Farming In The Sustainable Triangle

Every management change ripples through the human, natural and physical environments

Here’s a new way to visualize your goal as a farmer: “Keep your operation within the Sustainable Triangle,” advises Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie. 

You operate in three environments, he explains: 

• The physical environment is each farm or field’s individual properties — slope, topography, soil type, fertility, drainage, etc. 
• The natural environment is the climate and weather for your area. 
• The human environment is your ability to adapt to change, your financial resources, equipment, manpower, landlords, farm managers — and the government (which is made up of people). 

Think of these environments as overlapping circles — a change in one environment affects each of the others. That overlapping area is the sustainable triangle, where you satisfy human, natural and physical requirements. 

“You want that triangle as large as possible because that’s where you can make an impact with management, keeping your farm profitable and sustainable,” Ferrie says.

For example, say you want to add no-till to your repertoire, for reasons of stewardship, economics, government incentives or all of the above, you’ll need to evaluate each field’s topography and drainage (physical environment). You’ll need to consider your area’s climate (natural environment) because no-till is more difficult in northern latitudes. Finally, there’s the human environment. Can you afford no-till attachments for your planter? Do you have manpower and equipment for additional scouting and pesticide treatments? 

If you have the manpower, equipment and managerial skill to add no-till to your existing tillage arsenal, your sustainable triangle becomes larger because you can adjust tillage to each field or zone (physical environment) and according to the weather (natural environment). And no-tilling will make it easier to master cover crops if you decide to add them. 

That’s the purpose of this series of articles: to help you make decisions based on your farm’s three environments and expand your sustainable triangle. “When you think in terms of the three environments, you’ll come up with the best possible plan for your farm, and for each field or management zone,” Ferrie says. “Each farm operation requires its own plan — one size does not fit all.” 

For example, say two neighbors decide they would like to no-till because of a government incentive program, but only one has the financial resources (human environment) to tile his poorly drained fields (physical environment). The second farmer should limit no-till to his well-drained topography until he can afford to tile his wet fields. Train wrecks result when humans make changes without considering their impact on the physical and natural environments.   

“Within our customer base, no-till corn and soybean growers carry some of the highest ROIs,” Ferrie continues. “Some of the lowest ROIs also come from the no-till group. The farmers who make no-till work pay attention to the other environments, making adjustments for physical and human aspects. Those who struggle make one plan and try to implement it everywhere, from highly erodible land to flat, poorly drained soil.”

Start by basing every decision process on realistic expectations. 

“For example, after 10 years of side-by-side replicated strip trials, we have a pretty good idea of what no-till and cover crops can and can’t do,” Ferrie says. “No-till can reduce trips over the field, soil erosion and the amount of equipment you need to own. But will it improve your ROI? Not necessarily — you might encounter new weed problems. Insects such as cutworm and stalk borer might reduce the stand and the yield. If you are no-tilling for stewardship reasons, you probably will be more willing to accept a lower return than if you are no-tilling solely to collect a government subsidy.” 

With a realistic picture of what you want to accomplish (the human environment), your next step is to consider how your natural and physical environments will impact your decision. We’ll address that in future articles.  

As a farmer, you want the area where the three environments overlap, the sustainable triangle, to be as large as possible because that’s where your management can make an impact.

The Cover Crop Management Decision
More than a decade of on-farm studies, conducted by Ken Ferrie in cooperation with Farm Journal, can help you realistically evaluate cover cropping, as you weigh social pressure and government incentive programs enticing you to add covers to your operation. Ferrie’s studies show covers, such as annual ryegrass, cereal rye, oats, wheat, triticale and mixtures of grasses, turnips, radishes, crimson clover and other crops, can:

• Improve water infiltration, often by 25% to 30%, due to the bio-channels they create in the soil.
  Increase biological activity by 15% to 20%.
• Improve aggregate stability.
  Store nutrients, releasing them for use by cash crops. 
• Increase organic carbon.
• Slightly increase organic matter in the top 3" of soil.
• Reduce sediment in runoff water.

BUT COVERS ALSO BRING CHALLENGES:
 

• Stand establishment is more difficult, especially with corn.
• Cover crop residue is ideal habitat for ground squirrels, voles, mice, slugs, stalk borers and armyworms. 
• While cover crops can help reduce weed pressure, some of the most common ones also carry allelopathic toxicity to the cash crop.
• Decomposing cover crops tie up soil nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur, creating a carbon 
• penalty just as with continuous corn. 
• In the spring, covers must be killed in timely fashion, requiring a backup plan in case of adverse weather.

Darrell Smith, who’s been with Farm Journal for 40-plus years, works alongside Ken Ferrie to break down the systems approach to farming.