More on Walmart’s new organic push

Following up from Rob Wallbridge’s commentary on Walmart’s new organic gambit, we find Colin Schultz writing for the Smithsonian:

But for organic food producers, it’s more complicated.

Organic farmers have an issue with scale—although there are some examples of organic yields meeting conventional yields, in general, organic production just can’t produce as much food per unit of land as regular farming. As such, organic food costs more to make. If Walmart is going to start selling it without a markup, those shortfalls are going to hit someone.

Over recent decades, rising demand for organic foods has already been squeezing American farmers, says NPR. Unable to keep up with demand, American farmers have turned to importing organic grains from Asia. Working under the scale and stability of a Walmart contract could give the company’s partners confidence to invest locally. But, until that can happen, the environmental and global health costs of increased international shipping ultimately detract from an organic farm’s potential benefits. This adds to the fact that, though organic farms are better for the environment on a “per acre” basis, they’re actually worse on a “per product” basis.

Aside from all that, the mass adoption of organic agriculture isn’t a practical plan from a more fundamental standpoint. As it stands, organic farms rely on nutrients trickling down from conventional farms. Many organic products rely, indirectly, on chemical fertilizers and pesticides. As organic agriculture gains a larger share of food production then, some scientists suggest, crop yields could drop even further.

We overestimate the sustainability of organic and underestimate the sustainability gains of conventional farming in less than helpful ways. The sooner we move away from defining sustainable agriculture by ideology and towards measuring it by metrics, the better.

The business of agriculture is business

Two interesting pieces in my news feed this morning.

The first from NPR on the rise of suburban, urban and even inner city Future Farmer’s of America chapters around the country:

Unlike FFA members of the past, Melton didn’t grow up on a farm. His parents did. And that’s the norm for the 60 other students in his chapter. “We’re in an urban area, so most of our members do not grow up on property, though they still have that connection to agriculture,” he says.

But because most millennials are several generations removed from the farm, the school district is going to great lengths to make agriculture appeal to more students.

Lauren Hart, the district’s FFA adviser and an agriculture instructor, says in her eight years of teaching, she has noticed a shift. A greater number of students are interested in organic farming methods, grass-fed beef and cage-free eggs. And Hart says she can’t just ignore what students want to learn about. “The interest and the ability both of students going into production agriculture is declining,” she says. “It’s just not something that a high school student either wants to or believes they can get into.” That’s why Hart reaches into areas you wouldn’t typically associate with farming — law, public policy, entrepreneurship and bookkeeping. And that’s something that doesn’t always sit well with a few students’ parents who hail from farm country.

They say, ” ‘When are you going to have my student on a tractor?’ ” Hart says. “Well, never.”

The second from Kristen Schmidt who uses her transition from the corporate world to sustainable agriculture to talk about how people can put a business background to work in sustainable agriculture and/or food advocacy:

Currently, sustainable agriculture jobs – and green jobs in general – are driving the U.S. economy. According to a recent report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, green jobs are quickly becoming one of the fastest growing employment sectors within the country and an article in the LA Times notes that the increase in green jobs crosses industries, stretching from manufacturing to education to compliance. While people often think of beekeeping, dairy farming or urban gardening when they think of sustainable agriculture jobs, there’s also a major need for traditional skills within this non-traditional environment. For example, a food advocacy organization is hiring a communications manager, a large organic yogurt company is seeking a farmer relationship manager, another organization is looking for a director of educational programs, and a large publishing company is hiring a managing editor for its agricultural sector (all jobs that are currently accepting applications as of the publication of this article).

There is a lot of great stuff going on out there, a little business skill and sense would be a welcome addition to more than a few operations.

What is No-Till?

I recently posted this picture of amassed corn stalk residue on my The Farmer’s Life facebook page with the description “Water has caused crop residue to accumulate in some areas creating a thick mat. In our no-till fields. We may have to burn a few of these to assist the planter in placing seed correctly.”  The first comment on the photo resulted in the post you are reading right now.  That comment read “What’s a no till field? Why would you not till a field?”  A great question.  There are many kinds of tillage including not tilling at all.

What is No-Till? No-till is just what is sounds like.  A true no-till system avoids disturbing the soil with tools like chisel plows, field cultivators, disks, and plows.  Not all of our acres are no-till, but we have been doing less tillage as of late including putting more acres into no-till.  I’m 32 years old and I’ve never actually ran a moldboard plow over a field aside from the single acre we took turns playing on a few years ago in our 1956 John Deere 70 Diesel and three-bottom plow.  I might lose some farmer points here, but I don’t even know how to plow a field properly.  Lack of experience I guess.  A plow could be considered the polar opposite of no-till.  A plow flips over the top layer of soil incorporating nearly all residue into the soil.  No-till relies on natural processes to break down residue from the previous crop.   Advantages

• Reducing fuel, labor, and equipment costs are the most quantifiable benefits of not doing any tillage.  Our current tillage system normally includes a fall chisel plow pass to manage residue followed by a pass, or two, with a field cultivator to prepare a seed bed for planting.  This system would be called minimum or conservation tillage by some, but right off the bat a no-till plan cuts at least two trips across our ground out of our budget.  If we quit doing tillage over our whole farm we’re looking at removing a couple of gallons per acre of fuel from our expenses.  Take the price of diesel today times our just over 2,000 acres of farmland and you’ll get a fairly substantial number.  That’s also fewer hours on a tractor meaning more value at trade-in time, and less wear and tear on tillage tools.  In fact I believe if we went 100% dedicated no-till we could sell off all our tillage tools and downsize one tractor from our lineup.   We’ve recently purchased a John Deere 2623VT vertical tillage tool, but let’s keep things simple for now.
• Improved soil structure is another big benefit.  Tillage disrupts the natural structure of soil and releases some of the carbon soil organisms thrive on.  Soil biology plays an important role in providing crops with the water and nutrients they need.
• Potential for erosion can be reduced by leaving more residue on the surface in the months when there are no crops growing.  Residue allows for rainwater and snow melt to infiltrate the soil rather than causing surface run off that will carry away topsoil and nutrients.  Of course if enough rains falls on already saturated soils you’ll have some runoff no matter what.  We are experiencing those conditions right now.
• Reducing soil compaction is a great benefit.  Soil gets compacted any time equipment drives over the surface.  The weight of farm equipment compacts the air and water pockets present in soil that allow for the movement of water, crop roots, and soil organisms.  Combines and grain carts are the worst offenders because they are very heavy.  Since no-till reduces the amount of equipment a field sees the threat of compaction is reduced.  Compaction cannot be avoided completely, but it can be managed by limiting field traffic to certain areas.  Subsoilers and cover crops can also correct compaction issues.

Padlock Ranch wins sustainability award

Padlock Ranch, headquartered in Ranchester, WY just won the Montana Stockgrowers Association, Montana Beef Council and the Montana Stockgrowers Association’s Foundation’s environmental stewardship award. Padlock Ranch was started in 1943 by the Scott family on 3000 acres and has grown into a 500,000 acre operation employing precision farming and rotational grazing in both Wyoming and Montana.

The ranch has three to four eco-systems. All that has to do with elevation and rainfall and so forth. We have some areas that will average 8 inches of precip and some that could reach 18. – Wayne Fahsholtz

The Montana Stockgrowers blog has a brief Q&A with Padlock Ranch manager Wayne Fahsholtz.

The Padlock Ranch is a great example of how a beef cattle business and the western landscape can co-exist…how can other ranches follow this lead?
One of the things that I have tried to do is to be transparent about how we operate. Over 95% of our population is far removed from production agriculture. We need to be creative in the ways we communicate and educate this population. So, I would urge ranchers to share their stories and ranches with others around them that may not understand about agriculture.

More interesting is the accompanying video.

It details a number of key practices and projects. The most impressive were the reclamation of 450 acres of old mining ground into productive pasture and the clean up and re-direction of the Tongue River. They removed embankments that had been built out of tires and old cars from the river and replaced them with more nature features to steer the river. They have fenced off stream banks to keep out the cattle and curb erosion and improve water quality.

The farming operation includes corn, small grains and alfafa for the winter feed.

It’s really worth taking five minutes to watch the video. It’s an impressive operation.

Canadian Oat Farmer, Ron Rein on Oat Prices

Hi, I’m a grain farmer from western Canada. After reading the entry “Blame Canada: High oat Prices Edition” I want to offer the perspective of a Canadian oat producer who has been effected by the scenario described in the entry.

It’s frustrating to not be able to take advantages of higher prices in the USA, due to the inefficiencies of Canada’s transportation system. It was also frustrating to read, a few months ago, in an oat grower’s newsletter, that the America oat milling industry was to import oats from Europe, while Canadian producers were sitting on a large oat crop that they were unable to get shipped to America, due to the failings of Canada’s grain transportation system.

This past winter Canadian farmers have seen the widest basis levels (the difference between the futures price and the price farmers are actually paid) for almost all grains and oilseeds. Not just for oats.

The Reuters article blamed the cold winter and the large wheat and canola crops in Canada for the transportation inefficiencies. But, in reality, this year’s lack of grain movement by rail is the result of many complex factors. The large crop just helped to compound the problem; and the cold winter was more of an excuse by the railways, than a real contributing factor.

Some of the contributing factors to poor Canadian grain movement, which I have observed, include:

• Much larger crop volumes than anticipated in 2013.
• The lack of railroad competition in Canada, with a railroad duopoly holding Canadians who rely on the rail industry hostage.
• A lack of political will by the Canadian government to oversee the railways, or enforce them to live up to service commitments.
• The fact that western Canada’s grain growing region is the furthest inland of any major grain exporting region of the world, making western Canadian farmers more dependent on rail service.
• Growing competition from other commodities and consumer goods for this country’s limited rail capacity.
• Public and political opposition to new pipeline construction, which results in more commodities competing to use that limited rail capacity.
• The recent loss of the single desk marketing agency for Canadian wheat, which played a large role in coordinating wheat shipments.
• The inability of statistics Canada to forecast the large volume of the 2013 crop, so that the grain handling industry could prepare for the volume.

 

Many of those factors, which affect grain transportation in this country, have been in effect for years, and gradually getting worse. As a result, Canadian grain producers have often been at a competitive disadvantage to grain producers in other parts of the world, due to the unreliability of our grain transport system. Usually, this has primarily effected crops like wheat and canola, that are mainly sold to overseas markets, than oats which is mostly sold into the United States. But this year, the total cluster fuck, that was caused when the larger than normal crop, and the loss of the single desk seller for wheat, were added to the other factors impacting grain transportation, has effected the transportation and handling of all grains from western Canada.

Usually, this has primarily effected crops like wheat and canola, which are mainly sold to overseas markets; more than oats which are mostly sold into the United States. But this year, a larger than normal crop and the loss of the single desk seller for wheat were added to the other factors impacting grain transportation caused a total cluster fuck. That effected the transportation and handling of all grains from western Canada.