www.FarmFutures.comFall 2011 Special Edition

BUSINESS AND MARKETING TOOLS FOR PROFITABLE FARMING

2 WHY HIGH YIELD CONSERVATION MATTERS

4 WHEN WE DISCUSS HUNGER

10 NO-TILL BOOSTS YIELDS, PRESERVES ECOLOGY 12 REAPING REWARDS NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE

13 CONSERVATION CONSTRUCTION

17 PATIENCE IS KEY TO LONG-TERM NO-TILL SUCCESS

18 COVER CROP OFFERS LAND DIVIDENDS

20 GLOBAL RESOURCES

28 NO-TILL A NO-BRAINER FOR IOWA PRODUCER

30 MARK ANSON

34 LEADING BY EXAMPLE

46 NO-TILL SWITCH OFFERS PAYBACK

48 WORMS, A FARMER’S BEST FRIEND

56 DRAINAGE MANAGEMENT YIELDS TOP RESULTS

58 PERSISTENCE PAY WITH NO-TILL EFFORT

60 IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY STARTS WITH CHANGING THE MINDSET

In this issue of FALL 2011 SPECIAL EDITION

Cover Photo: Doug Oller (left), Senior Project Manager for the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, and Howard G. Buffett examine plant growth in a no-till field while comparing soil profiles.

EVER SINCE THE UNITED NATIONS REPORTED that world farmers would need to feed 9 billion people by 2050, policy experts have been wringing their hands over how we’re going to get that job done. The equa-tion has two parts: double food production in 40 years, and do it without using any more of Earth’s valuable resources.

Last October, Global Harvest Initiative, along with Farm Foundation and USDA, started chiseling out a roadmap to show how to get this job done. Doubling output to feed 9 bil-lion people by 2050 will require an annual average growth of at least 1.75% in total factor productivity, or TFP. Between 2000 and 2007, USDA says global agricultural TFP growth aver-aged1.4% per year.

It sounds like a small gap until you realize just what it takes to close it. To add that much productivity—without additional land and resources—world farmers must increase their rate of growth about 25% more per year over 40 years.

That’s going to be a big job. While Brazil gets all the head-lines for its growing export business and millions of untouched acres, American farmers will still be expected to lead. You’re seen by the world as the elite agriculture sector. Your manage-ment skills and technology, combined with natural resources and infrastructure, make you the envy of the world.

We’re already moving the needle on production, despite what appears to be a lackluster finish to this year’s corn crop. Trend yields will continue to move higher.

It’s the other side of the equation that, in fact, may be more challenging. U.S. farmers must begin using more sustainable, conservation-oriented practices that preserve resources. These are the things we often take for granted: topsoil, mined fertil-izer, and water, to name a few.

That’s where this special report comes in. “Harvesting the Po-tential: Farming to Feed the World” is an initiative to inform U.S. farmers about the impact sustainable agriculture practices can have in preserving agriculture’s natural resources while also producing high-yield crops that can help feed the world, now and into the future. This special report is part of that initia-tive, which is sponsored by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

WHY HIGH-YIELD CONSERVATION MATTERSBy Mike Wilson

As you thumb through this report, you’ll note it is chock full of real-world, farm-tested ideas—ideas that can work on your farm, too. It’s our hope that these ideas can inspire and aid in the adoption of conservation-based production systems.

All too often, farmers are hesitant to try something new for their operation. Harvesting the Potential tells the stories of farmers and researchers who have seen first-hand the economic and environ-mental benefits of conservation-based production practices such as no-till, strip-till, cover crops and nutrient management.

Now, some people may believe ‘sustainable’ farm practices don’t apply to commercial agriculture. “That’s for the organic guys,” we’ve heard some say. But commercial agriculture—mid and large-scale operators —account for 75% of U.S. production. These farmers are the key group of producers who need to in-corporate these practices if we are going to accomplish the mis-sion of feeding 9 billion and have neutral impact on resources.

“The public believes that farmers are destroying their land base, and they may be right,” says soil conservation consultant Mike Plumer. “Sustainable practices don’t mean organic; they mean maintaining soil quality and productivity for generations. Our soils have significantly degraded over the past 100 years.”

CHALLENGES AHEADWe offer these ideas against a backdrop of tremendous challenges: We’ve got to boost production while conserving water and

protecting more precious soil—a resource that still slips into rivers and lakes despite our best efforts. In the past 200 years we have lost about half of our native soil organic matter as a direct result of intensive tillage practices. U.S. agriculture prac-tices create 58% of the world’s nitrous oxide, the third most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Environmental, consumer and conservation groups want farmers to do more to protect the nation’s soil and water qual-ity. Yet, rising world demand is telling farmers to produce more, and that incentive may tempt many to take shortcuts with stewardship practices. High prices encourage farmers to encroach on grass waterways to get a few extra bushels.

Third, budget-cutting fever in Washington suggests govern-ment incentives to help farmers adopt conservation practices may be waning.

Lastly, climate change could derail ev-eryone, shifting rainfall and other weath-er patterns on a global scale. In addition to general trends in climate, extremes in temperature and precipitation that occur within the growing season—such as 2011—are major worries. That could make conservation practices ad-vantageous and more necessary than ever. It’s a proven fact that no-till practices conserve moisture, grow organic matter and stand up better to weather extremes like heavy rain or drought.

Still not convinced? Then consider the alternatives. Farmers in the Chesapeake Bay area are being slammed with new EPA regulations that could force some of them out of business. Gov-ernment agencies will no doubt try to replicate the same rules in the Corn Belt, especially as more damning evidence piles up regarding the impact of lost nutrients and the dead zone region in the Gulf of Mexico.

Simply put, without voluntarily adopting more eco-friendly prac-tices—practices that save money and the planet—you may no lon-ger have the freedom to feed cattle on a feedlot, choose the kind of tillage system you believe works best on your operation, or apply rates of fertilizer you feel make the most agronomic sense.

DOLLARS AND SENSE

Incorporating some or most of the practices described in this report, in a managed systems approach, can save money, con-serve resources and calm the regulatory threat.

Today, approximately 35% of U.S. cropland (88 million acres) planted to eight major crops had no tillage operations in 2009, according to USDA. The crops—barley, corn, cotton, oats, rice, sorghum, soybeans, and wheat—constituted 94% of total planted U.S. acreage in 2009.

That figure is growing, but it pales in comparison to countries like Brazil, which claim to have upwards of 75% no-till produc-tion. Why isn’t the U.S. leading this effort?

Tillage practices affect soil carbon, water pollution, and farm-ers’ energy and pesticide use. Farmers who make conservation till work sing its praises. They can’t wait to tell you how they shed iron costs and lowered diesel bills.

Moving in the direction of no-till – even if it’s vertical till or even strip-till, a kind of happy medium – should be on every conventional tillage farmer’s radar. Worried about high fertil-izer prices? No-till builds organic matter, which enables you to lower fertilizer costs because more nitrogen is released through the soil. High fuel costs? Well, you can do the math.

Todd Mooberry, Lowpoint, Ill., saves around $38 per acre putting on P and K with strip-till, then planting over that row using RTK technology and side dressing N later on. Mark Ja-gels, Davenport, Neb., is pretty much all no-till on his 1,300-acre farm. His dad started ridge tilling 45 years ago; over the years, flood irrigation has been converted to center pivot.

“There’s a compelling cost savings to no-till,” he says. “Between water mark sen-sors and no-till we’ve saved 2 to 5 inches a year in water application. A savings of 3 inches is $1,500 per pivot, or $15,000 for 1,300 acres.”

Those are just two success stories; there are thousands more. Moving toward more

sustainable systems means managing the soil differently than traditional ways. The pressure to move that 35% nationwide figure higher will only increase.

MINDSET CHANGEWhat needs to happen? Farmers need a mindset change.

They need to look at adopting a different style of management as new technology, regulations and retailer initiatives come into play.

There’s nothing wrong with striving for higher yields and lower costs. That’s job one for most producers. But keeping those goals while switching to practices that shrink your car-bon footprint makes good business sense. Some commercial-sized operators are doing just that with cover crops, strip till, no-till, precision mapping, variable-rate irrigation, managed drainage, and timed, multiple fertilizer applications. They’re taking those practices to the bank.

These are the kinds of management changes that need to be-come standard operating procedure on U.S. farms.

The success of agriculture is astonishing, but there’s a new sense of urgency in how we provide life-sustaining nourishment. We have new challenges that must be addressed, through re-search, policy change and on-farm practices. That future is now.

The soil and its careful management is the fundamental foun-dation of our economy. Addressing the food and nutrition needs of a growing population is the defining challenge of this century.

We owe future generations a well-fed world, better than the one we inherited. The road to 9 billion starts here. And now.

“Sustainable practices don’t mean organic; they mean maintaining soil

quality and productivity for generations. Our soils have significantly degraded over

the past 100 years.”