Good news for farmers and the environment

Bill Knight column for Mon., Tues. or Wed., July 23, 24 or 25, 2018

From labor relations to relations with Russia, it seems these are Days of Dangerous Divisions. So: Need some good news?

Increasingly there’s common ground for farmers and environmentalists.

First, just looking at farm fields, one recalls the Rodgers and Hammerstein lyric “the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye,” and next, new research from the University of Illinois College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Studies strengthens the notion contained in that song, “Oh, What A Beautiful Morning.”

Agriculture faces increasing demands for food, feed, fiber and fuel under the threat of climate change, so the challenge is to meet needs while protecting Nature, and studies show there’s hope that farmers can balance agricultural and environmental concerns and financially benefit.

In the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, UIUC researchers identified the need to build capacity for farm practices that consider the environment and agriculture.

“Land is the resource in fixed supply on the planet. We have to figure out how to best use the land to meet diverse needs,” says Madhu Khanna, Distinguished Professor in UIUC’s Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics. “We need to be looking not just at what the technologies are and what their environmental benefits are, but also at their economic effects so that we can weigh the trade-offs.”

The study, conducted at the Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center near Monmouth, showed that rotating crops increases yield and lowers greenhouse-gas emissions compared to continuous corn or soybeans.

“I think farmers are looking for reasons to avoid growing in a monoculture,” said researcher Gevan Behnke of the Department of Crop Sciences. “They’re looking to diversify and rotate their systems. It lowers greenhouse gases and it could potentially result in a substantial yield increase.”

Elsewhere, estimating the extent and cost of damages from climate change over the next century can make planning difficult for temperatures and precipitation, increased frequency and intensity of storms, droughts, etc. But in a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science journal, researchers from UIUC and Yale offer a method to develop better forecasts of uncertainty through the year 2100.

UIUC assistant professor Peter Christensen compared estimates from economists and an analysis of long-run trends, and he found substantially higher uncertainty than current studies of climate change impacts, damages, and adaptation.

“The scientific community has been underestimating uncertainty,” Christiansen said. “Results from the study suggest more than a 35-percent probability that emissions concentrations will exceed those assumed in even the most severe scenarios.”

Yale colleague Kenneth Gillingham added that the outcomes “have worrisome environmental implications if we don’t see real effort by policymakers.”

A third study showed efforts to cooperate with neighboring farmers can effectively combat resistant weeds such as water hemp, which is already resistant to multiple herbicides.

“If you take the cheap route, you’ll save some money in the short term on your herbicide costs, but in the long term, you’ll have a much greater likelihood of developing resistance,” said USDA’s Agricultural Research Service researcher Adam Davis, an adjunct professor in UIUC’s Department of Crop Sciences.

The option – effective and free – requires that “people talk to each other and work together as opposed to doing everything on their own,” Davis said. “The message is not to use the most expensive herbicide program possible; the message is to use the available tools to manage weeds better. If you do that on your own farm, certainly it’s going to help. If you do it on a bunch of adjoining farms, it’s going to help even more.”

Farm associations, drainage districts, etc. can facilitate collaborations, he suggested.

The outlook isn’t completely rosy, as the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) warns that parts of the proposed Farm Bill are controversial environmental issues:

* The bill could cut the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Conservation Reserve Program, the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and the SEJ notes that “when land is taken out of production, it not only saves soil but also props up crop prices.”

* The biggest item in the bill could authorize EPA to approve new pesticides without considering their impact on endangered species, as it does now.

* Animal-welfare issues, especially in large-scale animal operations, concerning air and water quality, could be addressed since the measure could outlaw state regulations.

* The bill also could undermine the National Organic Standards Board, a citizens group overseeing USDA organic rules, to let the Agriculture Secretary unilaterally decide which non-organic substances can be used post-harvest.

Despite concerns with Congress meddling in agriculture, UIUC’s research offers hope.

As the song’s chorus ends, “I’ve got a wonderful feeling, everything’s going my way.”