Sustainability: What it Means to an Iowa Farmer

Sustainability: What it Means to an Iowa Farmer

By Sara Preston

Is it More Than a Buzzword?

The word sustainability is a frequently referenced term, but to many can be confusing and questionable. What does sustainability in agriculture mean? Is it something that farmers take seriously?

Sustainability is the act of protecting the environment in many ways, including soil health, water conservation, pollution control and energy reduction. So, the next question is, do farmers care about sustainability? The answer is: absolutely!

On my husband’s family farm, we are raising the fifth generation. We are blessed to have four of those five generations still around the farming operation, including Jared’s almost 90-yearold grandmother. The neat part of family farms is that we are still farming the land that Jared’s great grandparents farmed. We understand and know firsthand the decisions we make don’t just impact us and next year’s crop but will ultimately impact our children or grandchildren if they choose to farm in the future. No pressure, right?

Soil Health and Plant Types

Soil health is essential for crop farmers so we continually monitor and evaluate it. Like many farmers across the state, we are planting more cover crops. We plant winter rye in the late summer on the fields we chopped for corn silage, then let that grow through the fall, winter and spring. We cut or chop the rye in late spring and feed it to our cattle. We plant soybeans on those fields for the remainder of the growing season.

Cover crops provide another feed source for our livestock while benefitting the land. The plants protect the topsoil from the wind and other winter elements. This minimizes erosion, keeping vital nutrients in the soil. This practice also means we need less fertilizer on crops during the growing season because many critical nutrients, which plants need to thrive, have stayed in place.

Plant researchers and breeders also help crop farmers with sustainability. During this past summer, we experienced a drought with minimal rainfall from the time we planted corn and soybeans until harvest. We were pleasantly surprised how well these crops tolerated the drought and were still able to produce a good yield. Thanks to researchers and plant breeding, we have plants that can withstand different elements.

Winter rye - a cover crop - helps keep valuable nutrients in the soil

Reducing Emissions

As livestock farmers, we are very mindful of the environment. In northern Iowa, pastureland is hard to come by, so some of our cow/calf pairs and feedlot cattle are raised in hoop barns. This is a way we can effectively raise cattle without overrunning pastureland.

Cattlemen across the state work extremely hard to ensure their cattle are helping the land. We have seen this hard work pay off. Research shows that between 1960 and 2018, beef producers reduced their carbon footprint by 40% while producing 66% more beef. Breeding and nutrition benefit farmers as we can raise beef cattle more efficiently by having our animals grow at a quicker but healthy rate. We now have the genetic knowledge at our fingertips to pick cows and bulls that will produce a calf who will grow quicker than others, making safe, high-quality beef more readily available.

Another way our farm practices sustainability is by selling most of the corn we don’t feed to our cattle to a local ethanol plant. It processes the corn into a renewable fuel. By selling corn and soybeans into renewable fuels, we reduce greenhouse emissions every year. Renewable fuels have helped take the equivalent of 18 million cars off the road since 2008.

Our farm family, together with farmers and ranchers across the country, work hard to be the best in the world when it comes to producing safe, wholesome and high-quality products with the smallest environmental footprint possible. This is something farmers and the agriculture community work toward daily and will continue to work on for years to come. Farmers know the impact their decisions have and work tirelessly to make the best choices today and for future generations.