Kevin McGrain inspects his solar panels on his farm near Hornick.
Beyond Consumer Trends BY KATIE JAMES
Fitting conservation into profitability
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hen Kevin McGrain started farming no-till in 1996, his neighbors watched from afar, expecting the seemingly crazy practice to fail. But on McGrain’s farm, failure would have looked like doing nothing at all in the face of extreme erosion. Now, 25 years later, the Hornickarea soybean, corn and cattle farmer reaps the benefits of better soil health, stronger weed control, more dollars and more time. A crucial practice at the backbone of his farm, cover crops and solar panels now add to the sustainability of his row-crop operation. “I don’t think consumers know how we’ve been improving the ways we farm for decades now,” says McGrain. “The conservation practices we do now would have blown my father’s mind 40 years ago.” Consumer trends have indicated
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an increasing desire for product sustainability, from fashion to farming. This eco-driven mindset influences purchasing decisions, according to the Iowa Food & Family Project’s annual Consumer Pulse Survey. 43% of Iowa consumers rated the conservation practices farmers implement as either “somewhat” or “very” important in their grocery shopping decision making. For Perry-area farmer Tom Vincent, sustainability is a buzzword, but it does the job of getting consumers to think about agriculture. “If you’re a consumer concerned about greenhouse gases, the no-till farmer has a great story to tell,” says Vincent, who also serves as a director on the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) board. “We’re growing better crops and sequestering more carbon through better farming practices.”
Many in-field conservation practices McGrain and Vincent employ not only contribute to soil and water health but also pave the way for stronger yields and better profitability. “I try to be a good steward, but at the end of the day, there has to be a business component to it,” says McGrain. “I have to run my business, and I can’t keep it going if I don’t think about numbers.”
The business of conservation For the ISA Research Center for Farming Innovation, conservation and profitability go hand in hand. “As we work with farmers across Iowa, the goal is to always be better and to look for ways to continually improve,” says Todd Sutphin, sr. research program manager who oversees ISA’ field services team. “It’s about advancing overall performance.”
