1992 Annual Report for ANE92-011
Alternative Rotation System for Vegetable Production and Soil Conservation
Summary
Objectives
1. Demonstrate a reapplicable, alternative soil conservation plan designed to reduce acceptable crop rotations from seven to four years per "field" for vegetable production.
2. Reduce input costs for pesticides and herbicides in vegetable production through efficient pest monitoring, tilling, and use of alternative mulches.
3. Develop a data base for vegetable "truck-farming" that includes input, production, and marketing information and that can be easily adapted by other small farmers.
Background
The foothills region of the Appalachians served by Penn's Corners Resource, Conservation, and Development Council represents an area with at least 1,484 vegetable producers with over 5,800 acres in production. In the 1990 Census, this region was shown to produce approximately $6.363 million in vegetable farm income. Required soil conservation plans could have a significant economic impact on the area's farmers because they were generalized and increased the years between recommended field rotations for vegetable producers.
Results
Local farmers, assisted by representatives of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, the County Conservation District, the A.S.C.S., and the Penn State Cooperative Extension developed and implemented an alternative conservation plan.
The plan is successfully reducing the field rotations for vegetable crops from seven to four years while maintaining the soil conservation goals. The farm project utilizes living clover mulches, narrower field strips, grass roadways, reduced tillage, and winter cover crops to reduce sediment loss within acceptable ranges on project fields. A sediment collection system was installed and monitored by the local conservation district to compare sediment produced by the two cropping rotations. Comparison fields of similar slope, soil type, and an easterly exposure were established. Pumpkins, sweet corn, green peppers, and clover/grain cover were raised in the project fields comparing conventional and sustainable farming practices.
Economic Analysis
Production records indicate favorable economic results for sustainable practices in sweet corn, green peppers, and pumpkins. Of special interest is that for the latest project year, combined per-acre total yield values for the sustainable fields were $10,470, while conventional field per-acre yield values totaled $10,392. However, once inputs and production costs are considered, the per-acre profit from combined sustainable fields was $5,123, versus $4,308 for the combined conventional farmed fields. Per-acre production costs were $737 more in the combined conventional fields than in the combined sustainable fields.
Contributions and Practical Applications
The findings of the conservation district demonstrated that a four-year crop rotation for vegetable production using extensive conservation practices such as cover crops and conservation tillage can be used while maintaining soil erosion standards. This allows the vegetable farmer to increase production. These results cannot be used to compare other types of cropping systems. Only farms with moderately well-drained Dormont silt loam with average annual rainfall of 40 inches and a slope no greater than 20 percent can be compared.
Results from involvement with integrated pest management indicate significant cost savings are possible. Through wiser use of pesticides and herbicides in sweet corn our study saved $77 per acre this past year.
Changes in Practices
Farmer participants have also become active in the Integrated Pest Management Project of Penn State University. This involvement has led to consideration of additional reduced inputs of pesticides across the overall farm. Our intent is to expand IPM practices to the whole farm system as much as practical.
An additional benefit that can be generalized to other farmers is the use of varying methods of tillage according to the crop to be planted. For example, wider acceptance of "strip tilling," and or "mulch tilling" can use less energy, require less trips across the fields, and has the potential to reduce soil erosion. By monitoring time, machinery, and energy costs from tilling, through planting, cultivation, and harvesting, farmers can gain a truer picture of the savings offered by sustainable practices.
By narrowing the width of vegetable strips planted on a contour, farmers can successfully reduce erosion on even their most hilly fields. A live green mulch such as a clover mixture can be inter-seeded between rows in vegetables, which reduces erosion during the season, increases nitrogen in the soil, and has the additional effect of carrying the benefits of that cover over two full years within the rotation schedule.
A final note is that by careful recording and a willingness to attempt various sustainable practices, farmers may discover, like we did, that actual income from alternative crops can be significantly higher than once thought.
Evaluation
This entire report has been compiled by the farmers originally obtaining this grant. It has been a very educational and rewarding experience, and made us more committed to sustainable agriculture practices.