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What emerges from all of this effort is a vision of the kind of agriculture
that could not only feed the world, but do it in an age of climate change and
with far less impact on the environment than has been the case in the past.
Agriculture is a vast and diverse industry, so I will limit my discussion here
to the largest segment: rain-fed row crops (wheat, soy, corn, cotton...). For
these crops the five, quantifiably best, farming practices are as follows:
1. Minimum Tillage
When soils are plowed or otherwise disturbed, the organic matter content
declines and with it the complex aggregate structures and biological
systems of the soil. When soils are farmed with "no-till" systems or related
options, the soil organic matter is preserved and soil "health" is enhanced.
This practice also leads to less fuel use, far less erosion, and thus less off-
site movement of fertilizers or pesticides. Minimum tillage systems require
specialized equipment. They are aided by good seed treatments and
genetics, by either herbicide tolerance traits or selective herbicides. The
transition to a minimum tillage regime can take several years and during
that time there are some risks particularly during cold springs. No-till
systems have been in commercial development since 1960.
A cover crop following Corn in Iowa
2. Cover Cropping
The land were most US, rain-fed crops are grown was once a prairie biome.
That system had a mix of annual and mostly perennial plant species. The
annual crops that are now planted in this area are only growing, and thus
feeding the soil, for a part of the year. A cover crop is planted to grow after
the main annual crop and before the next planting. A cover crop after an
annual crop is the best substitute for the perennial systems that preceded
farming of the Midwest. Cover crops can be used either to tie up excess
nutrients from the previous crop or to generate more nutrients for the next
crop (e.g. a legume). They further reduce erosion and contribute to the
storage of carbon in soils. Most farmers recognize the benefits of cover
cropping and the main barrier to their use is the logistics of planting them
during the busy harvest season. When minimum tillage and cover
cropping are combined, the development of soil health is optimized. Such
soils are also more efficient at capturing rainfall and at holding on to the
moisture. Over time the soils become increasingly "drought proofed"
which will be of great value in an age of climate change.
Diagram of How Auto-steer or RTK
works
4. Precision Fertilization
One of the greatest ecological challenges for farming is the efficiency of
fertilizer uptake. The growing crop has a certain pattern of uptake from
the soil that changes throughout the season. There can be periods before
or after the peak plant demand when fertilizers can be lost to surface or
ground water or to the atmosphere. In all those cases the lost fertilizer can
cause pollution and/or greenhouse gas problems. Farmers now have the
tools to minimize those losses as much as possible. "Precision
Fertilization" is really a combination of practices through which the
fertilizer is precisely placed where the plant is likely to find it easily and
applied at rates which differ across the field. Extensive data is collected
through devices like a GPS enabled "yield monitor", by soil sampling, and
even by real-time infra-red monitoring of the nutrient status of the crop.
Specialized fertilizer applicators then apply less fertilizer or more fertilizer
as needed for each spot in the field. This not only saves money by
requiring less total fertilizer, it increases yields by avoiding inadequate
fertilization of some parts of the field. The addition of variable rate,
precision fertilization, combined with the improved soil characteristics
from the three practices above, can almost eliminate nitrate and phosphate
pollution issues.
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