Eco-friendly farming makes cents
Environmental sustainability can foster economic stability
Farming with the environment in mind can lighten the load on farmers’ pocketbooks, as well as the planet. Because conserving resources and reducing waste can help farms function prosperously for generations, many farmers are invested in managing their property as efficiently as possible.
“Really, farmers were the first environmentalists,” said John Bailey, director of environmental and regulatory affairs at the Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation. “They need to take care of the land, and by taking care of the land, that land continues to give back to them.”
The Farm Bureau works in partnership with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and other organizations to develop practices that increase crop yields while reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint, he added.
Agriculture can have a profound effect on watersheds — areas of land that drain into waterways — when erosion allows runoff to pollute bodies of water. However, farmers may find it prudent to keep their topsoil in place.
“We know that a lot of people are concerned about sediment runoff from agricultural sites, but the simple fact is that soil is the key component as far as any agricultural use is concerned,” Bailey said.
“Every farmer wants to keep the soil where it’s at, and they also want to manage it so they can have that yield that they’re looking for on an annual basis, year after year, decade after decade,” he said.
“Top soil is money,” said Brandy Carroll, director of commodity activities and market information at the bureau. Row farmers may plant cover crops or use conservation tillage, in which residue from the previous crop remains on the field before and after planting, to conserve soil, she said, adding that many farmers also use precision leveling technology to reduce soil loss during irrigation.
Livestock farmers can maintain healthy vegetation by rotating herds between pastures so that no area becomes overgrazed and eroded, Bailey added.
Using the proper amount of fertilizer also reduces harm caused by runoff, he said. Nutrient management plans allow farmers to assess their soil and determine the ratio of nutrients needed, he said, adding that farmers who hope to adopt such plans can contact organizations like the Natural Resources Conservation Service or the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
When it comes to pesticides, the Environmental Protection Agency takes steps to ensure safety to plants, animals and people, Carroll said. The EPA conducts environmental impact studies before any product is approved, she added, and products are reregistered periodically to make sure they meet current standards. The EPA also sets the rate at which a pesticide should be used.
“Farmers are looking to apply at that rate or less, because anytime you apply a product to a crop, you’re actually increasing the cost of production,” she said. “They want to make sure that the products they apply are safe and that they apply those products in a responsible manner.”
The EPA also requires a certification process for both private and commercial pesticide applicators, she said, and applicators must pass a refresher course and test every five years.
Farmers can also reduce expenses and environmental impact by conserving water. New computer programs allow farmers to better gauge hole placement in poly-pipe irrigators, leading to great efficiency, she said.
In addition, farmers are working to reduce the amount of groundwater pumped up through wells, which can deplete underground aquifers, she said, adding that farmers are using more sustainable methods like channeling excess water from rivers and tailwater recovery, which captures and reuses runoff from irrigation and rainfall.
Reducing pumping can also reduce energy use, she added, as can new equipment that allows farmers to accomplish multiple tasks with a single tractor sweep.
“Anything they can do to reduce the number of times that they go across the field reduces their energy use, and those are the kinds of efficiencies they look for all the time,” she said.
Other new technologies, such as GPS and drones, allow farmers to use precise measurements to apply fertilizers and pesticides, spread seeds, monitor water and nutrient levels, and perform countless other waste-reducing activities.
“There’s a lot of precision agriculture technology that they utilize,” Carroll said. “There’s so much data that is available to farmers now, and we’re honestly just beginning to scratch the surface.”
The Farm Bureau helps farmers stay current on industry practices by offering workshops about research developments and environmental incentive programs, as well as monitoring agencies that regulate industrial practices, she said.
Many farmers also fund self-assessments known as checkoff programs, which allow state agencies to conduct research, promotion and development related to the agricultural sustainability.
“The whole goal of these research programs that farmers fund themselves is to make sure that they help them farm in the most sustainable, effective, efficient way possible,” she said, adding that the bureau prefers voluntary conservation programs to mandatory ones.
Bailey agreed that many environmental regulations, while well-intentioned, may be “putting a round peg in a square hole.”
“Farmers, if given the opportunity to do right, will,” he said, “but putting unnecessary regulations that draw away from being able to farm their property correctly just because the regulation needed to be in place, to us, is not the solution.”