From the Board Chair

BY WALTER LYNN, HMI BOARD CHAIR

As the March winds are blowing, I’ve been thinking about the phrase “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb,” and reflecting about the meetings and interactions I’ve experienced this winter as a soil health advocate and HMI board chair. The Midwest farmer is approximately thirty days from planting the 2019 spring crops. What will impact their decision making for the 2019 business plan? One specific seminar is of special note for me in January. It was the Conservation Cropping Seminar (CCS) here in Illinois. Over 400 attended in three different locations. The roadshow speakers were David Montgomery, author of Growing A Revolution—Bringing Our Soil Back to Life, and Ray Archuleta, the “Soil Guy” and inspirational retired NRCS agronomist.

For me the power of Holistic Management is the triple bottom line benefits—environmental, economic, and social benefits. During that seminar I was very much aware of how the social or people piece because David and Ray challenged the mindset of each attendee at CCS. Ray noted a quote by Gabe and Paul Brown from Bismarck, North Dakota—“The greatest roadblock in solving a problem is the human mind.” At times, a quiet attendee could hear a pen drop in the meeting room because of a challenge to a paradigm. The examples cited were from the Palouse and Seattle in Washington State and the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico to North Dakota.

That seminar made me think about what factors hold a farmer or land manager back from implementing a strong soil health system regardless of the situation. We should note the application of soil health principles apply not only to row crops systems, but foragebased systems, and even the backyard garden to name a few agricultural systems. Some of those factors might include: • Is there peer pressure from neighbors, family, and community? • What will my landlord think? • Do I have the personal knowledge to implement a soil health system? • Am I too “old” to change my system? • My Dad did “it” this way. • Who can I talk to implement, discuss, and support my ideas? • My input salesman is my best friend. • I will be labeled as an environmentalist. • A close friend confides and says, “the farmers in the restaurant think you are nuts.” • What are their fears of changing? • Is there an ignorance one does not want to contend with about change?

We all have constraints as to why we cannot implement the next phase of a soil health system for our farm or land. But I think it’s important to consider what constraints are self-imposed by our own volition.

I would offer the adoption of the five soil health principles are transformational to world agriculture and food production systems for our families and nearby communities. Not only can our minds be a roadblock to adoption, but our hearts must be a part of what we need to transform for the goals of better land, more nutrient-dense foods, better human health, cleaner water, and better air quality. The key to transformation is finding the individuals’ “why” to create a better world for our grandchildren, like my granddaughter Eloise, and future generations. That’s what motivates me to continue to learn and change my practices. What’s your motivation?

Luna Field Farm

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11

Lydia says that part of their holistic goal is to create a space, a farm that provides a meaningful livelihood for people but also can demonstrate that it’s possible. “We are doing it, but we want to make the statement that we can always improve, always do better. We want to create a welcoming space where people can learn something.”

“We do have inputs because we don’t grow grain but do feed grain to poultry and hogs. One of the challenges for some of the grain farmers when trying new things (and not have access to livestock) is that they don’t have a way to utilize or sell the grain from an alternative crop. One of the goals for our farm is that we can extend this vision to what kinds of things we bring onto the farm to help other people meet their goals,” she says.

“We were talking recently with a friend of ours who is a grain farmer and he said, ‘If I grew this intercrop (something new that he wants to try) would you buy it?’ Of course it could be fed to livestock, but he needs to know he has a market for it. We were thinking about how this could be part of our goal; it is within our vision for the landscape—which includes his grain farm and not just our own ranch,” she explains.

In this way Wian and Lydia want to touch and heal as much land as they possibly can. They want to participate and support these kinds of interactions and arrangements with other farmers, to help each other and try new things. That is the outcome of truly regenerative agriculture. Glen and Doreen Hicks

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

the cattle to do the harvesting (and manure spreading) on their own, and the cattle would rather be out grazing, and put the manure where it’s needed. “The last year that we ran yearlings for custom grazing, we produced $140,000 worth of beef on 800 acres, which was the highest we’d ever done. The land had been gradually increasing in production, and surprisingly, rainfall was not the biggest factor. Our rainfall varies from 8-20 inches on different years, and you’d think that would have a big effect on the amount of forage.

“That last year we didn’t have a lot of rain, but the forage was there. Healthy grass is a hedge against drought. When we quit farming and seeded everything to grass we were trying to develop a natural system, and we felt good about our success. I proved to myself that natural systems can produce a lot of forage.”

While many farmers and ranchers hope they can transfer their land to family or to people who have similar production practices and agricultural philosophy, a successful transition is a daunting task given land prices and the small pool of young agricultural producers ready to invest in regenerative agriculture. But using Holistic Management, the Hicks took steps to protect some of their land through a conservation easement as well as find neighbors to keep the land in agricultural production for the next generation.