I can hardly stand to look at the farmland that is tilled in the fall leaving next to nothing protecting the dirt and nothing for wildlife to live on or seek shelter with crop residue. I am a farmer and do not till anything in the fall. I wonder what percent of this is done on rented ground.
I agree. Watching some of the fields this fall. They went from corn to black bare dirt in 2 days. I’m not a farmer, is it just time saved in the spring or why are the plowed over so quick?
DT
Been living with that for years around central Iowa, most of the state nowadays.
I can remember when I was young we were told over and over to practice soil conservation as we were losing 3 ton of top soil per year per acre.
Now with no till or minimum tillage we are flushing way more than that right down the river, makes me sick!
I can remember my dad saying we plant three seeds, one for us, one for the critters and one for the poor folks.
Not so much left over for the critters anymore.
I agree. Watching some of the fields this fall. They went from corn to black bare dirt in 2 days. I’m not a farmer, is it just time saved in the spring or why are the plowed over so quick?
DT
Farmers turn their fields immediately in the fall so they can dry in the spring and warm up. Black soil drys faster than residue covered soil. Our northern growing season is short and they want to get into the fields ASAP. They can’t plan the weather and have to utilize the windows.
More and more farmers are utilizing light cover crops to help with erosion.
I don’t agree with it but they feed us and the the animals we eat.
Been living with that for years around central Iowa, most of the state nowadays.
I can remember when I was young we were told over and over to practice soil conservation as we were losing 3 ton of top soil per year per acre.
Now with no till or minimum tillage we are flushing way more than that right down the river, makes me sick!
I can remember my dad saying we plant three seeds, one for us, one for the critters and one for the poor folks.
Not so much left over for the critters anymore.
How is no-till flushing soil down the river?
Been living with that for years around central Iowa, most of the state nowadays.
I can remember when I was young we were told over and over to practice soil conservation as we were losing 3 ton of top soil per year per acre.
Now with no till or minimum tillage we are flushing way more than that right down the river, makes me sick!
I can remember my dad saying we plant three seeds, one for us, one for the critters and one for the poor folks.
Not so much left over for the critters anymore.
Oh wow. That is heavy stuff. I don’t know really anything about this stuff compared to you guys, but man… Bummer 😐
Excerpt from an article published last December;
Erosion from wind and water annually robs our nation’s farms of billions of tons of soil. In fact, US farms are currently losing twice as much topsoil to erosion per year as the Great Plains lost in a typical year at the height of the 1930s Dust Bowl, one of the most devastating agricultural and social disasters in our history. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/how-soil-erosion-threatens-food-and-farms
From another source;
The United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation
Service (USDA-NRCS), through the Natural Resources Inventory (NRI),
estimates that farmland soil erosion in Iowa decreased from 7.4 tons per acre
in 1982 to 5.1 tons per acre in 2007. In the same time period nationwide,
farmland soil erosion fell from 4.0 tons to 2.7 tons per acre.
Rather than tons per acre, it may be easier to comprehend,
when the loss is measured in inches;
farm soil in Iowa currently averages about 8 inches deep—and that’s down from a historical depth of 12 to 14 inches.
In short, we are on a dangerously unsustainable path.
Not only in Iowa but nationwide. As one can see from the map below Minnesota is losing soil at a rate even greater than Iowa.
soil.jpg
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>iowaboy1 wrote:</div>
Been living with that for years around central Iowa, most of the state nowadays.
I can remember when I was young we were told over and over to practice soil conservation as we were losing 3 ton of top soil per year per acre.
Now with no till or minimum tillage we are flushing way more than that right down the river, makes me sick!
I can remember my dad saying we plant three seeds, one for us, one for the critters and one for the poor folks.
Not so much left over for the critters anymore.How is no-till flushing soil down the river?
No til farming from its inception was a good idea in that corn stalks and bean stubble would be left to cover naked ground, at the same time, not being plowed under especially with gmo crops that cover does not break down nearly as fast as it once did.
Now, to answer your question, no til farming opened up a huge area of ground that should of never been used to raise a crop on.
In hilly country even with the cover of the stalks and stubble more dirt is exposed than was when it was covered in grasses and weeds of all sorts.
That dirt is easily washed away with rainfall and snow melt.
An example of that is right next to where I live, a very steep hillside that since before I was born was nothing but pasture.
It is being farmed now and after every rainfall and in the spring when the snow melts you can see huge amounts of dirt that washes across the fence row onto the neighbors property.
Sad you know, that dirt is replacing what washed from his place and will eventually make it to the little river below it.
No til even affects the creekbanks as farmers are planting right up to that bank for that extra bushel of corn or beans.
Rain erosion simply has a faster conduit to the creeks and rivers from that alone.
Buffer strips was a good idea also, but in the name of that extra bushel of grain that is infringed upon year after year foot by foot until that buffer strip is gone.
There is not enough stewardship being practiced anymore.
If you happen to live in farm country, take an airplane ride over the many fields, you will see what I am talking about soon enough.
Or you could drive around and see for yourself, just take the time to take a good long look.
Lastly, I am not putting farmers down at all as I grew up a farmer and know full well how that extra fifty to one hundred bushels affects your yearly income or if your livestock will have enough to eat before the grass turns green again.
Before you flame me about being poor at managing things so that everyone and everything can eat, you have to remember farming is ten percent hard work and ninety percent weather.
I have many relatives that used to farm, and some that still do. One of them in particular has been very successful and he always says “When the price goes down, you plant more. When the price goes up? You plant more.”
Working in the Ag industry, the main thing I hear is “Thats what dad and grandpa always did.” and refusing to change ways. The younger generation is getting much better at practicing no till practices
Most of what we see in our area (along Pool 4) is large farms leasing out hundreds or even thousands of acres from landowners who never farmed and likely inherited the land from generations prior who did farm. The landowners are not aware of many of the things posted in here. They simply cash the checks for their lease, pay the property taxes, and pocket the rest.
We lease out a couple hundred acres of family land to a local farmer. My wife and I personally will lease out another 40 or so to a local farmer that we just bought. However, it has been stated very clearly from the beginning that no trees or brush will be cut, no fall plowing will take place without our consent, the grassy water runs are mowed and managed by us, no anhydrous or other BS will be stuck into the ground, and we dictate how the equipment accesses the fields…not just running down ditches or patches of driveway. The guy who previously leased the land kind of scoffed at my statements when we first spoke, and I clearly told him that it’s my way or the highway which will be stated in our lease agreement constructed by our family attorney. We can find plenty of other farmers who will pay top dollar to run our land the way we want it done. I’m also not against putting it into some CRP programs in the future and planting back more hardwoods than the ~5 acres or so that butts up to the new house build and not dealing with ag management all together.
Bucky- I am curious why you don’t want any anhydrous stuck into the ground? I understand if it is being fertilized granularly every year. Also, by “other BS” do you mean fertilizer? If that is the case, you are completely mining out the ground and there wont be any nutrients left. On the land we lease out we have it clearly understood that the nutrient levels must be managed every year and we have soil samples sent to us to make sure this is being done
One of the main problems that I see with this stuff is that rules that are in place already are not enforced, there’s no penalty for bad farming practices at least in my area of pierce county wi. In my opinion is what we need is a good farm Bill that will reward these guys to do the right thing they already should be doing. The crp programs right now are not very good, and need to be updated to current pricing. Cover crops are great but in my opinion what’s worse the run off or the extra dose of roundup to kill it off in spring??right now there rewarded for bad farming practices.
One of the main problems that I see with this stuff is that rules that are in place already are not enforced, there’s no penalty for bad farming practices at least in my area of pierce county wi. In my opinion is what we need is a good farm Bill that will reward these guys to do the right thing they already should be doing. The crp programs right now are not very good, and need to be updated to current pricing. Cover crops are great but in my opinion what’s worse the run off or the extra dose of roundup to kill it off in spring??right now there rewarded for bad farming practices.
Even with conventional tillage there is pre-emergent spraying that is done too.
Another big benefit to cover crops (other than preventing erosion) is that the cover crops help keep nutrients and moisture closer to the surface for the crops to use. This helps reduce some of the amounts of fertilizer needed.
Strip till can be a nice compromise between conventional and no till, applying a strip of fertilizer in the fall in the exact path that the crop will be planted in the spring. This saves a ton on the amount of fertilizer needed compared to spreading it and it’s buried in the ground so it’s not able to be blown across the surface. It really optimizes the fertilizer applications.
One other big benefit to these practices is the vast amount of fuel that is saves by not having to run a 4wd tractor, at high RPMs, across the field in the fall and in the spring.
People have to be careful blaming the farmer when in many cases they only understand part of the picture.
Fall tillage is so common with corn/soybean growers because in the northern tier everyone’s trying to maximize their growing season. Tillage in the fall gives the residue more time to break down so it doesn’t foul the planter and turning the fields black enables them to warm up and dry out in the spring much faster than residue-covered fields, so it can enable earlier planting dates.
In the northern tier, producers are in a race for growing time and spring tillage is seen as wasted time that could have been spent planting. If you’re going to wait until things dry out enough to do all your tillage in the spring, they feel that puts them behind and wastes growing season that could have been used to increase yields.
Yes, erosion is an issue. But so is soil compaction and running equipment over wet ground in the spring leads to far greater compaction. Everything is a tradeoff. Most producers now are using less intensive tillage and going to the minimum possible disturbance to minimize erosion and save both fuel and passes over the field to reduce compaction damage. A far cry from the old days when everyone was plowing and leaving high ridges of soil standing up in the wind.
I agree, I would like to see way more CRP, way less fencerow to fencerow, and far larger buffer strips. But people need to understand that CRP is capped by the available acreage, so right now in many areas, farmers can’t get ground into CRP even if they want to because program acreage is not available.
I would also like to see greater use of cover and conditioning crops for erosion prevention and soil health.
Working in the Ag industry, the main thing I hear is “Thats what dad and grandpa always did.” and refusing to change ways. The younger generation is getting much better at practicing no till practices
This is what I’m seeing as well, but what people need to understand is that no till has limits as to how and where it can be used. Not every farm can go no-till. It is highly successful in dry ground farming in the wheat belt, especially with winter crops that are seeded in the late summer or fall when the ground is dry. Taking no-till planting, for example, gets more difficult or even impossible in heavy soils, heavy residue, and on wet ground in the spring.
Farmers are business people now first and foremost. If we want different environmental practices, then we need to be willing to pay for them. Just look at the complaining at the costs of meat and food rising and you’ll see how hard it would be to get people to accept more expensive means of production.
Great post Grouse.
The no-till is getting better in the heavy soils and heavy residue. Advancements in equipment, technology, and seed hybrids have really helped that. I think these advancements are often ignored in these types of conversations. Farming today isn’t the same as it was in grandpa’s time. My grandpa has seen farming done with horses and a single bottom plow, and a couple years ago he was running a tractor with auto-steer and seed hybrids that are getting yields now that were unimaginable way back when.
Bucky- I am curious why you don’t want any anhydrous stuck into the ground? I understand if it is being fertilized granularly every year. Also, by “other BS” do you mean fertilizer? If that is the case, you are completely mining out the ground and there wont be any nutrients left. On the land we lease out we have it clearly understood that the nutrient levels must be managed every year and we have soil samples sent to us to make sure this is being done
Our nutrients are managed. We have an agronomist who keeps tabs on everything from the nutrients to erosion with his expenses factored into what we charge to run our land. We know the soil profiles of every piece of land we own and lease out to farmers and our crops are rotated accordingly by leasers. I (along with our agronomist) make the decisions regardless of market prices as to what makes sense to be planted on our land. Our agronomist is very against anhydrous. It kills earthworms and slows the breakdown of residue. I also saw 2 people nearly killed with the stuff when a valve was broken at an offloading station 10 years or so ago.
The other “BS” I’m referencing are the practices carried out by some operations of stacking S*** on fields as high as they can avoiding regulation and watching it runoff. That absolutely drives me nuts watching liquid manure run down a wet hillside. Thankfully that’s not an issue in my immediate area, but a short drive to some large operations shows it on the norm.
I’m not anti-farmer. My family has farming ties. What I am against are decisions made by uninformed (or greedy) landowners/farmers that jeopardize surrounding resources. It is becoming more and more common today that the people who cash the checks out as a result of landownership have not the slightest idea how to manage the land. Those who farmed “with” the land are often now long gone and big ag and the almighty dollar have forever changed how land is managed. People think it’s crazy that we still have windbreaks and smaller fields, or that there’s a buffer strip on our one parcel that is hundreds of feet wide near a small creek. I tell them we are landowners who are trying to do things right despite being able to probably have more tillable acreage, and unfortunately that isn’t the norm most places.
Anyone watch Millennial Farmer on the YouTube? He’s a 5th generation farmer & has some great videos. In the fall he explains a lot of why they do the things they do. I don’t have a particular video to post but most all of them have some very good info. He states he started his YouTube channel to inform people about these types of things & the regulations they do have & follow to be good stewardess of the land. Check it out! Some good content in his videos for sure.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jake D wrote:</div>
Bucky- I am curious why you don’t want any anhydrous stuck into the ground? I understand if it is being fertilized granularly every year. Also, by “other BS” do you mean fertilizer? If that is the case, you are completely mining out the ground and there wont be any nutrients left. On the land we lease out we have it clearly understood that the nutrient levels must be managed every year and we have soil samples sent to us to make sure this is being doneOur nutrients are managed. We have an agronomist who keeps tabs on everything from the nutrients to erosion with his expenses factored into what we charge to run our land. We know the soil profiles of every piece of land we own and lease out to farmers and our crops are rotated accordingly by leasers. I (along with our agronomist) make the decisions regardless of market prices as to what makes sense to be planted on our land. Our agronomist is very against anhydrous. It kills earthworms and slows the breakdown of residue. I also saw 2 people nearly killed with the stuff when a valve was broken at an offloading station 10 years or so ago.
The other “BS” I’m referencing are the practices carried out by some operations of stacking S*** on fields as high as they can avoiding regulation and watching it runoff. That absolutely drives me nuts watching liquid manure run down a wet hillside. Thankfully that’s not an issue in my immediate area, but a short drive to some large operations shows it on the norm.
I’m not anti-farmer. My family has farming ties. What I am against are decisions made by uninformed (or greedy) landowners/farmers that jeopardize surrounding resources. It is becoming more and more common today that the people who cash the checks out as a result of landownership have not the slightest idea how to manage the land. Those who farmed “with” the land are often now long gone and big ag and the almighty dollar have forever changed how land is managed. People think it’s crazy that we still have windbreaks and smaller fields, or that there’s a buffer strip on our one parcel that is hundreds of feet wide near a small creek. I tell them we are landowners who are trying to do things right despite being able to probably have more tillable acreage, and unfortunately that isn’t the norm most places.
Thanks for clearing it up, makes sense. Anhydrous is some very nasty stuff. Good for you guys, keep it up!
Grouse – I by and large agree with you that farmers’ tillage and other soil management practices are business decisions. However, it irks me that the public pays many of the farm induced costs – chemical pollution in waterways and wells, silting of rivers and lakes from erosion due to planting marginal lands, etc. Same goes for other industries – paper mills, taconite mining and more. Not something that is easily resolved. Legislators at the state and national level follow the money and those industries spend a lot of money lobbying to ensure they don’t pay the true costs of their activities.
‘
Anyone watch Millennial Farmer on the YouTube? He’s a 5th generation farmer & has some great videos. In the fall he explains a lot of why they do the things they do. I don’t have a particular video to post but most all of them have some very good info. He states he started his YouTube channel to inform people about these types of things & the regulations they do have & follow to be good stewardess of the land. Check it out! Some good content in his videos for sure.
He’s does a great job educating people.
New video today
Almost as if he knew this was a topic of conversation here..
However, it irks me that the public pays many of the farm induced costs – chemical pollution in waterways and wells, silting of rivers and lakes from erosion due to planting marginal lands, etc. Same goes for other industries – paper mills, taconite mining and more.
You’re exactly right. Just like any other business, the public often gets stuck with the bill to clean up after the bad actors regardless of what business they were in. Farming is no different.
Also, it’s difficult for anyone who hasn’t been there, to understand the pressure that a producer is under. Even in the case of the family operation, they are literally personally betting millions of dollars every year on growing something that will be sold at a price that is not only not guaranteed, but usually not even determined at the time production starts.
My last farming relative commented to me that the first time he had to personally write a check for over a million dollars for a single invoice, his view of everything to do with farming changed. I could completely understand his perspective, he and his entire extended family have a stake in the operation that he runs and the pressure is all on him to make things work.
Putting myself in the farmer’s shoes, I can say that yes, I would have serious reservations about issues like chemical use and land stewardship issues. However… I also can see that those reservations are counter-balanced by the absolute financial/business need to grow crops successfully and profitably.
I’ll say one more thing about this. Despite things that we may disagree on when it comes to farming practices, we should all understand and be thankful for the blessing that we have in this country as it relates to food production. Or to say it another way, we’ve got a high-grade problem. All through the pandemic and the panic that started early on with fears about shortages, there was never a real threat that America would run out of food. That CANNOT be said for other countries where they have no ability to feed themselves based only on domestic production. For that we should be very grateful.
I was told the corn stalks are too tough for no-till to work anymore.
The economics of farming are frightening. As a kid I spent summers on my uncle’s dairy farm in NE Illinois. A family operation, 125 cows and 240 acres of pasture and crop fields. When my three cousins became the farmers, all with ag sciences degrees, they realized that they could not live off the income of the family farm. They bought adjoining land, diversified into pigs and other crops. The capital required to do so was nuts at $5k/acre (years ago) plus the infrastructure to handle additional animals. They hate the current ag policies and subsidies but have to participate or go out of busines; individual farmers can’t change behaviors readily to decrease chemical use, add buffer strips, etc. They’ve done what they can feasibly do to improve their environmental impact but there definitely are financial limits. Smart guys, hard workers and have made a good life for their families but I would not trade places with them.
Brad, great post.
I heard this 96% stat not too long ago on the Millennial Farmer’s podcast when he had on Secretary of Ag: Tom Vilsack.
“In 2019, 96 percent of farm households derived some income from off-farm sources. On average, off-farm income contributed 82 percent of total income, or $101,638, for all family farms in 2019.”
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jake D wrote:</div>
Bucky- I am curious why you don’t want any anhydrous stuck into the ground? I understand if it is being fertilized granularly every year. Also, by “other BS” do you mean fertilizer? If that is the case, you are completely mining out the ground and there wont be any nutrients left. On the land we lease out we have it clearly understood that the nutrient levels must be managed every year and we have soil samples sent to us to make sure this is being doneOur nutrients are managed. We have an agronomist who keeps tabs on everything from the nutrients to erosion with his expenses factored into what we charge to run our land. We know the soil profiles of every piece of land we own and lease out to farmers and our crops are rotated accordingly by leasers. I (along with our agronomist) make the decisions regardless of market prices as to what makes sense to be planted on our land. Our agronomist is very against anhydrous. It kills earthworms and slows the breakdown of residue. I also saw 2 people nearly killed with the stuff when a valve was broken at an offloading station 10 years or so ago.
The other “BS” I’m referencing are the practices carried out by some operations of stacking S*** on fields as high as they can avoiding regulation and watching it runoff. That absolutely drives me nuts watching liquid manure run down a wet hillside. Thankfully that’s not an issue in my immediate area, but a short drive to some large operations shows it on the norm.
I’m not anti-farmer. My family has farming ties. What I am against are decisions made by uninformed (or greedy) landowners/farmers that jeopardize surrounding resources. It is becoming more and more common today that the people who cash the checks out as a result of landownership have not the slightest idea how to manage the land. Those who farmed “with” the land are often now long gone and big ag and the almighty dollar have forever changed how land is managed. People think it’s crazy that we still have windbreaks and smaller fields, or that there’s a buffer strip on our one parcel that is hundreds of feet wide near a small creek. I tell them we are landowners who are trying to do things right despite being able to probably have more tillable acreage, and unfortunately that isn’t the norm most places.
Thanks for clearing it up, makes sense. Anhydrous is some very nasty stuff. Good for you guys, keep it up!
I’ll never pretend to be a farmer. Our family had a major history in farming, but ultimately chose to seek other professions throughout the generations. I do however make sure we do the right thing whenever possible to managing land that has been in our family for a long time (or on land we have invested in and acquired). It’s important to me that I leave my family with something of value when I am gone, and that their generation learns how to make the right decisions too. Unfortunately I must be old-fashioned, because this used to be the norm but now definitely isn’t in many agricultural practices.
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