A picture to challenge some preconceptions

[chuckChuck]

So who is replacing all the mined phosphorous fertilizer that is applied to all the crops around the world? No one. Non-organic farmers are depleting a finite resource.

There are estimates that we have only a few hundred years of easily mined phosphorous and then we will be carefully recycling every source of P that we can.

It will bring new meaning to "get your shit together"!

[Klause]

So who is replacing all the mined phosphorous fertilizer that is applied to all the crops around the world? No one. Non-organic farmers are depleting a finite resource.

There are estimates that we have only a few hundred years of easily mined phosphorous and then we will be carefully recycling every source of P that we can.

It will bring new meaning to "get your shit together"!

Exactly.


We're burning fossil fuels to replace a resource that makes up 75% of the atmosphere. .. something plants are very capable of doing themselves all te while mining the soil of nutrients that are finite.


But we call it progressive agriculture.


All the whole allowing industry to take more and more profit from us every year.

[jazz]

mucilage-associated diazotrophic microbiota

I googled. Thats one type of rogue corn variety that fixes its own nitrogen. Probably irrigated. A small number of producers would be able to do this.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

It may have 5yrs of cover crops grazed by cattle - but why would that net zero? It may have been incredibly profitable, maybe more so than this huge corn crop.

Agreed, considering that the vast majority of the corn produced goes to be animal feed anyways, feeding cattle directly, with no fossil fuel for harvesting, while mob grazing previous cover crops, looks very efficient compared to continuous cropping of what will become cattle feed anyways.

When we were contemplating going organic, one issue which convinced me out of it was when I calculated how many cattle would be required to make full use of cover crops and rotations on this many acres. In order to make the system as sustainable as possible, and maximize income, copious amounts of livestock were a necessity.

[Klause]

I googled. Thats one type of rogue corn variety that fixes its own nitrogen. Probably irrigated. A small number of producers would be able to do this.

Wtf does irrigation have to do with it.

It's also not the corn variety it's a strain of bacteria that has a symbiotic relationship with certain corn varieties that naturally evolved to support the bacteria. Like the rhizobia strain for soy peas lentils and clover (all legumes)... That have been modified and selected by humans for higher efficiency.

There is a technological race on right now to commercialized this bacteria on corn. 5 years from now it'll be a commercial trait and game changer.


There are more acres of cornin the Americas than total acreage in Canada.

The other crop is beans (N fixers).

Also 300 but corn only needs about 350 unis of N. So where your 1000 came from who knows.

https://www.deltafarmpress.com/southern-corn-and-soybean-production-guide/busting-300-bushel-corn-barrier-becoming-regular-feat-tim https://www.deltafarmpress.com/southern-corn-and-soybean-production-guide/busting-300-bushel-corn-barrier-becoming-regular-feat-tim


By the way... Lots of parts of the Americas get 30 plus inches of rain a year. They don't need irrigation.

Just because you're farming in a semi arid plain doesn't mean the rest of the world is, and the rest of the world is a lot bigger than the southern prairies.

All of a sudden big ag is talking about soil microbes... Soil health. Microbiomes.


Hmmm maybe the "add lots of N and spray a lot" advice of the past decade didn't quite work out the way they thought.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Klause, thanks for posting, this is the first I had heard of this. Very good news for agriculture and humanity in general. But closer to home, this isn't good at all for western Canadian farmers, most of whom can't grow corn or soybeans. It means we may eventually ( or maybe much sooner) be competing with corn that is grown without the additional expense of N fertilization, while our crops nearly all need copious amounts of N. I doubt that canola, or barley and other minor crops in the world wide scheme will be high on the priority list of crops to try to make this N fixation work.

[Klause]

Klause, thanks for posting, this is the first I had heard of this. Very good news for agriculture and humanity in general. But closer to home, this isn't good at all for western Canadian farmers, most of whom can't grow corn or soybeans. It means we may eventually ( or maybe much sooner) be competing with corn that is grown without the additional expense of N fertilization, while our crops nearly all need copious amounts of N. I doubt that canola, or barley and other minor crops in the world wide scheme will be high on the priority list of crops to try to make this N fixation work.

Well...

This is where it gets tricky... There is a lot more to soil biology than adding copious amounts of fertilizer.

There's a group of us getting pretty good at growing high yielding clean lower input crops.

Small grains are big business in the rest of the world... And keep in mind that non-gmo canola in Europe and south America (and the US) are yielding far above the pioneer / DeKalb / Bayer offerings in Canada.

We live on an island when it comes to agronomca and varoetal development


Saaten-Union has high yielding hybrid wheats that are n efficient... Need half of normal nitrogen (what we call normal) to produce the same bushels


They supply to Russia and Ukraine as well as Europe. How do you think Russia became the world's largest wheat exporter so fast?

Unless we open our eyes and adapt quickly (and kick some of these seed companies in the behind) we will be permanently left on the sidelines.

[farmaholic]

If the SeedCos can capture the $'s spent on nitrogen fertilizer you spend on canola or wheat....they will "research" to see if they can make it happen...do the math, it would be astronomical.

[Klause]

If the SeedCos can capture the $'s spent on nitrogen fertilizer you spend on canola or wheat....they will "research" to see if they can make it happen...do the math, it would be astronomical.

This is why we need a robust public breeding program.

In the US land-grant universities are leading the charge on this file.

But the trained seals are all for destroying the public system .

[bucket]

This is why we need a robust public breeding program.

In the US land-grant universities are leading the charge on this file.

But the trained seals are all for destroying the public system .

Sadly the trained seals are the ones representing us at every turn....

Not only to they clap on command... they also bark as required and to the tune they are played ...

[grassfarmer]

When we were contemplating going organic, one issue which convinced me out of it was when I calculated how many cattle would be required to make full use of cover crops and rotations on this many acres. In order to make the system as sustainable as possible, and maximize income, copious amounts of livestock were a necessity.

Is that a drawback or an opportunity though? The guy with this corn crop cut back acres - he is making more off 1000 acres now than he was with 2800 previously. Instead of trying to figure out how to buy land in an overpriced market how about selling some and making more money off reduced acres? More livestock on the land keeps more people on the land, more people on the land = healthier rural communities.

[foragefarmer]

Grass

" More livestock on the land keeps more people on the land, more people on the land = healthier rural communities."

So true, but the fact of the matter is less and less farmers are wanting to raise cattle. In my option cow calf farmer are in many cases the strong hold of family farms. BSE unfortunately eliminate many cow calf operations, which will never return .

As for factory hog barns most sit in the middle of a quarter with no other buildings in sight own by feed meals and packing plants.