2015 Nebraska 4-H Corn Challenge Sustainability Award

Randy Pryor, UNL Extension Educator Email: rpryor1@unl.edu

402-821-2151(w) 402-450-6058 (c)

•  $200 Cash Award •  Winner will be determined by the best Fieldprint®

utilizing the Field to Market FieldPrint® calculator tool •  Secondary benefit is your farm will have beginning

sustainability benchmarks and can receive feedback from the Nebraska Extension Field Efficiency Husker Pilot

Nebraska 4-H Corn Challenge Sustainability Award

World Population Growth – How Can We Double Food Production and Be Sustainable

"   Nearly all estimates of future demand for agricultural goods suggest a need to double agricultural production by 2050, if not before, in order to maintain adequate supplies for a growing world population that will use its expanding income to purchase fiber products and to diversify diets with more meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables (1)

[1] FAO. (2006). World agriculture: towards 2030/2050. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization. http://www.fao.org/ES/esd/AT2050web.pdf

Sustainability in Agriculture

Think of it as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In this sense, sustainability is not a destination but a process of learning and action (i.e. continuous improvement).

Food Chain Sustainability Examples

•  Bunge - Collecting data from corngrowers who deliver corn to the Crete Mill since 2009 using the FieldPrint® calculator.

•  Kellogg – Partnering on Crete Mill Project and working on new protocols to make claims on the FieldPrint® measurements.

•  Walmart- new sustainability efforts working with suppliers in Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois

•  Unilever – Paying a small premium on sustainably sourced soybean oil to make mayonnaise

Food Chain Sustainability Examples

•  Cargill - Implementing the use of the FieldPrint® Calculator into their supply chain starting in 2015.

•  Coca-Cola – goal of 1 million acres usage of the FieldPrint® Calculator by 2020

•  General Mills – Source 100% of wheat and dry mill corn from regions that show continuous improvement using the FieldPrint® Calculator or similar tool by 2020.

•  Field to Market Membership – 70 members scaling up supply chain engagement, goal of enrolling 50 million acres in U.S. commodities by 2020.

FieldPrint® Calculator

www.fieldtomarket.org

FieldPrint® Login

FieldPrint® Registration

FieldPrint® Registration

FieldPrint® Homescreen

Field to Market •  Free and confidential online resource •  Compare field level performance to local, state

and national averages •  One of the first steps that farmers can do to

better understand sustainability and how decisions can improve resource use efficiencies and have environmental impact

What is Field to Market? www.fieldtomarket.org

•  A collaborative stakeholder group of producers, agribusinesses, food and retail companies, and conservation organizations focusing on defining and measuring the sustainability of food and fiber production

•  Developing outcomes-based metrics •  Measuring the environmental and socioeconomic

impacts of agriculture •  Providing tools to help growers analyze operations and

food companies explain how natural resources are being managed

Who is Field to Market? American Farm Bureau Federation American Farmland Trust American Soybean Association Bayer CropScience Bunge Cargill Conservation Technology Information Center Cotton Incorporated CropLife America CropLife International Darden Restaurants, Inc DuPont Environmental Defense Fund Fleishman-Hillard General Mills

Grocery Manufacturers of America Innovation Center for US Dairy International Plant Nutrition Institute John Deere Kellogg Company Land O'Lakes Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences Mars, Incorporated Monsanto Company National Association of Conservation Districts National Association of Wheat Growers National Corn Growers Association

National Cotton Council of America National Potato Council Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Penton Media The Coca Cola Company The Fertilizer Institute The Nature Conservancy Syngenta Corporation United Soybean Board University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture University of Wisconsin-Madison, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences University of Nebraska –Extension USA Rice Federation World Resources Institute World Wildlife Fund – US

FieldPrint® Calculator •  Corn for grain •  Cotton •  Potatoes •  Rice •  Soybeans •  Wheat

Sustainability Indicators Measured •  Land Use •  Conservation •  Soil Carbon •  Irrigation Water Use •  Water Quality •  Energy Use •  Greenhouse Gas Emissions -Powerful tool, simple to use although the technology behind it is very complex including using USDA-NRCS data.

Example Practices That Effect FieldPrints® •  No-till farming or reduced tillage •  More “crop per drop” strategies with

irrigation •  Best Management practices with nitrogen

applications and high nitrogen use efficiency. •  Efficient irrigation pumping plants and low

energy use in pumping irrigation water •  Conservation practices are utilized that lead to

reducing field runoff.

Key Records You Need to Write Down to Use the FieldPrint®

Calculator 1.  Location of the field where the Corn Challenge

Plot is (legal description or GPS coordinates) 2.  Seeding Rate (seeds per acre) 3.  Row Crop Spacing (inches) 4.  Growing Season Rainfall (May 1 to Sept 1) 5.  Irrigated Corn Yield (bu/acre) 6.  Dryland Corn Yield of nearby field (bu/acre)

Key Records (cont.)

Irrigation: 7. Water applied (inches per acre) 8. Pump pressure (psi) 9. Well pumping depth lift (feet) 10. Irrigation Energy source (electric, diesel, etc) 11. Irrigation method (pivot, furrow, drip, etc.)

Key Records (cont.) Trips Across the Field: 12. Record all trips across the field for tillage, for applying fertilizer and other crop protection products. Write down the date, type of implement and all product names including the bulk amount of product applied. Example: 3/25/15 Applied 200 lbs (bulk) of anhydrous ammonia with our own tractor and knife rig.

Key Records (cont.) Trips Across the Field: Example: 4/12/15 Custom application self propelled sprayer applying Bicep + 2,4-D herbicides. Note: Crop protection products such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides write down the names but the actual rate is not necessary for the FieldPrint Tool. The number of active ingredients does matter. This example has 3 active ingredients (Bicep contains 2)

Key Records (cont.) Transportation/Drying: 13. Distance in miles from the corn field to the point of sale or the distance from the field to the grain bin to point of sale, one way. 14. If energy was used to dry grain from the field, describe the type of system used and how many percentage points removed.

Output Spidergram comparisons to National and State Benchmarks

4-H Corn Challenge Sustainable Award participants are also eligible to enroll their farm data in the Nebraska Extension Field Efficiency Husker Pilot. Nebraska Extension has three clusters by resource area where you can receive comparative feedback on FieldPrint® data

2015 Nebraska 4-H Corn Challenge Sustainability Award

Randy Pryor, UNL Extension Educator Email: rpryor1@unl.edu

402-821-2151(w) 402-450-6058 (c)

Questions?