Put some hope in regenerative farming

[Makintrax73]

Rented the farm to a different breed of farmer this year. He is doing “regenerative” farming a la Gabe Brown.

What I’m seeing in IL is that $1,000/ac gross revenue and $50/ac+ cash rent losses on CRP acres (at the low end we will see $100+ downside this year if corn prices stay above $5) have combined to make habitat a hard sell. What I hope is that new practices focused on profit (vs revenue) and sustainability over the long run might help habitat.

What my new tenant is doing this year: Winter rye was planted after harvest. On the corn ground it was terminated and non-gmo corn planted. Nothing unusual there. Next year we should see the rye go in a lot earlier with a high boy and retain more structure. This year it is almost rotted away at this point.

The real excitement is in the beans. He has companion cropped the beans right into growing winter rye. This is a highly unusual practice even among cover croppers. He says with some special equipment he can pull the rye out of the beans, and pick beans in Oct as normal. The dry weather appears to have stunted the beans in the rye, but we just got 5”. My hope here is this added plant structure provides some additional usable broding ground for my quail. I’m not sure it’s thick enough to nest in, but maybe I'm wrong there.

Further hope is less use of insecticides meaning more food for chicks, more worms, etc. Among other things this idea of regenerative farming favors no tillage, and minimal use of insecticides and herbicides. Speaking just from the bird perspective of course. We hope to see soil conservation and soil structure benefits in the long run, less chemical runoff, less nitrogen leaching etc.

Time will tell. Had a really bad weather event last year (snow then bitter cold). If my 1 covey survived I hope they make use of the additional cover and food.

 

[Makintrax73]

I should add that from a financial perspective my new farm tenant offered me more or less the same cash rent that conventional farmers would offer in this area. He agreed to cover crop all acres for the duration of the lease. He also agreed to do "non-conventional" practices on 20% of the acres for the duration of the lease (companion crop beans-rye, wheat or small grains, etc.).

I realize that this is not as good as giant fields of CRP, and big thickets. However as a said that is not financially viable in this area on a mass scale. What I do hope is that it provides _some_ usable habitat in otherwise barren areas that would be monoculture corn/beans. That the additional structure provides some hiding spots to foster feeding, broding in the summer, etc. I have dedicated about 6-7% of the farm to CRP or pollinator plots despite the financial hardships.

And a PS: my new pollinator plot has been overwhelmed by giant ragweed.

 

[McFarmer]

Very good ideas, and a pat on the back to your tenant for the extra trouble he is going to.

One issue, and it isn’t the problem you or your producer can have much effect on. There isn’t much money in these practices for corporate Ag business. Therefore they don’t get researched or promoted.

If there is an organization similar to “Practical Farmers of Iowa”, they would be a good resource.

Again, thanks to you both for going outside the normal route.

 

[Makintrax73]

Very good ideas, and a pat on the back to your tenant for the extra trouble he is going to.

One issue, and it isn’t the problem you or your producer can have much effect on. There isn’t much money in these practices for corporate Ag business. Therefore they don’t get researched or promoted.

If there is an organization similar to “Practical Farmers of Iowa”, they would be a good resource.

Again, thanks to you both for going outside the normal route.

Thanks, I'm very excited to see the results over a few years. I expect to see better soil health, and less runoff. The problem of research money is certainly an issue. One of the points of this system is to improve profit by using natural systems (crop rotation and cover crops to suppress weeds/ pests for example) rather than simply putting money in the pockets of big ag chemical companies. The rye on my property will produce the next years cover crop seed so that is grown instead of purchased. Just one example of reducing input costs One can hope that the systems can be worked out without the $$$ research inputs via trial and error. I'm seeing a lot more cover crops in fields these days, and less tillage. Hopefully that is a sign of slow progress.

 

[haymaker]

A hearty congratulations on doing what you are doing. I am on the board of the South Dakota Soil Health Coalition, and am very much a regenerative ag guy. I would recommend that you and your tenant spend some time on the Coalition website. There is a lot of information that may be helpful.

 

[KsHusker]

Rented the farm to a different breed of farmer this year. He is doing “regenerative” farming a la Gabe Brown.

What I’m seeing in IL is that $1,000/ac gross revenue and $50/ac+ cash rent losses on CRP acres (at the low end we will see $100+ downside this year if corn prices stay above $5) have combined to make habitat a hard sell. What I hope is that new practices focused on profit (vs revenue) and sustainability over the long run might help habitat.

What my new tenant is doing this year: Winter rye was planted after harvest. On the corn ground it was terminated and non-gmo corn planted. Nothing unusual there. Next year we should see the rye go in a lot earlier with a high boy and retain more structure. This year it is almost rotted away at this point.

The real excitement is in the beans. He has companion cropped the beans right into growing winter rye. This is a highly unusual practice even among cover croppers. He says with some special equipment he can pull the rye out of the beans, and pick beans in Oct as normal. The dry weather appears to have stunted the beans in the rye, but we just got 5”. My hope here is this added plant structure provides some additional usable broding ground for my quail. I’m not sure it’s thick enough to nest in, but maybe I'm wrong there.

Further hope is less use of insecticides meaning more food for chicks, more worms, etc. Among other things this idea of regenerative farming favors no tillage, and minimal use of insecticides and herbicides. Speaking just from the bird perspective of course. We hope to see soil conservation and soil structure benefits in the long run, less chemical runoff, less nitrogen leaching etc.

Time will tell. Had a really bad weather event last year (snow then bitter cold). If my 1 covey survived I hope they make use of the additional cover and food.

A guy near me does that - still has to spray but I dont think as much.

Get rid of your BEANS -- they are garbage for any wildlife -- I just bought some land and an existing farming agreement was in place with someone that just plants corn/beans - next year they will not farm it and the other neighbor will that plants cover crops - He said he can get the beans out of the rotation but with all the garbage chemicals they use for beans and the extra residual effects some of those chemicals have it may take a season or two to get them out.

I'll take corn, milo, wheat and anything besides soy beans.

 

[Makintrax73]

A guy near me does that - still has to spray but I dont think as much.

Get rid of your BEANS -- they are garbage for any wildlife -- I just bought some land and an existing farming agreement was in place with someone that just plants corn/beans - next year they will not farm it and the other neighbor will that plants cover crops - He said he can get the beans out of the rotation but with all the garbage chemicals they use for beans and the extra residual effects some of those chemicals have it may take a season or two to get them out.

I'll take corn, milo, wheat and anything besides soy beans.

I would certainly love to see wheat or milo in the rotation. The reality of farming in IL is milo is not purchased by any elevators around here, nor have I ever seen it grown. Wheat is, but I am told it cannot be grown profitably around here (too much rain, low prices). Beans are cheap to plant (compared to corn), add nitrogen to the soil (for the following year corn, saves fertilizer) and yield 70 bu/ac in a good year (without irrigation) which makes them profitable. So I'm not a fan of beans either, but we're stuck with them in so far as I can see. Perhaps one benefit is they are short and dry out early so it's easy to get a stand of winter rye cover established early.

 

[McFarmer]

I’m not going to comment on some of the statements made, other than I see a lot of pheasants feeding on bean stubble in the winter around here. Certainly more than corn fields, which are commonly tilled in the fall in this area.

 

[KsHusker]

I’m not going to comment on some of the statements made, other than I see a lot of pheasants feeding on bean stubble in the winter around here. Certainly more than corn fields, which are commonly tilled in the fall in this area.

They'll eat it both quail, pheasants, chickens - but beans are complete shit for wildlife.

The OP I believe was mentioning he wanted to increase his quail #'s - having beans around is completely counterintuitive to that. There's plenty of information online and here on this forum as to why.

I look forward to the next couple of years when that nasty crop will not be on the property we bought. If they wont get it out of the rotation I'll just let the weeds grow.

 

[KsHusker]

I would certainly love to see wheat or milo in the rotation. The reality of farming in IL is milo is not purchased by any elevators around here, nor have I ever seen it grown. Wheat is, but I am told it cannot be grown profitably around here (too much rain, low prices). Beans are cheap to plant (compared to corn), add nitrogen to the soil (for the following year corn, saves fertilizer) and yield 70 bu/ac in a good year (without irrigation) which makes them profitable. So I'm not a fan of beans either, but we're stuck with them in so far as I can see. Perhaps one benefit is they are short and dry out early so it's easy to get a stand of winter rye cover established early.

Those same arguments are the same ones I heard from the "old heads" around me that are stuck in their ways. I'm no means young - but middle aged - probably about 5 yrs or so older than the neighbor that will farm next year - he's making money with cover crops, starting to plant milo and wheat this year is newer to farming and not "from around here". I'd wager that the farmers around you are stuck in their ways and refuse to try anything different. Same as the guys that torch the flint hills in KS and burn from horizon to horizon do it because their grand dad did it that way so it must be correct. A guy can go on and on.

The same mentality in the past is what allowed several food giants to control most of the protein supply - (meat) some are waking up to what mess they got into but not sure if it's too little too late - crop farmers can do the same before it's too late.

 

[McFarmer]

Right.

I must not have read close enough to see the location or the quail thing.

But blanket statements are seldom universally true. Bean stubble around here has gotten many pheasants through the winter when no other food source was available.

Don't know much about quail.

 

[remy3424]

Right.

I must not have read close enough to see the location or the quail thing.

But blanket statements are seldom universally true. Bean stubble around here has gotten many pheasants through the winter when no other food source was available.

Don't know much about quail.

So true, the bean stubble across the fence from our CRP had LOTS of pheasants scratching for food. After a big snow blow, a neighbor called that lives near there and told me there were hundreds of birds feeding there. I started checking it out, almost daily, the birds worked their way a half mile across that field and even across the road and were working in the next field with stubble. This took 10 days or so and then the temps changed and the snow started to melt down. The fields that had been corn, had snow as high as the remaining stocks, but the bean stubble was blown pretty clean, just a inch or 2 on most of it. Harvested bean fields a great food source for pheasants, just no cover like a harvest corn field. If the rows are straight, these new combines (and heads) leave very little corn in the fields. Sharp corners are about the only places much corn gets left in the fields. If we could get our food plots productive again, they would have more available feed in the snow...ground squirrels have been decimating them. They dig-up the plants once they start to grow and eat the seed. Might try making some low covers and place poison under them. Just not sure how to get rid of them.

 

[McFarmer]

So true, the bean stubble across the fence from our CRP had LOTS of pheasants scratching for food. After a big snow blow, a neighbor called that lives near there and told me there were hundreds of birds feeding there. I started checking it out, almost daily, the birds worked their way a half mile across that field and even across the road and were working in the next field with stubble. This took 10 days or so and then the temps changed and the snow started to melt down. The fields that had been corn, had snow as high as the remaining stocks, but the bean stubble was blown pretty clean, just a inch or 2 on most of it. Harvested bean fields a great food source for pheasants, just no cover like a harvest corn field. If the rows are straight, these new combines (and heads) leave very little corn in the fields. Sharp corners are about the only places much corn gets left in the fields. If we could get our food plots productive again, they would have more available feed in the snow...ground squirrels have been decimating them. They dig-up the plants once they start to grow and eat the seed. Might try making some low covers and place poison under them. Just not sure how to get rid of them.

Make sure the ground squirrels are the culprit. I haven’t seen a ground squirrel around here for years, it’s the pheasants that are eating mine. I’ve seen them go right down the row.

 

[remy3424]

Well, I really haven't seen many since this started last year, but my 84 year old father did manage to trap a few of them this year. There are little cone shaped holes where the plants were and often the dead plant is still lying there. Maybe a trail cam would tell me for sure. The plants that are now left, should big enough to avoid the fate of the now missing plants.

 

[Makintrax73]

Received an interesting update from the farmer:

“
It took some time to get everything dialed in but it worked well. 25 bushel rye average. There was some soy damage from being off road, turning, travel and pinch row between the duals. We would have ideally harvested it 10-14 days earlier but the large rain event did not allow it.

The weed control with no herbicides in rye is more impressive than the 3 herbicide applications we have had to make on the soybean only ground. “

One of the main issues explained to me previously was finding a market for Rye. No elevator buys it in IL, so it’s up to the farmers to find a market…..cover crop seed, hog feed, whatever