Ditch the Rule, but not the Reward

If you follow any type of farming publication, or ag social media you can see the #DitchtheRule campaign out in full swing.  If you haven't been following, #DitchtheRule is the push by the agricultural community to stop the EPA's change to the definition of the Waters of the United States.  The proposed changes  would make man-made ditches (even those that do not flow most of the year), wetlands, any pond area (even private half acre ponds, or small field ponds), drains and tiling all navigable, thus putting them in the EPA's jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.  By having this federal control of the water, farmers applying fertilizers and pesticides to adjacent lands may have to seek additional permits, or may not be able to use these products at all.  It also could make problems for farmers wishing to plant additional acreage that is not currently used for agriculture.  Overall, this seems to be an overreach of the EPA's control in commerce and of privately held property.

I am very wary of any federal agency taking claim to property owned privately.  I don't agree that more regulation will help the process of commerce, nor that it is the best way to keep the waterways clean.   I do think it gives us a chance to review what we are doing privately to protect the water, and what programs are out there for us to educate, promote, and support water and agriculture.

As a farmer, I can take a look at my nutrient management plan.  I can see what I am applying to the fields, use the proper amounts, and see if I am having my desired effect.  When looking at these things, I need to realize that anything flowing into the "little ditch by the road" will eventually make it into bigger water.  Using buffer strips, cover crops, crop rotation, and other soil conservation practices are things that I can do to reduce the chances of run-off.  Applying manure and fertilizers at the right time in relation to rain, plant maturity, and incorporation will make them more effective and less likely to end up in our waters.  I also need to respect the wetlands as nature's filter for our waters.  That 2 acre wetland may have me itching to farm it, but it really does a lot of the dirty work for my farm.  These techniques are being used by farmers, but there is always room to improve.

In Michigan, our water is a big deal, and we have many organizations to help us keep the water clean.  We have a great relationship with NRCS(Natural Resource Conservation Service), an active Michigan Department of Argriculture and Rural Development (MARD), and farmer-fair Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). On a more local level, we have watershed organizations that seek to educate farmers, and the general public on how to clean or better maintain our waterways. We also have a great voluntary environmental farm certification, titled MAEAP (Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program).  In this program, farms undergo audits in different areas of crop, livestock, and farmstead management and receive recommendations to reduce our environmental impact.  After making the updates, farms are visited again, and if it meet the standards of environmental stewardship, it will become a MAEAP verified location for the next few years.  Thousands of farms in Michigan have undergone this process.

As we move forward in the discussion about our waters, we need to realize that while this rule may not pass, the call for water conservation will not.  Farmers are stewards of the land, and due to our
use of the land we will have to take responsibility for our waters as well.  This isn't something to be taken lightly, but it does give us a chance to show our role as front-line environmentalists.  By showing additional care to our water, we will reap the rewards of good stewardship, keeping our farms and our communities running clean and strong.

What's in a Crop Farmer's Toolbox?

I read a lot of articles about how farmers misuse GM technology, and how we are not really paying attention to how this affects the land, air and water. That as farmers, we are just using the cheapest, and easiest method, and not paying attention to other opportunities that are out there for better our crops and farmland.  Taking one step into the Farm Journal's Corn College last week, I quickly realized that people don't see the other farming practices we implement to raise a better crop.  GM technology is one of many tools in our toolbox, but what else is out there?

Let's start with hybrids.  These aren't necessarily GMOs, in that they are bred in the field to make certain traits.  There are those which are drought resistant, heat resistant, flood resistant, short growing season, long growing season, and everything in between.  As farmers, we don't just pick one variety to plant in all of our fields, we diversify our crop based on soil type, drainage, micro-nutrient levels, presence of irrigation, equipment, tillage style, and a host of other factors.  We try to balance our cropping portfolio so that no matter what the growing conditions, we can have a good crop.

Now we can talk tillage practices.  Farmers have a huge variety of field implements to use when tilling their fields.  Some farmers are strictly no-till, which is planting into ground that hasn't been cultivated in any way.  This is good for soil erosion because the ground is always covered with some type of cover.  Some farmers use plows or rippers to break hard pans in the soil and to inject manure for a natural fertilizer. Vertical tillage is somewhere in between, helping to create soil uniformity, thus better space for roots to grow.  We try to minimize our passes over the field by doing multiple things at once, making us more efficient on fuel, and less likely to cause compaction.

We use soil testing to figure out our nutrient levels to make sure that we put the right fertilizers in the right places.  We balance our soil and water pH levels to make the growing conditions suitable for the plants.  We use crop rotation and cover crops to improve the soil content, minimize weeds in the off seasons, and increase the organic matter.

Farm equipment now allows us to collect data and use GPS to practice precision farming.  We can map a field based on yield, and soil type to plant different varieties in places that respond differently within the same field.  We can manage our fertilizers that way too, so we are using less and growing more. Even the number of seeds we plant per acre is adjusted based on this mapping, giving each seed a better chance to thrive, and only planting as many seeds as the ground can adequately provide for throughout the growing season. 

Even more basic farming tools are being honed every time we go out in the field.  Did you know that the soil temperature at the time of planting greatly effects the ability for the seed to take up nutrients?  By monitoring our soil temperatures, we can give the plants the best start that we can, and utilize the fertilizer that is already in the ground.  In addition, we can adjust our planting equipment to make sure our planting depths are consistent, so one plant doesn't dominate another.

GMOs are part of the farmer's toolbox, but they don't make up for cutting corners in crop production.  Not every farm is using each tool, but each farm is trying to put together the best mix of tools to utilize the land at the highest potential.  

Are you talking to a Farmer?

There are a lot of people talking about food, generating conversation, and taking interest in how we get from the farm to the table.  We talk about what it means for health, for the environment, for the economy.  We spend some time preaching, some defending, and some pointing the finger.  Often times I hear that "real farmers" like myself are good at what they do, but "cooperate farmers," a category I also fall under,  are the bad guys.  For most farmers throughout the country, we can easily fall into both categories.  People have a hard time identifying a farmer at times, and there are some dead giveaways to let you know that you have a farmer in your midst.  

1.  Plaid/checkered shirt.  It's a must.  The farmer's uniform.  Daily wear with jeans, all other occasions with a nice pair of khakis.  If you went to a farm show, 95% of the farmers would be in some form of this outfit.

2. Work boots.  We wear them everywhere.  Yes, there is a farm pair, a day pair, and a "dress-up" pair.  This designation is given by how long the boots have been out of the box.

3. Preoccupation with weather.  All farmers, be it crops, livestock, indoor or outside facilities, we are all worried about the weather.  Rain, wind, cold, or heat effect the growing cycle not only of the crops, but also of the animals.

4.  Family.  If you meet a farmer, you don't just see him or her.  You will also meet, the spouse, the children and/or parents.  We work together, we live together, we travel together.  We are close, and we are a team.

5.  Community Involvement.  For all the talk of farmers keeping their heads in the sand when it comes to issues, we spend a lot of time and money in our communities.  We vote.  We fund schools, post-prom trips, libraries, roads, and community activities.  We want to not only produce for our tables, but give back to those who put up with our manure hauling, road-blocking ways.  Community is something most farmers take pride in.

6. University Involvement.  Farmers are educated, probably more so than would be expected.  We have Alma Maters, which we will show unwavering support.  We value the resources they provide, working closely with extension agents to implement better management practices and technologies.  And we love to support the football, basketball, and livestock judging teams, among others at the university level.

Once you have identified your farmer, ask him a little about the land, or the livestock.  One who may have seemed quite or reserved just a minute ago will open up to share his life's work.  You will soon be able to tell that his pride is what's on your plate.

Full-Time Job

As many farmers know, leaving the barn or the field really doesn't meant that the work on the farm is done for the day.  We don't work full-time, we work all the time.  Even when you are away from the farm, you are thinking about it, making decisions, planning, and sometimes implementing your transition to the new generation, or training your management.  For me coming into my time on the farm, the off-time work takes a more physical nature.

I am sure many of us are in the same situation with the weather being unseasonably cold right now, which around here also means unseasonably muddy.  The frost going out of the driveways is something only a 4WD vehicle can handle, and even then the potholes are a whole other beast.  Along with this cold weather, we are having to bed (fill the outside hog houses with straw) the pigs much later in the season, and much more often than usual.  Unfortunately for us, this means we have to unload straw after usual farm hours, at least once a week.  It makes for a long evening, but if we get 6 or so people to come and help it turns into the evening social activity.

Last weekend on a day finally sunny and about 40 degrees, my husband and I decided to take my father-in-law out to see my newly renovated farm house.  While driving down our road, we see ten sows (pregnant mother pigs) walking down the road.  Upon pulling into the yard we see a few more, and a line of fence with pig friendly exit holes. They had a good time rutting up the backyard, sunning on the porch, perusing the remnants of the garden and generally taking a field trip around the block.  Fortunately, the pigs went pretty easily back into their pen and observed us fixing the fence rather stoically.  Talk about a firsthand farm experience for my father-in-law!

This type of extracurricular work activity is commonplace on the farm, but isn't always experienced in other jobs.  Taking care of these types of surprises, sometimes on daily basis shows that farmers tend to be a diligent group.  The farm is part of our family structure, it brings us together.  Farming isn't a full-time job, it is a way of life.

The Diet Push

I am lucky to spend my time away from the farm in a canoe.  It's my hobby, and it's my sport.  I have a mix of friends from the farm, and my paddling friends.  Needless to say, it's a pretty diverse group, and it's part of what I enjoy.  I love to be at the farm and I enjoy my friends here, but when I leave it's nice to be around a completely different group.

The hardest part of being a farmer in a group of endurance athletes, is that we tend to be on the opposite sides of the food spectrum. People who work out more than an hour a day, everyday, tend to see themselves as more health conscious than the average person.  They take pride in having discipline and self-control.  They see diet and exercise as being complimentary.  Paddlers don't work out to stay thin, they workout to be healthy.  For some, this means being either gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegetarian, or even vegan.  As you can imagine, sometimes things get uncomfortable.

Often with friends who are living what I consider to be extreme lifestyles, they love to tell you about it.  Why it is better, why it works for them, or apologetically, if they could get meat from our farm, from good people like us, then maybe they would change their ways.  It's usually someone you see as a friend, someone who is comfortable enough with you to tell you about their habits.  It usually isn't meant to be preachy, but most of the time it comes off as such, or at least leaves me feeling inferior.

At the same time, I recognize being part of this group allows me the opportunity to talk to people who have a lot of questions about food.  I have had some really good conversations about food production, and learned some different perspectives.  Hopefully, I have positively affected someone's attitude towards food as well.  What I don't want to be is overbearing, and make people feel the way I sometimes feel when I talk to people with different life views.  No one should have to feel inferior due to choices he or she willingly made. Most people don't try to make bad ones.

Probably the biggest take-away I have from these experiences is realizing that people honestly want to do the best they can, and that deserves respect.  Their are definitely people out there who actively want to hurt the farming community, but most people are either uninformed, misinformed, or are caught up in a type of peer pressure.  If you know any vegans, or least all the ones that I know, they tend to flaunt their diets, posting pictures of food, touting the benefits of their lifestyle, pointing out the flaws in every else's ways.  We shouldn't be that judgmental.  I have the choice to eat a certain way, and I need to give people their choice, even if I don't agree with it.  I care deeply about farming, and I support it vocally, but I have to understand that my opinion is just that; people have the right to choose.

Farm Life: Winter Edition

Happy New Year!  I hope things are going well for all of you; resolutions still intact, or at least were broken for a worthy cause.  Winter on the farm can be a good time to get things back into shape, especially after a long harvest season, but like with our personal resolutions, a lot of things can get in the way.  Last week we experienced 2-3 feet of snowfall in one afternoon, with temperatures dropping to -20 degrees.  That type of weather gets in the way of doing any maintenance and upkeep- putting the whole farm into survival mode.

So what were we doing out on the farm, when everyone else was snowbound?  First we had to plow; farm driveways, areas around the feed bins, and even the roads.  It took a solid three days for the county plows to hit all of the roads, and the pigs needed to eat before that, so the farm tractors joined in to help.  We also would become a towing service for neighbors in the ditch, and even plowed out some of their driveways.  

Another job is bedding.  Bedding is pretty simple on a usual winter day:  we go out to the outside pig pens, open the gate, drive the straw wagon into the pen, take some bales of straw and put them in the hog houses (little huts that hold about 20 pigs each, for sleeping and to escape from the elements), drive back out of the gate and shut it.  With 3-4 foot snow drifts, even opening the gate becomes a big challenge, but the pigs need the new straw bedding most when the temperatures are so frigid.  

Other winter tasks include running the generator, and fixing heaters.  Two years ago, we decided to buy one of those stand-alone generators that starts with the push of a button- no more trying to hook up the tractor to run the generator!  That's really nice for those of us who aren't very good with a tractor, but we still need to make sure this new one works in the worst of conditions, because honestly, the power never goes out when it's 65 degrees and the sun is shining.  This time the generator fired right up, but everyone held their breath until they heard it fall into a natural rhythm.  If it doesn't work in the cold we have to figure out a way to get it to start, because next time we might not be so lucky.  As far as fixing the heaters go, they always seem to work best when you don't need them, so a lot of time went into fixing those during the last cold spell.

After being on the farm a few years, you begin to realize that there isn't a "busy season" and an "off season."  Livestock still needs to be tended, maintenance is a constant battle, and there is always more work than can be accomplished in a day.  Each time of year is filled with it's own challenges and rewards, but all part of the same bigger picture:  we strive to care for our land and our animals better this year than in year's past.