On-Farm Variety Trialing
Livestock Benefits for Crop Farms
Produce farmers & FSMA
MOSES Equity Statement
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Volume 26 | Number 2
March | April 2018
Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service
Longtime organic farmers from Iowa chosen as Organic Farmers of Year By Sylvia Burgos Toftness
Conservation and renewal. Land and people. Innovation and interdependence. According to Ron and Maria Rosmann, and their sons and daughter-in-law, these values and goals have guided their decisions for decades. Family and faith are the bedrock of their stewardship, commitment to social justice, pursuit of economic viability, and efforts to encourage future generations of organic farmers. A fourth-generation farmer, Ron credits his father, Ray, for laying a good foundation in sustainable farming practices. His dad kept a large team of Belgian draft horses “because they could do work a tractor couldn’t,” Ron remembered. His father used crop rotations even then, and, like his grandfather and great-grandfather before him, they managed a diversity of crops and livestock. The family farm is located near the small city of Westphalia, in the southwest quadrant of Iowa. Ron returned there to farm in 1973, after earning a degree in biology, and having minored in both sociology and psychology—background that would serve him on the land, within his rural community, and far beyond. The early 1970s saw increasing demand for America’s agricultural products, and many growers came to anticipate ever-increasing profitability. It was also a time of accelerating farm consolidation and vertical integration within the food system—conditions that did not favor the smaller family farm. It was as the balance was shifting in the mid1970s that Ron met Maria Vakulskas. He was attending a political meeting, and she was a young
journalist covering the event for local television. They married in 1978. As the 1970s came to a close, the economic picture darkened for smaller producers. The farm crisis of the 1980s ripped through rural communities all across the country. “Our income took a nosedive, and we were on Daniel, Ellen, Maria, and Ron Rosmann accept the award as Organic Farmers of the Year at our own,” said the 2018 MOSES Organic Farming Conference last month. Photo by Laurie Schneider Ron, his father having passed by 1980s even though he sold into the commodity that time. “We had to make changes, but I felt we marketplace; there was no defined demand for could do it because my dad had been a great organic products at that time. He grew organically teacher, and I had my Iowa State education. We also had our farrow-to-finish hog business in hand, because he believed it was better for his land and his health. and we had crop rotations in place,” he added. “I never felt comfortable with chemicals,” More significantly, Ron and Maria shared the Ron said. “There was no way they didn’t get into values that would weather the economic downturn your skin as you worked to unclog and repair and help them find future opportunities. They machinery.” had, and still have their Catholic faith, a strong The farm’s move to organics went hand-in-hand work ethic, and a belief that they could—and can with Ron’s increased participation in sustainable —improve the future through their work. farming organizations. For Ron, as for so many of Ron began using organic practices in the To Organic Farmers on page 6
Spring offers tight window for planting cover crops—follow these tips By Matt Leavitt
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Cover crops are an integral part of any organic farming system. They protect a farm’s valuable soil resource from wind and water erosion, capture and hold nutrients, compete with weeds, break cycles of pests and disease, manage excess moisture, and contribute to organic matter formation. They provide living roots in the soil that feed complex soil microorganisms and contribute to a resilient farming system.
Most cash crop rotations keep the soil covered only three to four months and rarely during times of peak soil erosion—the spring and fall of the year. Cover crops can plug the gaps in these rotations. Cover crops are a required part of a certified organic operation. Ideally, all organic farms should be working towards having as tight a rotation as possible with limited periods of bare soil. In practice, though, this can be difficult for a variety of reasons. Farmers in the Upper Midwest (growing zones 2-4) face unique challenges incorporating cover crops into their farming operations that other, more temperate areas of the country don’t face. Wet and cool spring weather conditions can hamper planting times and make early season tillage, field prep and planting very difficult. Winters are severe and prevent all but a select few species from overwintering into the following season. Windows to incorporate cover crops into a rotation can be very tight and dependent on favorable weather conditions and maximizing a short growing seasons for marketable crops. Farmers understandably favor ideal planting conditions for their cash crops versus trying to sneak in a cover crop with uncertain returns. On the whole, the benefits of cover crops are typically related to how long they are allowed to grow. There are additional expenses to every field operation, and cover crops are no exception. Once seed, fuel, labor, and machinery (for planting
and termination) costs are all calculated, there should be a feasible benefit to your farm to justify the expense; though on balance, cover crops are always a good investment. Growers who have experimented with planting cover crops right away in the spring prior to cash crops have had inconsistent success and sometimes have to take an additional step to control the cover crop prior to planting. However, there are others that make spring-seeded cover crops part of their farming rotation when the weather allows. Bob Yanda, from Midwest Bio Ag, recommends an early season planting of oats and peas as soon as the ground is fit to plant in the spring. This can activate the soil with living roots right away, feed soil bacteria and fungi, and protect it from excessive rainfall. He tells his growers to work this green cover crop down with shallow tillage (<2’’ disturbance) before a corn, soybean or other row crop.
Cover Crop Selection
When adding cover crops to your rotation, it is important to think about what species will best meet your end goals for the farm and your soil. Cover crops consist of many different species and plant types, but can roughly be grouped into cooland warm-season grasses, legumes, brassicas, and broadleaves. When selecting the best-adapted cover crop(s) To Spring Cover Crops on page 8