This is a neat protocol that can
be easily adapted to a range of crops.
It serves to both reduce the fertilizer consumption while supporting
increased yields. It comes awfully
close to hand tilling methods which naturally controls fertilizer usage.
I am surprised that we do not as
yet use cross linked polymer capsules that hold individual seeds and nutrients
to sow our crops. Just because it can be
done does not mean it is cheap enough. Such
a system delivers the seed and awaits moisture to activate a perfect growing
medium. I first saw it demoed for tree
planting.
Once the equipment is in use,
other applications will soon follow.
New Farming Method
To Reduce Greenhouse Gases, Increase Farm Yields
by Staff Writers
Strip tillage is the practice of tilling a field in strips up to a foot
wide and eight to nine inches deep, rather than tilling the entire field, so
that crop residues can be left on the surface of most of the field.
U.S. agricultural practices create 58 percent of nitrous oxide in the world, which is the third most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. Scientists believe nitrous oxide contributes to global warming about 300 times more than carbon dioxide.
New practices and products have been introduced to address this issue,
but farmers do not have the time or profit margins to experiment with
ideas that may ultimately hurt the "bottom line."
Now, researchers at the University
of Missouri
At the University of Missouri Greenley Research Center in northeast
Missouri, Kelly Nelson, a research agronomist and associate professor in the MU
Division of Plant Sciences,
monitored fields of poorly drained claypan soil that were planted with corn
after soybean.
One field was "strip tilled" with nitrogen fertilizer placed
in a band in the soil, while another field was left untilled with a surface
application of nitrogen fertilizer. The research team found that strip tillage
and banded fertilizer significantly reduced the amount of greenhouse gases
emitted per bushel of corn grain production, when compared to that of surface
applied no-till treatments.
Strip tillage is the practice of tilling a field in strips up to a foot
wide and eight to nine inches deep, rather than tilling the entire field, so
that crop residues can be left on the surface of most of the field.
By planting corn into those strips, and adding fertilizer during the
process, farmers can use less energy,
reduce soil erosion and conserve soil moisture in a large area of the field.
Additionally, the nitrogen stays deep in the soil, where it less susceptible to
environmental loss.
"This tells us that more efficient fertilizer use is needed to
maintain productivity and profitability," said Nelson. "We saw grain
yields increase, and this is important when it comes to nitrous oxide emissions
and the amount of food produced."
Peter Motavalli, associate professor in the MU Department of Soil,
Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences, directed the research focused on
measurements of soil nitrous oxide emissions and says the results are another
piece of information that can help farmers select management options that may
increase agricultural production and economic returns while also reducing
environmental impacts with use of nitrogen fertilizer.
The research was conducted during above average rainfall growing
seasons from 2008 to 2010 in poorly-drained soils so the results of between 2.4
to 3.8 percent cumulative loss of the applied fertilizer N as nitrous oxide N
are probably relatively high for conditions in Missouri
"The main goal for our team has been to identify agricultural
practices that maintain or increase production while reducing the environmental
impact," Motavalli said.
"There hasn't been much data on greenhouse gas emissions for
Missouri, and we hope to provide information on how much nitrogen is being lost
as nitrous oxide with different agricultural practices so growers can make
informed choices depending on their farm operation and environmental
conditions."
Nelson, Motavalli, and Pat Nash, an MU graduate student, presented the
results of their three-year study, "Use of Strip Tillage to Increase Corn
Production and Reduce Soil Nitrous Oxide Emissions," at the national
meetings of the American Society of Agronomy in November and at the Missouri
Crop Management Conference in December.
It takes a month or nothing to explain how lunacy has taken hold of our country's agriculture.
ReplyDeleteThe fiat dollar has so corrupted the farming industry that it is tatters. Farmers who are in it now do so simply because of the profits to be had at the expense of the soil. We no longer practice rotation, livestock has disappeared from farms as has the barn yard. All have been replaced with towering grain bins to feed an alleged starving world.
But we will reap the whirlwind. We no longer care for that most precious resource, our soil. Sugar cane, once the bane of rolling lands, is planted practically anywhere there is climate and room to plant it. The result, land that should be kept free of the plow is tilled and washes away with every rainstorm. Beware your fate is upon you. A subsidy check will not return the topsoil washing down our streams and rivers.