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

[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..."

[farmaholic]

Yes you are absolutely right.

[Ache4Acres]

On a global scale any climate change that occurs takes decades to have impact. It is happening naturally and we will adapt to that slow change as it evolves. In the shorter term, I think that technological advancement in equipment and farming practices and its explanded use worldwide is going to result in large overproduction in the next few decades. Every video I watch about farming in Brazil, Ukraine, China and South America shows them running around with 80ft Bourgault drills and quad tracs and NewHolland 9090s. The world is preducing more food than ever, and more oil than ever and it will be hard for us to compete with their cheap labour and their lack of cost related to regulation. The world is becoming a smaller place and we need to learn who we are competing against..hint..it isn't your neighbour the next section over.

[furrowtickler]

Their labour will not stay cheap and is most likely costing them more every year now. The more advanced they get the more money it's going to cost them to operate those machines .