A S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T T O T H E H U R O N D A I LY T R I B U N E
October 5, 2019
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Bozeman farmers work the land amid encroaching development BY ABBY LYNES Bozeman Daily Chronicle BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Looking from a bird’s-eye view, Bozeman’s history as a farm town can still be seen in certain pockets of wide, open spaces around the city. Hay bales dot fields on 19th Avenue and Huffine Lane year after year, despite increased pressure on farmers to sell that land to accommodate the area’s surging growth. And while selling could yield a huge profit, some landowners are determined to hold onto what’s considered some of the richest soil in the area. Kenny Van Dyke, who farms across the valley with his brother, Mark Van Dyke, said the two have a couple of landlords who should get gold medals for not developing their land. “Some of the land around MSU is going to be ag land forever,” Kenny said. Some people hold onto the land because they believe in farming and agriculture, some don’t want their homes to change and some developers have people like the Van Dykes farm their land so they can get an agricultural tax credit while they wait for building plans to move forward. Others, like organic produce farmer Rachael Hicks, do it because they believe in local, sustainable food and want to see the movement grow in Bozeman. While only 2.7% of Gallatin County’s employees work in agriculture, according to a 2019 Prospera Business Network report, the industry is still an integral part of Bozeman’s past and present. Farmers hope it will be a part of its future, too. “If you lose optimism, you’re
Mark and Kenny Van Dyke pose for a photo with their combine during harvest near Three Forks, Mont. Looking from a bird’seye view, Bozeman’s history as a farm town can still be seen in certain pockets of wide, open spaces around the city. The brothers are fourth-generation farmers and have worked the land in the Bozeman area all their lives. Growing up, the two helped with the family farming and ranching business. (Rachel Leathe/Bozeman Daily Chronicle via AP) done,” Mark said. Van Dyke brothers Van Dyke brothers Kenny and Mark get flipped off a lot. Not for bad driving or a fiery disposition. They farm several chunks of land across the Gallatin Valley and are responsible for the big hay bales dotting fields on 19th Avenue, Kagy Boulevard and for farming between Goldenstein Lane and Nash Road. This often requires them to drive slowly along some of the city’s busiest streets to move their equipment, something that used to be common in Bozeman but is becoming increasingly difficult as the valley grows and traffic gets busier. The two farmers have learned to just wave at angry passersby. The brothers are fourth-generation farmers and have worked the land in the Bozeman area all their lives. Grow-
ing up, the two helped with the family farming and ranching business. They had a deal with their mom where they would work hard so they could get a dirt bike in the spring. They’ve seen the area change over the years, watching new streets and subdivisions go up in places where they used to drive to get out of town in high school. It’s hard seeing things change, especially in south Bozeman, where the land is so fertile. “You’ll see people pulling out foundation, and you’ll see 4 feet of black, not a single rock,” Kenny said. But at the same time, Mark said they can’t blame people for wanting to live in the place they also love so much. The problem is, when so many houses are built, it fills up the wide open spaces people came here for, Kenny said.
michigansthumb.com Still, the brothers aren’t going anywhere as long as there’s land to farm. Despite the ups and downs that come with farming, the brothers love what they do. There’s something special about being your own boss, and dinners in the field are pretty fun — it’s more of a lifestyle than a job, Mark said. “We’re going to go until the bitter end,” Kenny said. ___ Jeff Todd In some ways, Jeff Todd said he’s “crossed over to the other side.” “My finances aren’t tied directly to the commodity check like they used to be,” he said. Todd is the farm foreman with the College of Agriculture & Montana Agricultural Experiment Station at Montana State University, a farm used for research and to develop new types of crops. He still farms the land his great-grandfather homesteaded in the valley, but it’s a hobby farm now, with goats, chickens and horses. It’ll probably take a conservation easement to keep it farm land, he said. “I have grandkids in the house my father was raised in,” he said. “And I don’t plan on moving anywhere.” He said he would still be farming if it was equitable, but it isn’t anymore. He likes working for MSU and having a steady paycheck. Even then, though, farming land around town is getting more difficult. His program farms 800 to 1,000 acres as far west as Red Bluff, by Norris, to Springhill to Fort Ellis, which encompasses a lot of land in town that includes the field on 19th Avenue and College Street. Moving equipment across town is starting to impact the way the program operates, though. Todd said it’s not a question of if someone will get hurt in the process, anymore. “At one point someone will get hurt, will die,” he said. The program is working on
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Rachael Hicks gives a tour of her 20 acre farm, Three Hearts Farm in Bozeman, Mont. Looking from a bird’s-eye view, Bozeman’s history as a farm town can still be seen in certain pockets of wide, open spaces around the city. (Rachel Leathe/Bozeman Daily Chronicle via AP) getting everything on a trailer better so they can keep up with the flow of traffic and not slow things down. When roads were quieter and less trafficked, moving equipment wasn’t as much of a problem in Bozeman. But with all the new activity, Todd said it’s likely that it will get to the point where farmers can no longer actively move equipment on roads. Huffine Lane is already there, he said. People come to the valley for the open space and the mountains, he said, but they don’t like the smell of manure after
farmers spread it out. It’s part of what makes Bozeman what it is, but it’s going away. “And, unfortunately, we’re at a point to where the chaotic lifestyle they bring is now spoiling that for those that have lived here in the long run,” he said. The influx of people in Bozeman has changed the valley, he said. He feels like everyone is always in a rush to get around. “If I need to move a combine from Four Corners to Fort Ellis, there are just some people that are going to need to be a little patient,” he said.
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2019 Rachael Hicks Not every seed grows perfectly. “But when they do, it seems like a miracle to me every time,” Hicks said. An advocate for small-scale, organic, local farming, Hicks and her family have owned Three Hearts Farm on Love Lane for the past four summers. Farming more than 100 types of plants on about an acre, she said staying small has always been important to her. Much of her farming philosophy was inspired by writer and farmer Wendell Berry, who she said talks about knowing the land well. “I like his approach. He said if you do the little thing that
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you know are good for the land and good for your community, then all those little things add up,” she said. “It’s not that you have to fix the problem, but if you do your small part, that’s good.” Hicks said she doesn’t plan on feeding all of Bozeman, but as the town grows, she hopes it can inspire more people to start their own community gardens and small farms. She hopes more people start to care where their food comes from. “And it’s not to say that everyone should be a small farmer,” she said. “I think it’s to continue to have a connection to the land and to truly support the things that are local around them.”
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Deploying precision agriculture in developing countries provides opportunities Pressure on farmers is high. A growing world population, estimated to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, means a growing demand to produce more food. But more people will also require more housing and industrialization, and that will mean less land to farm. For farmers, the endless amount of data available can be daunting, not to mention trying to keep pace with rapid-fire advancements in technology. This all can equate to a perfect storm of sorts, especially for small farmers in developing countries. No one knows the international challenges quite like Michigan State University’s Karim Maredia, who leads World Technology Access Program (WorldTAP), which draws on expertise from MSU
These low-cost soil moisture sensors are part of a citizen science project funded by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Farmers in developing countries will use the sensors to compile data that is analyzed and used for decision support.
and around the world to offer short- and long-term trainings, advisory services and consultation in diverse areas of agricultural research and development.
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ture, public health and natural resources management to discuss ways that new technologies could foster economic growth.He said the need for more precision agriculture technologies is vital to the future of farming, especially for smallholder farms. The recent proliferation of cell phones in the developing have some left over to sell world has enormously shiftat local markets. They often ed how people interact with make field decisions on the one another and exchange basis of generic recommenda- information. They have also tions or historical information drastically changed how busirather than scientific data. nesses operate, and farms are “There are many instances no different. with fertilizers, and pest and According to a 2018 survey disease management, where of 22 developing countries farmers are just blindly apply- by the Pew Research Cening inputs,” Maredia said. ter, close to 60 percent of “They do what they’ve always responders said they had done. There are many cases of smartphones. In the United overuse, underuse and misuse States, 77 percent own smartof inputs. We want to work phones. with people to change that.” From Michigan to Malawi, Maredia has spent more smartphones are becoming than three decades assisting ubiquitous in agriculture. developing countries with And it’s not simply a matter capacity building, technology of speedy communication. transfer and policymaking. The real value lies in using In 2017, he was named mobile applications to quickthe only non-African on the ly collect and analyze data, High Level African Panel an invaluable resource for on Emerging Technologies, high-pressure, real-time deciwhich was commissioned to sion making. unite scientists from agriculThough access to data
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michigansthumb.com is mostly a problem of the past, implementing leading technologies remains a huge challenge. Small farm, big responsibility According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the bulk of the 570 million global farms are operated by smallholder farmers. More than 80 percent of the food consumed in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia is grown on such farms. Smallholder farms are frequently the lifeblood of their communities, relied on for food security in some of the world’s poorest areas. Despite the integral nature of these operations and rising availability of data, smallholder farmers have gaps in technology and knowledge. To help fill these voids, Maredia and his WorldTAP colleagues train scientists, regulators and policymakers on a variety of topics, including food safety, sustainable agriculture, biotechnology, technology transfer and integrated pest management. For example, Maredia is a principal investigator at MSU on a new 2019 project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development to create an Egyptian Center of Excellence for Agriculture. The five-year, $30 million grant is led by Cornell University in partnership with MSU, Purdue University, the University of California-Davis, Sathguru Consultants, Cairo University and four other Egyptian universities. Maredia and fellow MSU researchers are overseeing the Exchanges, Training and Scholarships component, in which faculty members and students will be trained on an assortment of agricultural topics. Maredia has also identified programs from MSU that could be useful to scientists, extension specialists and farmers in developing countries. One is PhotosynQ, an
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initiative led by David Kramer, a John A. Hannah distinguished professor and MSU AgBioResearch scientist. With a small, $100 handheld device, PhotosynQ users collect immediate data on plant health in the field or in the laboratory. They then upload that information through a smartphone app to the PhotosynQ website. Sharing this data broadly has spawned a vast network of collaboration on topics from management techniques to plant variety choices. To date, more than 3,800 users have made more than 1.1 million contributions to the database. “PhotosynQ is just one example where connecting people has resulted in a lot of information and knowledge being shared,” Maredia said. “This is a simple but elegant device. These are the types of technologies that farmers in developing countries are interested in because they are low in cost and high in benefit.” Pressure-packed predictions Forecasting crop yields is a valuable strategy for any farmer. The advantages of understanding how weather, soil conditions and management affect output are evident. That information ultimately aids in the formation of a cropping plan. Access to sophisticated modeling methods, however, is limited. Farmers in developing countries often don’t have the opportunity to simulate a multitude of scenarios before making decisions. But these are exactly the people who may benefit from it most. For many, production is a matter of survival. Amor Ines, an assistant professor in the MSU Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences, wants to give farmers the chance to learn from technologies they may not otherwise have access to. He helps farmers in developing countries by matching access to information at the
farm and policymaking levels and showing them how to use the knowledge. “It’s one thing to give someone more data, but it’s quite another to show them how to use it effectively,” Ines said. “We can put simple sensors in a field and extract soil data, use remote sensors, collect aerial imagery, and put that together with weather forecasts. Factoring in management, we can start to use models to see what practices make the most sense. In developing countries, especially, there are limited resources that must be used efficiently.” For several research endeavors, Ines has partnered with a company in Japan called ListenField, which connects satellite, drone, sensor and on-farm data, then delivers analysis and recommendations. The company provides a mobile application, FarmAI, that links these tech-
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2019 nologies and helps farmers manage day-to-day operations. ListenField has collaborated with numerous organizations in Japan. One notable project involves working with universities in Japan, India and Thailand on data-based farming in the face of climate change. Dealing with a changing climate is one of the more difficult aspects of modern-day agriculture. In the Philippines, where rice production is critical to the country’s food security, Ines and scientists from the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University are merging crop modeling with seasonal climate forecasts to generate a decision-support tool. For farmers and governments in developing countries, crop modeling can help them prepare for undesirable circumstances
such as drought. In 2019, the Philippines have been experiencing severe drought due to El Niño. “Seasonal climate forecasts aren’t very helpful for farmers without understanding of how that translates to recommendations,” Ines said. “Combining forecast data with the crop models allows us to present data-supported recommendations that are implementable at small and large scales. These farmers have never had information like this before, which makes this work very exciting.” This article was published in Futures, a magazine produced twice per year by Michigan State University AgBioResearch. To view past issues of Futures, visit www. futuresmagazine.msu.edu. For more information, email Holly Whetstone, editor, at whetst11@msu.edu or call 517-355-0123.
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Delayed planting resources help Creating resilient farms farmers mitigate weather issues by managing stress Throughout Michigan and the Midwest, the prolonged wet weather and flooding in spring 2019 put farmers in a difficult financial position. Unprecedented rainfall forced farms to delay planting and greatly adjust management practices — just 68% of the corn crop and 70% of the soybean crop were planted. MSU Extension’s statewide network of agricultural educators were quick to respond to this situation by tracking growing conditions, working individually with farmers, hosting crop update sessions and writing educational articles. Information detailed how farmers could adjust to inhospitable conditions, make difficult choices and apply for crop damage assistance. Since this issue has the potential to
greatly affect farm income, educational efforts included programming dedicated to assisting farmers under stressful conditions. Online delayed planting educational materials were viewed nearly 25,000 times between June and August 2019. More than 600 participants attended in-person informational sessions discussing strategies for handling delayed planted acreage between June and August 2019. Weekly virtual breakfast meetings were amended to discuss delayed planting strategies. Nearly 600 participants attended the live webinars between April and July 2019. Others viewed the webinars on YouTube more than 1,000 times and Facebook posts reached almost 5,000 people.
The rewards of farm life can be great, but there are also heavy demands — which include everything from equipment failures to unpredictable growing seasons. These challenges can lead to stress, mental health issues and even suicide. Uniquely positioned at the intersection of agricultural knowledge and mental health expertise, MSU Extension is helping farmers, their families and agribusiness professionals navigate these stressors. MSU Extension offers a suite of trainings, resources and educational materials to help
Iowa home to 24.9 million pig —a new record DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa now has 24.9 million pigs on farms, a record number and up 6% from last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the figures Friday for the quarter ending Sept. 1. It showed Iowa farms have just over 1 million breeding pigs and 23.9 million market hogs, or those raised for meat. The growth in hog numbers comes as environmental groups are trying to force the state to
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farmers cope with this stress; additionally, in January 2019, MSU Extension hosted a national Farm Stress Management Summit. 99 participants from 23 states attended the Farm Stress Management Summit. In 2019, MSU Extension provided 31 farm stress management workshops, reaching 944 farmers and agriculture industry professionals. 91% of participants reported that the trainings helped them learn to recognize signs of depression, suicide and mental illness.
slow expansion of pig farms. A state court judge on Sept. 10 said two environmental groups may proceed to trial in their lawsuit alleging the state’s policy of expanding hog farms and its voluntary farm pollution controls violate the rights of citizens to clean water in the Raccoon River. The USDA says the national inventory of pigs is at 77.7 million, the highest number for Sept. 1 since records began in 1988.
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Producing industrial hemp in Michigan
Michigan growers export $2 billion despite trade barriers
Legalization of industrial hemp production in the 2018 Farm Bill increased interest in growing the crop in Michigan. Commercial production of industrial hemp is now legal in all 50 states, giving each state regulatory authority and opening the door for the re-development of a domestic hemp industry. In Michigan, growers and processors are required to register their hemp acres and facilities with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and submit crop samples for THC testing. Research conducted by MSU will soon provide
Michigan exports close to $2 billion in food and agricultural products, and acceptable pesticide residue limits are not consistent across the globe. This results in trade barriers for Michigan-grown specialty crops. Since 1963, the IR-4 Project (IR-4) has been the primary entity in the United States to facilitate registrations of conventional pesticides and biopesticides on specialty food crops (fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, spices) and non-food environmental horticulture crops. MSU has been a part of IR-4 since 1963. IR-4 is recognized by the international community as the model program to help specialty crop growers obtain legal access to safe and effective pest management technology. IR-4 personnel, in association with UN’s Food and Agriculture Organiza-
region-specific data on growing requirements. In the meantime, MSU Extension has published a bulletin compiling the best information available, recommending growers review production data established in Ontario, Canada, as soils and climates are similar to Michigan. Ongoing MSU Extension educational efforts in the form of a website and bulletins focus on general information about industrial hemp. In summer 2019, MSU Extension webinars reached nearly 600 participants interested in growing industrial hemp in Michigan.
A commitment to growing progress
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tion (FAO) have sponsored three Global Minor Use Summits. IR-4 has consulted with the governments of Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, New Zealand, South Korea, and Taiwan in finding solutions for the Minor Use Problem. Additionally IR-4 has been the principal educator in World Bank-funded capacity building projects in the ASEAN region, Sub-Saharan Africa and in Latin/ South America. IR-4, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and MSU scientists and economists teamed up to develop an online tool to aid Michigan apple and tart cherry growers in selecting materials to manage key pests and diseases with a particular market in mind.
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Educating the public on new marijuana laws Michigan laws governing marijuana have changed quickly in the past few years. MSU Extension teamed with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to teach local officials throughout Michigan about medical marijuana licensing laws and conduct workshops and forums on Proposal 1, a statewide ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana. Participants came away with a better understanding of the laws, were more confident in their vote and professional roles, and appreciated the unbiased presentation of this important information. More than 800 participants attended 14 Regulating Medical Marijuana Facilities workshops held around the state, and 85% of participants reported knowledge of legal responsibilities and limitations. Hundreds attended a statewide ballot proposal forum simulcast at a dozen sites throughout Michigan and online. Nearly 20,000 people read educational articles and web pages regarding Proposal 1 and the forums
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Understanding crop Insurance options & USDA risk programs The reality is that each farm is a very different situation. At the end of the season, what does your farm’s situaThe severe weather this tion mean when it comes to year has put a tremendous profitability and cash flow? amount of pressure on Mich- In this segment, MSU Extenigan farms. sion recommends the followFrom delays in planting to ing considerations: spraying timely for weeds or Review crop insurance diseases, each farm has felt programs and their anticithe impact of these condipated impact on this year’s tions, and you can see exam- cash flow and profit. What ples here at, https://www. revenue are you protected canr.msu.edu/agriculture/ to? delayed-planting-resources/. Take advantage of USDA The common thought is that MFP (Market Facilitation because conditions across Program). the state were similar that County rates are now the impacts to farms would available. 50% in October be, too. and balance depending on BY ROGER BETZ AND JONATHAN LAPORTE Michigan State University Extension
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market conditions. https:// www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/market-facilitation-program/ index Evaluate, choose and sign up for alternative USDA Risk programs. Specifically choices between PLC and ARC-County. 2019 and 2020 will be together but 2021 will be a separate choice from previous two years. (Several FSA/ Extension programs will take place in Michigan starting in September) Crop Insurance Considerations Crop insurance is utilized on a majority of row crop acres in Michigan and other states. If you have crop insurance, use the Revenue Guarantee coverage level to help determine minimum expected revenue. Crop Insurance Revenue Guarantee (2019) The Projected Spring Harvest price for corn is $4.00 for corn, $9.54 for soybeans, and $5.72 for wheat. The current projected final harvest prices are lower so use these values. This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension. msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888678-3464).
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Brothers at odds over farm equipment restoration BY MARK MCCARTHY Star-Herald GERING, Neb. (AP) — It’s a brotherly matter of Beauty vs. The Beast at the Legacy of the Plains Museum. Dick Kuxhausen is of the mindset that an older piece of equipment should be fixed up and painted to make it look like new again. Al Kuxhausen prefers the equipment not be restored, left to look worn and show the years of use and experience it’s had in the field. Museum board member Kevin Sandberg needles the brothers about the competition between Dick’s beauty and Al’s beast as both were on display as part of a sugar beet harvest demonstration during the recent Harvest Festival. On
display at the museum was a 1944 M International that was restored top to bottom. To contrast that is an Allis Chalmers model with a Marbeet digger attachment. The Allis Chalmers has been made to run and operate properly, but is otherwise untouched from the condition it was in when the museum acquired it. “(Al) said he was going to have a contest, the beauty and the beast,” Sandberg told the Star-Herald . “(Dick) likes to paint everything, so he said, ‘We’re going to throw some paint on that (Allis Chalmers),’ and Alvin says, ‘No, we’re going to have a contest, the beauty and the beast.’” Dick said he’s always been of the mindset to get equipment
looking as good as possible. “I’m just used to kind of fixing everything up,” Dick said. “I like it looking better, but it’s not really a rivalry.” Al recalled the days of using the machines, and he likes the equipment to reflect that use. He remembers growing up with the machines in the 1950s and selling the Allis Chalmers equipment for an implement dealer. “Naturally, we started with the horses,” Al said. “Later on, as it became mechanized, we grew into the easier part of it. “ The M International has seen hundreds of hours of restoration by the staff and volunteers at the museum. Dick said a lot of pride goes into that work, bringing back memories for those who grew up with the
equipment. “I remember that from when I was a kid, and I was running around, to see that back out there and listen to it, there’s nothing like it,” Dick said. “When you first start down the field, when the first big beets go in and they hit the back of that cart — if you were around these, you could tell whether they were running an International or a Marbeet from the sound of the beets hitting the cart when they first started. It’s a different ‘bang’ it made in them. You hear that ‘boom, boom, boom,’ and on the International it was one way, and the Marbeet it was different.” For Al, the look of a used piece of equipment reflects the history of the machine. “My theory on that is, folks
that are not familiar at all, or young folks, look at that paint job and think ‘That’s a new unit,’” he said looking to the International before turning his attention to the Allis Chalmers. “This they look at and they know this is an old timer. This is what we’re trying to emphasize, I think, is the old-time stuff that they were using.” For both men, it’s a love of the equipment and a desire to preserve history that keeps them working to keep the machines running. “It’s a challenge to keep it running and try to show folks what we had to work with besides hand labor,” Al said. As for the best way to show that history, the Kuxhausen brothers will continue to agree to disagree.
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Cattle & dairy farmers are becoming environmentally friendly BY LUIS FIELDMAN Daily Hampshire Gazette HADLEY, Mass. (AP) — Methane, a greenhouse gas, gets turned into electricity at Barstow’s Longview Farm in Hadley. Enough electricity is generated from cow manure and food waste to power over 1,000 homes. The gas traps heat in the atmosphere and cows produce methane through belches, farts and their manure - enough to account for nine percent of all methane emissions in the United States, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2013, Barstow’s began using an anaerobic digester, which processes manure and food waste into electricity and
creates a nutrient-rich fertilizer for the farm. The digester generates 800 kilowatts per hour by processing all of the farm’s nearly 6,000 gallons of manure, plus 7,000 gallons of food waste from nearby businesses. “We are taking the energy potential out of cow manure and food waste and turning it into enough electricity to power 1,600 homes,” Denise Barstow said. Two engines are running continuously to generate electricity that goes into the power grid. Both engines have heat recovery units hooked up which goes back to heating the digester itself, for hot water used to clean barns, and to heat eight homes on the farm’s property. Food waste from local com-
panies such as Coca Cola and Whole Foods and manure from the farm’s 550 cows go into the digester’s tanks, one of which is 17 feet underground and insulated by the ground. “It’s a lot like a stomach,” Barstow said. “It’s really hot in there. Everything is moving around, there are little microbes in there and all the gas is rising to the top — methane, carbon and sulfur.” Barstow said that the farm captures 80 percent of the methane produced by cows, and converts it into carbon — a less harmful pollutant — along with generating electricity, making natural fertilizer, and heating. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its ability to absorb
and trap heat in the atmosphere. “We wanted to do something that the community would really buy into and support and something that reflected our beliefs as farmers,” Barstow said. “That we need to do our best to minimize our waste and reuse all that we can and do the best possible thing for the land and world.” Barstow’s Farm partnered with five other dairy farms in the state to attract investors for the digester. Through a combination of grants and loans from the state helped support the $6.3 million project. Vanguard Renewables, a Wellesley-based company, operates the digester. The U.S. has the largest fed-cattle industry in the world
and is the world’s largest producer of beef, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Massachusetts ranks among the smallest inventory of cattle in the U.S. In 2017, the USDA reported a population of approximately 6,000 cattle in Massachusetts versus largest-scale productions in Texas with 4 million, and Missouri and Oklahoma each with over 2 million. Farmers at Barstow’s and Cook Farm in Hadley are implementing farming practices to minimize their impact on the local environment. Land management practices for growing cow feed can have a significant impact on its surrounding area. The type of fertilizer used and the method for preparing the land to grow
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michigansthumb.com crops are vital to minimizing a farm’s impact on the environment. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit organization, U.S. farmers applied roughly 4.3 million tons of nitrogen-based fertilizer on their crops in 1964. By 2007, Americans used 5.7 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer on corn alone. Since the 1950s, artificial commercial fertilizer has become a cheaper and easier method of growing cow feed, and the practice of rotating crops in order to keep soil naturally fertile has become less common, according to an agricultural professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Masoud Hashemi, who teaches pasture management at UMass, said, “For many years, farmers were dependent on legumes for biologically fixing nitrogen” in the soil. Then, “the fossil fuel (industry) made artificially fertilizer cheap and easy to handle and farmers stopped using legumes since they could buy big bags of urea for $20.” Urea is a cheap, nitrogen-based artificial fertilizer. Farmers would use peas, beans, alfalfa, and clover in order to bring nitrogen from the atmosphere into the ground and enrich the soil after harvesting hay and corn used for cow feed,
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Hashemi said. The harm in using artificial fertilizers is the runoff created from rain and water. Harmful chemicals make their way into underground sources of water that can cause algae blooms in brooks, ponds, and lakes, according to Hashemi. “Algae blooms deplete oxygen from a body of water and any organism in the water, including fish, snakes, and frogs that will die because of a deficiency of oxygen,” Hashemi said. “The water is also toxic and small animals that drink from it will die. Baby sheep and cows are very sensitive to that.” Gordon Cook, a co-owner of Cook Farm, said runoff control methods can help prevent erosion from rainwater from contaminating larger bodies of water. “We incorporate the use of grassways to purify the water before they get into a stream,” he said. The grassways disperse the erosion into the ground before reaching a body of water. Cook also said the farm uses stone waterways to move the water into a swale rather than a ditch. “Rather than let (erosion) run off and take things and put it downriver, we try to disperse it so that the water doesn’t go” into waterways such as the Connecticut River, Cook said.
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