Aaron Viner
Farmers are one of the groups that have a true vested interest when it comes to protecting the environment.
As debates about how to respond to a changing climate continue, one recent study shows that farmers know their role in maintaining their land and their way of life. Another study indicates sustainability practices that work with farmer productivity goals will have the highest impact in lowering emissions.
J. Gordon Arbuckle, professor of rural sociology at Iowa State University, conducts the annual Iowa Farm and Rural Life Poll, and the most recent summary in December 2022 had a focus on what makes a “good farmer.” The survey included multiple stewardship and productivity topics respondents could mark on a scale as “Not important at all” to “Very important.”
Many of the stewardship prompts (minimizing soil erosion, minimizing nutrient runoff, being thoughtful about water quality) were voted as “Important” or “Very Important” by more than 80% of those surveyed. Tere was less weight put on the
productivity-related questions (getting the top yield per acre or profit per acre), with many choosing the middle option of “somewhat important.”
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“On the whole, Farm Poll respondents tended to place more emphasis on the stewardship-related indicators of a ‘good farmer’ than the productivist ones,” Arbuckle said. “Only one productivism item was rated as important or very important by more than half of respondents — ‘A good farmer is one who maintains fields free of weeds.’”
Arbuckle also noted that in another Farm Poll survey he conducted in 2020, there were multiple questions surrounding changes to farm operations in response to weather variability and its impacts. The results showed a “Major increase” in souting for pests and disease, the use of no-till or other conservation tillage and increases of fertilizer applications during the growing season.
“They indicated that they were making a lot of changes in response to changing weather,” Arbuckle said. “These results indicate that many Iowa farmers are taking steps to adapt to increases in weather variability and extremes.”
Seeing farmers focus on sustainability over productivity has many agronomists and agencies looking for the best path forward for farmers.
Peter Ciborowski with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was the principal author for its September report on agricultural best practices when looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report discusses grass buffers, cover crops and biochar.
Biochar, charcoal produced from crop residues, appeared to be the most effective in the agency’s tests, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1.27 tons per acre, but it notes there is limited research available as it is fairly new. rass buffers were estimated to reduce emissions by 0.77 tons per acre and cover crops by 0.27 tons per acre.
“Practices that take land out of agricultural production have the highest reductions per acre but may not be widely implemented,” Ciborowski said. “Cropping and fertilizer changes may achieve smaller emission reductions per acre, but could be implemented on millions of acres while maintaining or improving agricultural production.”
