Managing Crop Residues: Balancing Soil Quality and Farm Profitability

Managing Crop Residues: Balancing Soil Quality and Farm Profitability

Summary

The role of sustainable agriculture has expanded in recent decades from a traditional focus on food and fiber production to also include ecosystem management responsibilities. Farmers may now have an opportunity to be compensated for providing a wide array of ecosystem services, such as sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide into soil organic matter. Recent research indicates that maintaining maximum surface residue through cropping system practices is imperative for carbon sequestration in soils. Even though increasing surface residue can improve soil quality and reduce soil erosion, it can conversely slow spring soil warm-up and thus delay planting and immobilize plant available nitrogen. In Michigan there is a need for publicly available information to aid producers in evaluating these complex tradeoffs.

To help address this need we held two farmer focus group meetings (four producers each in East-central and Southwest Michigan) to help identify major impediments and incentives for maximizing surface residue cover. To illustrate how the major themes identified during these meetings are addressed on successful farms we are now in the process of selecting three producers to serve as case studies. These case studies will be presented in an extension bulletin.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Our general objective for this project is to aid northern corn-belt farmers in incorporating carbon sequestration into their management decisions. Three specific objectives will be used to address the general objective: 1) conduct a literature review of the impact of maximizing surface residue cover in the northern corn-belt region on crop yields, soil C sequestration, and farm profitability; 2) determine major incentives and impediments to maximizing residue cover though the use of farmer focus group meetings; and 3) highlight in an extension bulletin how three successful case study farms maximize residue cover.

Accomplishments/Milestones

In February of 2006 we met with two farmer focus groups of four farmers each from East-central Michigan and Southwest Michigan. During these meetings we asked the farmers what they perceived to be the most significant impediments to and benefits from reducing tillage and converting to no-till management. At the end of each meeting the farmers developed a list questions that they said they would like to have answered before they would convert to no-till. After these meetings we combined these questions into the following five general questions: 1) what has convinced other farmers to convert to no-till management; 2) what are the five key management changes required to convert; 3) how will no-till conversion influence crop yields and farm profitability; 4) how will no-till conversion influence soil quality and resilience; and 5) how will no-till management help Michigan producers to compete in the emerging biofuels market.

The next step in the development of our extension bulletin is to ask three case study farmers that have between 5 and 25 years of no-till experience these questions. We are in the process of contacting three corn and soybean farmers from Southwest Michigan to serve in this capacity. The answers that these farmers provide will be the basis for an extension bulletin. We feel that this approach to the development of an extension bulletin will serve the community well because the questions and answers will be from farmers; our role will be as facilitators.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Within the next six months we expect to publish the extension bulletin from this project. The distribution of the bulletin will be through county extension offices in Southwest Michigan and more broadly though the Michigan State University Extension’s website. The emerging biofuels markets and increases in input costs (fertilizers, pesticides, and fuel) have many producers considering management changes. This climate makes for an ideal time to facilitate communication among farmers and researchers to optimize the sustainability of these management decisions.

Collaborators: