By Daniel E. McGonigle
General Manager
The Caledonia Argus
It’s a shifting in the ways farmers normally do business.
Dr. Kris Nichols, chief scientist and research director at the Rodale Institute was in Caledonia at Good Times Restaurant as part of a day-long symposium sponsored by the Land Stewardship Project.
About 100 or so farmers from northeast Iowa, western Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota were in attendance.
The workshop focused on “key methods for improving soil biology and soil health” and “the impact of cover crops, rotations, tillage and grazing.”
Following the morning speech by Dr. Nichols, an afternoon panel featured a discussion with area farmers Myron Sylling of Spring Grove, Olaf Haugen of Canton and Brian Hazel of Lanesboro.
Dr. Nichols encouraged farmers to consider the health of their soils.
America, she noted, is a nation of obese people who are also malnourished. “The impact of improper farming techniques,” Nichols pointed out.
Nichols said that the Rodale Institute has been working for decades “trying to create systems that respond better to weather. We’re finding weather is becoming more and more uncertain.”
“Gone,” said Nichols are the days of the day-long gentle steady rains. In its place, she notes, are deluge rains which come down in buckets.
The way to deal with this new reality, is for farmers to consider the health of their soils.
The difference healthy
soil can make
“Healthy soil = healthy food = healthy people = healthy planet,” Nichols said. “It is important for soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants and animals and encourages growth.”
Nichols said that the practice of adding phosphates and nitrogen to the soils isn’t having the impact that the companies who sell farmers those products are promising.
“Farmers are stubborn,” she said. “They are used to doing things a certain way and they don’t like to change.”
“But I would encourage you to consider, when you add nitrates to your fields, we know 30 to 50 percent of that product is going to run off,” she said. “When its added as the crops are just emerging, the crops will use what it needs at the time but it isn’t designed to store and use that product later in its life cycle.”
“Yet farmers are paying 100 percent of the cost for something that is only providing 50 percent of its intended use,” Nichols stated.
She encouraged farmers to try planing six rows of corn next to six rows of beans.
She said farmers should never till up their fields, but should rather, lay the cover crops down at the end of harvest.
“It’s going to take time,” she said of the changes. “But over time you’ll see that the health of the soil will lead to higher yields.
She pointed to her father’s fields in Lake Benton, Minn. as an example. Her father said he sees yields of 290 to 320 bushels.
She showed photos of the practices her father has put into place and how its impacted the soils. His soils appear black, healthy, able to absorb and distribute the heavy rains, now common to our region.
Her father would state that “typically, soils with 2% soil organic matter hold three or four inches of water at the root zone. With 4% or 5% organic matter, my soils can hold more than six inches of moisture.”
Nichols stressed that it is also beneficial for farmers to plant a diverse set of crops in their soils as each will add a different benefit to that ecosystem.
Land Stewardship Project
The Land Stewardship Project offices hosted the event for area farmers.
The group of more than 100 land owners asked a series of questions and took part in active discussions in the afternoon.
The LSP also presented a discussion on the 2018 Farm Bill reform.
If you would like additional information you can contact the LSP office in Lewiston at 507-523-3366.
You can find them online at landstewardshipproject.org.