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Southern Sustainable Farming, pt 1




======================Electronic Edition======================

              SOUTHERN SUSTAINABLE FARMING  # 12
                        SEPTEMBER 1996 
                           -part 1-
                          ========== 
        Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group
                 P.O. Box 324, Elkins, AR 72727
      Phone (501) 292-3714; E-mail: HN3551@handsnet.org
                     Keith Richards, Editor
                          ==========  
SOUTHERN SUSTAINABLE FARMING is the bi-monthly voice of 
the Southern SAWG, 50 member organizations working for 
more sustainable agriculture in 13 Southern states.  
Hard copy subscriptions via U. S. postal service: 
	$15 per year or $25 for two years
===============================================================
CONTENTS, part 1:
*	"YOU CAN'T FARM WITHOUT SOIL": 20 YEARS OF CONSERVATION 
IN SOUTH GEORGIA
*	PUBLICATIONS OF NOTE	
==============================================================

"YOU CAN'T FARM WITHOUT SOIL"
20 YEARS OF CONSERVATION IN SOUTH GEORGIA
by Keith Richards

	DOUGLAS, Georgia--In the early 1970s, the soil on
Max Carter's farm was on the move. It blew away on windy
days and washed away during rainstorms.  
	Like most farmers around him, Carter cultivated
each of his double-cropped fields nearly year-round,
turning over the soil and breaking up its structure to
eliminate weeds and prepare seed beds. He also burned the
crop residues left on top of the soil before each planting so
the "trash" wouldn't bind up his disk or harrow. All this
turning and burning was considered normal practice, even
encouraged by farming experts at the time, but it was
causing Carter's loamy sand soil to erode away.
	Twenty years ago Max decided he'd had enough.
After days of planting when he couldn't even see the front
wheels of his tractor from all the smoke and dust, he vowed
to find another way. "I looked at all the BTU's going up in
smoke, and I knew it wasn't right," he says. "Too much was
leaving my land." So he decided to quit burning the residue
on his fields and find a way to plant into it.

Created a New System

	By eliminating burning, and consolidating tillage
and planting into one field trip, Carter also hoped to
shorten the time between harvesting one crop and planting
another. "If I could get the planting dates moved up to
within a week of combining, I wouldn't lose so much
moisture at a critical time of year, and I'd give the second
crop more days to reach maturity before frost," he says.
"Ten days can make a big difference."
	Since no one in his area had tried planting into crop
residue without tilling, Carter had to figure out his own
equipment and systems. The first year he modified his roto-
till type planter with fluted coulters to create a small bare
strip ahead of the seed drill. With this strip-till rig, he
planted soybeans into heavy corn stubble and found that it
worked to his satisfaction.
	Two years later, he bought one of the first no-till
planters in the area--a four-row rig that featured serrated
coulters to cut the residue, followed by shanks that ripped
14-16 inches into the soil to provide aeration and stability
for the roots of the next crop, and an angled pair of tires to
firm the soil for the seed drill. Although he has made
numerous adjustments since, Max still uses this rig today.
	As he fine-tuned his system, cover crops became an
important part of his rotation. Even after 20 years, though,
he doesn't have a set formula; adjustments are made every
season depending upon the markets and weather. 
	Lately Carter has rotated winter clover with his
corn, either sowing the clover right into the corn by air in
August, or drilling it into the corn stubble after harvest. In
spring, he plants the corn with his no-till rig back into the
clover, then "burns" the clover down a week or two later
with an herbicidal.
	Carter has been rotating his cotton with a crop of
winter wheat or rye. He uses an old drill to plant the winter
crop directly into the cotton stubble, then a week or two
later mows down the stubble with a rotary mower and lets
the residue cover the ground. After the winter crop is
harvested, he comes back with the no-till rig to plant
another crop of cotton. He says, "People can't even tell I've
disturbed the ground, yet a few weeks later I've got a
beautiful stand."
	He's planted peanuts into corn stubble in May or
into wheat stubble in June without affecting his yields
much. As long as yields are comparable to what he got
when he conventionally tilled, he'll do what's best for the
soil. "I get about 45-50 bushels of wheat or soybeans per
acre, and two tons of peanuts per acre in a good year," he
says. Last year he averaged nearly two bales of cotton per
acre and feels his crop might be better this year.
	Carter tries to keep chemical herbicidal and nutrient
applications to one pass, before plant emergence. Although
spot spraying replaces cultivation, he claims he doesn't use
any more herbicides than conventional systems. In fact, he
began using a hooded sprayer this year to increase his
accuracy in application and cut down on chemical usage. 
	It takes patience to make a system like this work
right. This past spring Carter's no-till planter couldn't cut
through the 4-6 tons per acre of organic matter on his fields
when he was trying to plant cotton. Instead of getting
frustrated and lighting a match to it, he changed from a
fluted coulter to a wavy one. The adjustment worked, and
he got his crop in on time. Carter says one of the keys for
all farmers is to constantly fine-tune their systems. 

Benefits to the Carter Farm

	Carter didn't realize all the benefits his farm would
receive when he first quit tilling his soil. He likes to tell
people that he got into conservation tillage because the old
way was too much work, although one look around his
well-kept farm will tell you that he's not afraid to put in
some long days. The truth is, conservation tillage does
allow Max to tend to other activities while his neighbors
are out cultivating their fields during the winter and spring. 
	More importantly, his practices have stopped the
soil from leaving his farm. At the lower end of a field with
only three percent slope, a fence is buried half deep with
eroded soil from when Carter used to till and burn. No
fences are being covered by soil today. The water in each
of his two ponds is free from runoff and the fish are
plentiful.  
	Soil samples analyzed by Jimmy Dean of the USDA
Natural Resources Conservation Service also showed that
crop residues had boosted the organic matter in Carter's
soils. Since the higher organic matter improved his soil
quality and water retention, he has been able to get rid of
his irrigation equipment. His higher soil quality also
provides more nutrients for soil organisms, and humus and
fertility for the next crop.
	Without the smoke from burning and dust from
tillage, air quality has drastically improved around the
neighborhood. And Max speaks with joy about the quail
and other birds that have returned to his land, finding cover
among the residue on his fields. Of course, diesel fuel and
equipment maintenance costs have also decreased.

Conservation Fever is Spreading

	For years Carter was considered a little unusual by
his fellow farmers, so he kept a low profile about his
farming practices. In fact he did most of his real
innovations on the fields away from the road so neighbors
wouldn't bother him. All that changed over the past four
years. Max, who moved to his farm in 1941 at age six, says,
"I was ready to retire, but then this started getting really
interesting." Today conservation tillage is sweeping
through the county. There are 42 members in the Coffee
County Conservation Alliance, and Carter is president. His
farm is a showcase for conservation tillage, hosting
numerous visitors and field days, and he has been asked to
speak at other events.   
	Part of the change is due to the support of county
Cooperative Extension agent Rick Reed and Andy Page of
the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Reed
had been awakened to the need for working with nature
instead of against her by his observation of the boll weevil
eradication program. Trying to dominate nature by
eliminating the boll weevil had just created a "bigger
monster" with other pests, he believes.
	When Page arrived as the local NRCS agent with a
goal of leaving 30 percent residue on the county's fields,
Reed and he hit it off. Together they are tireless in
providing the support and information that Coffee County
farmers request. They both credit a strong core of
innovative farmers in the county as the biggest factor
driving more sustainable practices, though. Reed says, "The
farmers here are as excited about change as anywhere in
the state. Besides the conservation tillage program, they are
also working on new crops like medicinal herbs and
vegetables."
	Reed also credits Dr. Sharad Phatak at the
University of Georgia's Coastal Plains Experiment Station
with influencing the thinking of agents like himself. Phatak
stresses building soil fertility and health as the route to
sustainability through reduced tillage, as well as cover
cropping, rotations and composting.

Still Work To Be Done

	One criticism of minimum tillage systems is that
the dependence on chemicals instead of cultivation to
control weeds harms the soil in other ways. Phatak
understands this concern, but says, "The first step to
sustainability is no-till." He feels that many growers, even
organic ones, are just trading one set of inputs for another
in an attempt to improve their operations. "They need to
change their paradigm," he says. 
	Phatak praises Carter for creating a system on his
own that takes a big step in the right direction. With the
help of Joe Lewis at the Coastal Plains Station, Carter has
recently begun to reduce his pesticides, too. Phatak
believes, based on his research, that most chemical
pesticides and herbicides can be greatly reduced in a no-till
cotton system in South Georgia. He is working with the
conservation tillage farmers of Coffee County to achieve
that goal. 
	Meanwhile, Max Carter sees a brighter future ahead
for those who follow him into conservation practices. "A
few year's ago I started reading everywhere that erosion is
the farmer's number one problem," he says. "I thought I had
lots of problems worse every day--a dead battery on the
tractor or equipment broke down or something--but they
were right. You can't farm without soil. If bad comes to
worse, the conservation tillage farmers will last the
longest."

**********************************************
PUBLICATIONS OF NOTE

*Making It On the Farm: Increasing Sustainability
Through Value-added Processing and Marketing*, 1996,
by Keith Richards & Deborah S. Wechsler. This booklet is
written for farmers who want to take a bite out of the
middlemen by bringing the dollars for processing,
packaging, labeling, and marketing home to their farms,
and for rural community leaders who want to encourage
farm-based value-added businesses in their communities.
Compiled from interviews with Southern farmers and
ranchers who are adding value to their products, it
describes some of their practices, discusses 10 keys to
success, and includes a list of resources. 40 pp. $10.00.
Southern SAWG Publications, PO Box 324, Elkins, AR
72727; 501-292-3714; e-mail: HN3551@handsnet.org.

*An Agriculture That Makes Sense: Making Money on
Hogs*, 1996, by Jodi Dansingburg of the Land Stewardship
Project (LSP) and Doug Gunnick of the Minnesota
Department of Agriculture. LSP's latest case study shows
that sustainable hog production on a diversified operation
can be profitable and good for the environment. The 50-
sow hog enterprise on a Minnesota farm minimizes
expenses through such production practices as outdoor
farrowing and low cost housing. And instead of focusing on
increasing productivity no matter what the environmental,
social and economic cost, the farm family emphases
profitability. The result is a farming enterprise that
produces hogs for about 13 cents per pound cheaper that
the industry standard. As a result of the farm's lower
production costs, its return over costs was more than three
times that of the average top performing hog farms in 1988
and 1992. 8 pp. $4.00 (includes postage). LSP, 2200 4th
St., White Bear Lake, MN 55110; 612-653-0618.

Connect Mail Sent: September 26, 1996    9:58 am PDT   Item: R00YlVF