This is one in a series of posts covering what a few progressive ag retailers are doing to address sustainability in their organizations. This week we will take a look at The Andersons, Inc., a diversified company rooted in agriculture conducting business across North America in the grain, ethanol, plant nutrient, rail, and retail sectors. The Andersons, Inc. If you want to know what it feels like to be in a squeeze shoot you can either listen to someone who has been in one or you can try one out for yourself. Trust me; it’s easier to …
The numbers don’t add up
Many people agree that the nitrogen problem is mostly the fault of farmers, especially since current environmental models demonstrate that agriculture is responsible for 70% of the nitrogen and phosphorus load delivered to the Gulf of Mexico. I could easily be convinced to go along with this narrative. But before piling on farmers, I wanted to take a look at the numbers. Let me share with you what I discovered and the story the numbers actually tell. As I was looking into the nitrogen numbers, I formed my own baseline – that upper Midwestern …
Let’s start taking the other 50% of soil erosion seriously.
I recall hearing a business maxim some years ago: “What gets measured gets done.” In other words, if there is no standard by which to measure something, it becomes a low priority. Unfortunately, this seems to be the case with soil erosion.For years, resource professionals have had the RUSLE2 soil erosion model to predict the amount of sheet and rill erosion that occurs on a farm. Sheet and rill erosion is caused by a shallow sheet of rainwater that runs across the land. This picks up and transports soil particles already detached by a raindrop …
Soil and Water Conservation
Precision Conservation is planning and applying the right practices, in the right place, at the right time to maximize environmental benefits while minimizing economic investment. It is no longer enough for farmers to randomly install conservation practices. If farmers are expected to make significant impacts on soil erosion and water quality, they must target conservation practices that maximize environmental benefits. And to remain competitive, they need to minimize their economic investments. But currently, decision making advice is not …
Revisiting a Basic Standard of Care
A while back, I posted Be the Expert and asked for your feedback on the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) argument for a basic standard of care in regards to soil and water conservation. To meet the basic standard of care, EWG argued that every farmer should be required to adopt a set of 4 mandatory conservation practices:grassed waterwaysfilter strips along all water bodiescontrolled access of livestock to all water bodiesno application of manure to frozen, snow-covered, or saturated groundWhen I published that blog post, I promised at some …
We Need Soil Saviors
“If we had just controlled the soil erosion in past years,” Dr. Jerry Hatfield, ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, says “we would not be trying to figure out how to obtain 300 bushels/acre of corn.” Farmers would already be producing 300 bushels/acre with current technology.Obviously, agronomists need a new set of tools to communicate with farmers. Since soil erosion is not distributed evenly across the field, the farmer will want to evaluate those areas of the field where erosion is the worst and therefore costing …