Reduce, Cover, and Sample: 3 Environmentally Friendly Changes a Farmer Can Make
In this day and age, the environment and agriculture receive a lot of focus from all kinds of groups, including the media, the government, and privately sponsored organizations. Farmers should be aware of groups just looking to give agriculture a bad name. The following changes can help improve agriculture’s negative image. These changes are: reducing tillage, cover cropping, and sampling manure and soil. Many farmers currently do these things, but all farmers should think about making these changes.
In 2009, 56.8% of Pennsylvania farmers were using no-till and another 21% of Pennsylvania farmers were using conventional tillage. Reducing tillage is a great way to improve one’s soil, reduce the fuel and equipment usage on the farm, and reduce soil erosion. Every time a soil is turned over the natural soil structure is destroyed. Reducing tillage helps to keep some of the natural soil structure, but no-tilling will allow the soil to completely develop its natural soil structure. Natural soil structure increases pore space, increases water infiltration rate and improves a soil’s resistance to erosion. When tillage occurs, the soil is exposed to the atmosphere. This exposure causes large amounts of organic matter to oxidize and release large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This process limits a tilled soil’s ability to build up organic matter. A conventional tilled soil (plowed and disked) typically has 16% organic matter, while a no-tilled soil has 31% organic matter. Organic matter increases biological activity in a soil, improves a soil’s water holding capacity, and reduces erosion. Tillage can increase erosion up to 700 times that of a no-tilled soil. That is the difference between losing 6pounds of soil per acre (no-tilled) or 4750 pounds of soil per acre (conventional tillage). So how does reducing tillage improve the environment? By reducing tillage, a farmer can: reduce the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, increase the biological activity in the soil, and decrease the amount of soil that runs into lakes and streams.
Fresh Cut French Fries brought to you by the PA Cooperative Potato Growers, Inc. These were perfect with just a pinch of salt, no ketchup needed.
I really enjoyed looking at all the poultry and water fowl with my two cousins. Pictured is the younger one petting a bird. He was so gentle, it was sweet.
The oh so famous butter sculpture is at the farm show every year and always depicts a different image. This year’s sculpture is dedicated to the hard working Dairy Farmers who are a large part of PA Agriculture. The sculpture is made of 1000 pounds of butter and this butter will be turned into bio-fuel at the end of farm show.
I really like looking at all the Christmas Trees. This year my favorite tree was not in the section where you get to “Choose Your Favorite Christmas Tree”. My favorite tree was the White Pine with it’s long, soft needles.
This Penguin was created by members of the Pennsylvania College of Technology. Their booth features a different academic area everyday.
The following pictures show my time spent surrounded by the beef industry. My best friend and the farm she works at won Champion and Reserve Champion Limousin and Premier Limousin Exhibitor. I really enjoyed watching the Market Steer Show and the Open Show. It was interesting to see the amount of non-ag people, who were amazed by the process of fitting a beef for show. I heard many women say “Oh look she’s at the beauty salon” in reference to the cow getting fit for the show.
Every January since I can remember I would go to the Pennsylvania Farm Show with my family. My parents were never the ones to take me, I would normally go with my grandparents or with my aunt and uncle. When I was in middle school and high school, my cousins and I would take an “educational field trip” on Wednesday of the Farm Show. We would go on Wednesdays to 1. avoid the weekend crowds and 2. so that we could watch the beef cattle show. This show has since been moved to Mondays. Nowadays members of my extended family still frequent the Farm Show, but typically it is on the first weekend. I enjoy walking around and seeing the best Pennsylvania Ag has to offer on display. If you aren’t familiar with this event, you should check out the Farm Show website.
Here is my top ten favorite things to see or do at the PA Farm Show!!
1. Drinking fresh made MILKSHAKES (i love the chocolate ones!!)
2. Looking at all the new farm equipment
3. Hanging out with my best friend and the limmies (limousin cattle) she helps take care of
4. What could be better than a sculpture made from BUTTER
5. Checking out all the Hay Show entries and whose hay won
6. FRESH CUT FRIES!!!!
7. Picking my favorite Christmas Tree at the PA Christmas Tree Display
8. Trying the free food samples with two of my cousins (these ones happen to be 3 and 6 years old)
9. Seeing old friends and college professors
10. Looking at the unusual poultry, water fowl, and rabbits
Stay tuned for a picture post of all things PA Farm Show!!
I LOVE CHRISTMAS . . . the time with family, the food, the decorations, the lights, the music, and the smell of pine. Growing up we never had a real Christmas tree (I know you are shocked),but my mom is allergic to pine. So we have always had an artificial tree, with the smell of pine provided by candles and air freshners. I love the smell of pine, artificial or real, year round. It truly is a wonderful smell . . . but now on to the purpose of my post today! I say on my home page “Blog about all things AG related in PA” but most of my post have been about agronomy, soils, and manure. Today I am going to talk about something completely different, the Christmas Tree Industry in PA. I figure this is very appropriate, since most of you have supported this industry somehow in the past month or will in the next few days.
According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture (USDA-NASS) 1,179,733 Christmas Trees were cut in PA. This is a lot of trees. PA has over 2000 Christmas Tree farms which puts PA as the highest state in number of Christmas tree farms. Christmas trees are grown in all PA counties, except Philadelphia County. Indiana County, PA is known as the “Christmas Tree Capital of the World.” PA sends many Christmas trees to southern states like Florida and Georgia and out to the mid-west. But the majority of trees shipped out of state go to metropolitan areas along the east coast, i.e. Boston to Washington D.C.
When I was first introduced to cover crops, I was under the impression that their only use was to cover the ground and prevent erosion. But over the past few years and various “life experiences”, I’ve come to realize that cover crops are very diverse and have many different uses.
Cover crops are a great way to reduce erosion. When a crop is harvested and the ground is let bare, this ground is more prone to water and wind erosion. If a cover crop is planted, instead of letting the ground be fallow, the cover crop will reduce soil erosion. Plant leaves deflect rain drops and slow them down. Slowing down the rain drops impact on the soil surface reduces the amount of soil that goes into suspension with the water. Also a cover crops roots system helps hold the soil in place. Reducing soil erosion with cover crops also helps reduce the amount of phosphorus that runs into ground and surface water.
Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the cornfield – Dwight D. Eisenhower
Man, despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistications and his many accomplishments, owes his existence to a 6-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains. – Anonymous
With Thanksgiving a week away many people are flooding the grocery stores in search of quality foods to put on their thanksgiving table. Thanksgiving started as a harvest festival, a way to give thanks for the harvest. Thanksgiving has now turned into a holiday just to give thank. At your thanksgiving celebration this year, you should in addition to your normal thanks, you should thank a farmer. Even if you are a vegetarian, you need to be thanking a farmer because tofu comes from soybeans, that a farmer had to grow. There are many types of farmers in the world: big, little, natural, organic, conventional, grass-fed, fruit, vegetable, tree, beef, poultry, fish, and many more. These farmers put their all into growing/raising a product that will please the consumer. I think on thanksgiving we should all put our differences aside and just thank a farmer for all their hard work without these farmers I would not be able to enjoy my Granny’s tasty turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. So on thanksgiving dont forget to thank a farmer without them there would be no thanksgiving.
PAfarmgirl is something I have always been, but it definitely isn’t all that I am. I grew up on a farm in western PA. We raise about 2o head of cattle and grow hay, field and sweet corn, small grains, a few potatoes, and some vegetables. In the summer when the sweet corn is ready we have a produce stand at the farm for people to purchase sweet corn and vegetables. We also sell freezer beef. I was involved in 4-H for 11 years. I showed rabbits and veal and was a member of the grassland evaluation team for 2 years. I basically spent all my summers helping out on the farm: baling hay, pulling weeds, picking corn, shoveling manure, and whatever else my Granny told me to do. I also spent 5 years of my life milking cows atleast once a week. For one summer I spent many mornings doing the 2am milking and then babysitting all day ( I was not a very cheerful babysitter). I really love farming and agriculture. It has taught me many life lessons about working hard, being honest, being respectful, and how to be a steward of the land.
Many farmers here in PA and across the country are struggling to harvest their corn grain and soybeans. With the recent wet weather, corn and soybean harvests are being pushed farther and farther back. This makes it very hard to harvest good quality grain, bale the corn fodder, and get a cover crop planted all before manure needs to be spread, the ground freezes, and christmas is here. In the back of one’s mind should always be the question “what can I do to make my soil better?” Managing your crop residue is a great way to help improve your soils health and to control erosion. Here are some ways to leave more crop residue on the soil surface:
- follow a crop rotation that includes crops with high residue, like corn grain
- wait till spring to do any form of tillage. 1. tillage buries crop residue 2. tillage makes the soil vulnerable to erosion
- reduce the number of tillage passes made and set chisels and disks to work shallower, so as not to bury the residue
- when high residue crops aren’t used plant a cover crop, like wheat or rye
- STOP using the moldboard plow
- when tilling drive slower, this decreases the amount of “thrown” soil and covered residue
Now that fall has arrived and the crops are starting to come off, reflecting on the status of your conservation or manure management plan should be a priority before spring arrives. Two separate chapters of Pennsylvania Code Title 25 Environmental Protection require these plans. Chapter 102.4 states “Written Erosion and Sediment Control Plans are required for agricultural plowing or tilling activities that disturb 5,000 square feet or more of land.” Chapter 91.36 states “The land application (of animal manure and agricultural process wastewater) follows current standards for development and implementation of a (manure management) plan to manage nutrients for water quality protection, including soil and manure testing and calculations of proper levels and methods of nitrogen and phosphorus application.”
