At first glance, the land pictured here doesn’t appear very impressive. What it is though, is an example of modern, eco-friendly farming.
The farm, a few hours south of Chicago, IL is a portion of a land grant made to my husband’s family around 200 years ago. It is situated a few miles away from the tiny courthouse where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law. Over the years, the land was divided and subdivided, and some sections were sold off. Eventually, when my husband’s part of the family left the area, this parcel was left under the oversight of a local family. Recently, we had an opportunity to see our inheritance for the first time and meet the farm managers. The third and fourth generations of that same family currently work the land in an environmentally-conscious way and they use a remarkable level of technology in doing so.
In the photo, you will see distinct rows of growth. However, the land is never plowed. Strip-farming is a type of no-till agriculture, where crops are planted in strips, as part of a system of crop rotation. In some areas of the world, a crop may be planted with a ground cover in between the rows to help prevent soil erosion, water evaporation, and weeds. On this farm, the crop is planted in strips (in this case, corn), harvested, and the crop residue is left lying in the row, adding nutrients back into the soil as it decays. This is done for 3 consecutive years. Then, a second crop (soybeans are shown here) is planted between the rows of corn stalks.
This pattern of 3 corn crops, followed by one of soybeans has the additional benefit of preventing a parasitic nematode (the soybean cyst nematode) from gaining a foothold. A nematode infestation of this type is not observable until the worm population increases enough to cause above ground symptoms. The 3 successive corn crops give the nematode population time to die off, preventing a serious infestation from ever occurring.
The soil coverage by the crop residue and the fact that the land is never plowed, both help prevent soil erosion. World-wide, over the past 40 years, almost a third of the world’s arable land has become unproductive due to erosion. Erosion causes the soil to lose nutrients, water, soil biota, and organic matter, and allows fertilizer and infectious diseases to wash down into rivers, lakes, and streams.
Planting on the farm is a high-tech event. Each tractor carries six different computers. The fields are mapped using satellite data and computer software directs how far apart and how deep the seeds are planted, insuring that the maximum number of plants survive and thrive. Satellite imagery also determines areas where problems exist (such as retaining too much or too little water), so that the issues can be resolved quickly. Because of the climate of the area, no irrigation is necessary. Chemical fertilizers are seldom used and the farm managers are beginning to look into using beneficial bacteria to release nitrogen and phosphorus that is locked into the land. A newly acquired drone will soon provide us with updated photos of what’s going on with our land. The family who manages the farm presents information about what they do and their increased crop yields to attendants at agricultural conferences, as well as writing articles for agricultural publications. By spreading the word of the increased crop yields they are achieving via their methods, they are helping to improve farming practices across the American Mid-West and hopefully, farther afield (Hah! I inadverdently made a pun!).
http://www.agriinfo.in/?page=topic&superid=1&topicid=443
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4008467/
