Efficient and Regenerative Land Use, Part 1
"Crop farming", as they call it is probably my weakest farm skill, at least starting out full time. Up until that point, we always "share cropped" with another farmers. These other farmers planned, planted and harvested most of our crops and we split the yields 50/50. We had these relationships because we didn't have all the necessary equipment, know how or time to do our own field work.
So this is where I started from about 6 years ago. The first few years I tried to accumulate the equipment I would use most and develop relationships with other farmers to rent equipment I didn't have and contractors to do some of it.
The only methods I had ever been exposed to were what is often termed "conventional" methods: tilling, spray, fertilizer, monoculture farming. I had seen some but limited crop rotation but didn't know what crops give what nutrients to the soil and what crops took what nutrients from the soil. This was a steep learning curve for me but I did lots of reading and asked questions of anyone who would answer.
I planted corn, beans, oats and some barley. I often experienced below average yields but what really raised my awareness was the massive cost of fertilizer and herbicide. During the first few years, this line items were always in the top 3 expenses each year. I just couldn't wrap my brain around how so much of my profits were going to the company's selling this stuff, and I wasn't even sure I needed what they were selling me. I was just going with what they recommended.
So, I started looking for alternatives. First I looked for alternative products but then I realized there were alternative methods that made sense to me. Regenerative Farming has become a "catch phrase" recently but I came upon it just before it became main stream. It caught my attention because it made lots of sense. Stop or minimize the destructive power of tilling the soil and disrupting the living ecosystem there. Keep things growing in the soil year round as much as possible to keep the bioactivity in the soil working along with keeping weeds down and preventing erosion. Create more in depth crop rotations than just corn to beans and beans back to corn.
I research how to implement Regenerative Farming and worked up a plan for how I would implement the plan. 2022 was my first year implementing my plan but 2023 will be the first year to really see what kind of results I can achieve.
In my next blog, I'll explain the plan I'm implementing is.
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