Sustainable agriculture is one of those industry buzzwords that are a label people like to apply to their business in order to give the customer the impression they are environmentally responsible. The official definition of “sustainable agriculture” as defined in the U.S. is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will over the long term:
- Satisfy human food and fiber needs.
- Enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends.
- Make the most efficient use of non-renewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls.
- Sustain the economic viability of farm operations.
- Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.
The basic goals of sustainable agriculture are environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity sometimes referred to as the “three legs” of the sustainability stool. Since the term “sustainable agriculture” is purposely vague in its definition, it’s quite easy for anybody to claim to be sustainable.
At Midwest Best Beef, we believe in honesty and transparency. By our definition of sustainability, I would say we do practice sustainable agriculture. However, rather than giving a simple “yes, we are” answer to the question of sustainable agricultural practices, I will tell you what production practices we incorporate and let you decide for yourself how sustainable we are.
Soil Erosion Control
Controlling soil erosion in our opinion is one of the most important things any farmer can do, and is the foundation of sustainability in our estimation. Topsoil is the most precious commodity a nation possesses. Without topsoil we cannot grow crops, and without crops we cannot sustain human life. It takes about 500 to 1,000 years to produce 1″ of topsoil. We are currently losing topsoil at a rate of 1% per year.
At Midwest Best Beef, we take extra effort to conserve our topsoil as best we can.
There are three primary practices that we implement in order to reduce topsoil loss:
Contour Planting
The primary tool we use to reduce our topsoil loss is Contour Planting.
This is the practice of planting our crops that follow the natural contours of the land. When it rains, water runs downhill. If the crops are planted in such a way that allows the water to follow the planted row, the water will follow that row causing a concentration of flow at that location. This concentration of water flow will increase the amount of soil trapped in the flowing water and lead to a ditch or a deep erosion. The goal of contour planting is to make sure that the water always runs perpendicular to the planted row crop. The rows form hundreds of small dams that slow water flow and increase infiltration to reduce erosion.
Strip Fields
Strips fields are the practice of planting narrow fields of row crops rather than large square fields as is commonly seen in our area.
Many farmers that practice contour planting will still partition their farm into large square fields. This is done primarily for ease of planting and harvest. Small strips are not friendly to modern, large industrial agricultural equipment used today. Strip fields reduce erosion by creating small ridges between fields. Ridges formed by contoured rows slow water flow and reduce erosion.
Minimum Tillage
We implement a farming practice referred to as minimum tillage.
The common tillage practice in past decades was using a mow board plow to turn over the soil every year. While providing an ideal seedbed for the new crop it left the soil vulnerable to erosion. All of the crop residue from the previous year was turned over and buried. The crop residue gives the soil something to cling to in order to stay in place. We use a tool called a soil finisher. This implement is a shallow tillage tool that only works the top two or three inches of soil. By only doing light shallow tillage, we are able to incorporate manure and the crop residue from the previous year into the top 2 or 3 inches of soil. This gives the soil something to hold onto and stay in place during heavy rains. It also reduces runoff from manure by incorporating into the ground and making it more available for plant utilization.
Soil Health
Soil health is another area of farming often overlooked by conventional farmers.
Conventional farmers will tend to rely heavily on synthetic fertilizers with no regard to the natural biological systems of the soil. At Midwest Best Beef, we do use commercial fertilizers, but we also employ practices that will help build our soil health. On our farm, we grow most of the feed that we use for our cattle. All of the hay and corn that are fed to our cattle come directly from our soil. We also harvest much of the crop residue from the cornfields to use as animal bedding. By utilizing the practice of deep pack bedding, the manure and crop residue mixture will begin to compost. The soiled bedding is eventually returned to the field in the form of fertilizer.
As we grow our herd and our manure supply increases, we hope to continue to reduce the amount of commercial fertilizer required to grow our crops.
Another often overlooked fertilizer practice that we focus on is the choice of commercial fertilizers. Many commercial farmers will use liquid nitrogen as a fertilizer source. It’s a cheap source of nitrogen and quick and easy to apply. However, we avoid that practice on our farm because of the extreme cold of the fertilizer. It tends to kill all the beneficial microbes and soil organisms. We believe soil bacteria as well as the earthworms and other organisms that call the soil home are essential for sustainable agriculture.
Animal Care
- Stocking density
- Manure management
At Midwest Best Beef, we are dedicated to providing our animals with the best possible care.
We stock our cattle shed and paddock at a rate roughly half of what is recommended for a conventional feeding operation. By reducing our animal density, we reduce the environmental impact with manure runoff.
The other essential practice we incorporate is the use of deep pack bedding in our cattle shed.
Many large cattle operations will utilize a manure pit for storage. The manure pit does save a considerable amount of labor, but it also creates some environmental issues. The manure creates a toxic gas that has been known to claim the life of both animals and farmers. Additionally, the runoff from the application of the concentrated manure will end up in streams and rivers leading to nitrogen pollution in our water system. By incorporating a deep pack bedding system, we are able to trap the manure with the corn residue. This eliminates the toxic fumes associated with a manure pit.
Additionally, when the manure is spread on the fields it has already begun the composting process and will cling to the bedding material, allowing more of it to stay on the field and provide nutrients to the crop. The minimum tillage practices mentioned earlier allows us to incorporate that manure into the soil as soon as possible, thus reducing any possible runoff and water contamination.
