seed is important.
The organization introduces beneficial plants called green manure/cover crops which fertilize the soil, control weeds, and respond to periods of drought. Crop Trust , International Crop Trust is dedicated to conserving plant genetic resources to promote sustainable agriculture and support global food security.
A project run by Central State University will reduce this feedlot’s methane emissions through an innovative manure management system. The project will reduce the feedlot’s methane emissions through an innovative manure management system that prevents the liquids and solids from separating. But their equity goals tend to be fuzzy.
Meg Wilcox You Can’t Market Manure at Lunchtime: And Other Lessons from the Food Industry for Creating a More Sustainable Company By Maisie Ganzler Many, many years ago, I spent a long time covering the world of sustainable business practices. Additionally, they say, children must have a voice in policymaking.
Radiating from their geographical and spiritual epicenter in Iowa, these two crops cover nearly two-thirds of U.S. These crops are the raw materials the food industry transforms into the dizzying array of products that fill hundreds of millions of bellies every day. Why all the love for just two crops? Californias.
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