Grain FARMING: Risky Business... and 'Climate Change'

[farmaholic]

Even plans fail Tom.

Ironically every generation thinks they're doing the right thing. One day our practices will be old and outdated. Look at summerfallow, a common promoted practice, I'm sure there are textbooks describing how a "good farmer" is to practice it.

The future might hold the ability for all crops to fix nitrogen. Perennial wheat. There may be way more soybeans as they develop shorter season varieties. Who knows what other new crops that were grown on small acres now flourish in the future.

Maybe a move to less reliance on pesticides, we may well look back and think, "what were we thinking"! Maybe the presence of midge damage or a mild fusarium infection will far outweigh the use of the pesticide.

Nobody knows for sure...

[TOM4CWB]

You mean like Midge resistant Fusarium resistant wheat... that does not need to be sprayed?

Kind of like some varieties we have NOW!!!

The future is NOW!

[farmaholic]

Midge resistance is a very fickle trait at this point in time. Poorly managed and it can be lost.

Fusarium resistance doesn't really exist in my eyes, "less susceptible" may be a more apt description.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I think we need to be doing everything we can to prepare for global cooling.

My limited research suggests that the past few generations farmed in some of the most stable climate conditions of the past few centuries. A return to "normal" will likely be a return to extremes, be it cold,wet, dry, hot, storms etc. This stable period correlates well with the green revolution, but gets very little of the credit for increased worldwide agricultural production during this period.

I believe the biggest challenge will be recognizing when the trend has changed. For those posters regularly complaining about what mother nature is throwing at them(myself included) for the past 8, or 10 years, while longing for the good old days; Is there a point when you would accept that perhaps this is the new normal, and the good old days were the exception? If we keep doing the same thing year after year, expecting the weather of 20 years ago to return, we may not be in business much longer. History is full of examples of climate changing or soil degrading, forcing farmers to move on or adapt drastically. The last farmer to keep waiting for normal to return won't like the ending.

I really wonder about the sustainability of a pure grain farm on the fringes. How many crop failures can one operator sustain without any way to salvage some value from a frozen,hailed, droughted, drowned crop. Or some alternate way to derive income from land less suited to crops under adverse growing conditions? Especially considering that the governments supporting insurance and disaster programs are virtually bankrupt and likely to not continue to subsidize farmers to produce surpluses . What does that do for a large non diversified grain farm on less than ideal land?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I think we need to be doing everything we can to prepare for global cooling.

My limited research suggests that the past few generations farmed in some of the most stable climate conditions of the past few centuries. A return to "normal" will likely be a return to extremes, be it cold,wet, dry, hot, storms etc. This stable period correlates well with the green revolution, but gets very little of the credit for increased worldwide agricultural production during this period.

I believe the biggest challenge will be recognizing when the trend has changed. For those posters regularly complaining about what mother nature is throwing at them(myself included) for the past 8, or 10 years, while longing for the good old days; Is there a point when you would accept that perhaps this is the new normal, and the good old days were the exception? If we keep doing the same thing year after year, expecting the weather of 20 years ago to return, we may not be in business much longer. History is full of examples of climate changing or soil degrading, forcing farmers to move on or adapt drastically. The last farmer to keep waiting for normal to return won't like the ending.

I really wonder about the sustainability of a pure grain farm on the fringes. How many crop failures can one operator sustain without any way to salvage some value from a frozen,hailed, droughted, drowned crop. Or some alternate way to derive income from land less suited to crops under adverse growing conditions? Especially considering that the governments supporting insurance and disaster programs are virtually bankrupt and likely to not continue to subsidize farmers to produce surpluses . What does that do for a large non diversified grain farm on less than ideal land?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Sorry for the duplicate post

If we as farmers want to avoid being regulated into such things as sustainability and environmental stewardship in the future, we likely will need to take the initiative on our own(which we obviously do already). Before the public and the government decide what is best for us. Including educating the public about what we do and why. Talking to European farmers scares me, if we should ever have to face such rules and regulations.

[farmaholic]

I really do think the present generation has preservation and sustainability on their minds. If I didn't, I would be jumping on the bandwagon and vertical tilling every acre I farm but one year, yes ONE YEAR, has made an excess residue problem disappear. Be damned if I will watch the erosion happen to this farm that happened when I was a kid!!!

[cottonpicken]

Technology will double many times in fifty years and each doubling will be greater than all the previous combined. The magic of the exponential function.

[burnt]

Farmaholic - "Even plans fail Tom.

Ironically every generation thinks they're doing the right thing. One day our practices will be old and outdated..."

Reminds me of a supper-table conversation with our kids a few years ago where I was telling them about a practice (which I now forget) which we routinely did as a part of my Dad's farming operation. As did all the farmers in the province.

They looked at me in disbelief when I described what we did and how it is now a disfavored or maybe even banned practice.

They asked "WHY did you do that?" to which I replied, "It was the best we knew at the time..."

[burnt]

Farmaholic - "Even plans fail Tom.

Ironically every generation thinks they're doing the right thing. One day our practices will be old and outdated..."

Reminds me of a supper-table conversation with our kids a few years ago where I was telling them about a practice (which I now forget) which we routinely did as a part of my Dad's farming operation. As did all the farmers in the province.

They looked at me in disbelief when I described what we did and how it is now a disfavored or maybe even banned practice.

They asked "WHY did you do that?" to which I replied, "It was the best we knew at the time..."