HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1990-04-04, Page 17THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 1990. PAGE 17.
Ecological farmer reveals success at HCFA meeting
BY USA BOONSTOPPEL
Farmers were offered two meth
ods of soil conservation at the
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture meeting on March 28
in Clinton as Robert Traut, of the
Ausable-Bayfield Conservation
Authority stressed minimum tillage
and Gerald Poechman presented
his experiences in organic farming.
“Tillage makes the soil a prime
candidate for erosion.’’ said Mr.
Traut who emphasized the impor
tance of minimum tillage farming
as a way to preserve the soil. “Soil
Gerald Poechman
Ecological Farmer
erosion not only affects the envir
onment by downgrading water
quality but it hurts the farmer as
well.”
Mr. Traut said one of the chief
problems on tilled fields is keeping
water where it lands. “I often see
water erosion wash away soil to the
depth the tillage has gone.” With
less tillgae, the soil is more
compacted and there are fewer
loosened soil particles to wash
away.
Wind erosion can also be preven
ted by minimum tillage. As more
and more farmers have fields of
hundreds of acres, unloosened soil
and wind breaks are vital for soil
conservation. “A lot of conserva
tion measures that are put on the
farm are like insurance policies. By
removing these policies, it’s like
burning your car or life insurance.”
He showed a slide of one farmer
who had just removed a row of
trees from between two fields that
had been acting as a wind barrier.
Just a couple of weeks later, a
wind storm blew off all his sandy
topsoil along with the new seeding
and the herbicide that had just
been applied. “Before the wind
storm, that farmer had sworn he
didn't have a stone in the field but
the slide clearly shows how many
rocks were in the field when the soil
disappeared,” said Mr. Traut.
To prevent the need for tillage,
Mr. Traut suggested crop rotation
which creates a better soil structure
and allows the farmer to use less
herbicides which are costly and can
affect water supplies when soil is
eroded into rivers and streams.
“Crops like red clover and winter
wheat are a beautiful combination
that create a soil structure where
water can easily get into the soil.
A great benefit that arises from
non-tilled fields is weed control
said Mr. Traut. “When we plow
weed seeds underground, we pro
mote their dormancy. But if they
are left on the surface of the field,
the active nature of the soil will
help kill the seeds.” He also
revealed that plowing under twitch
grass isn’t a good idea as the weeds
need to be on top of the soil to be
killed when the farmer sprays
Round-Up on the fields.
The same goes for milkweed.
Tillage cuts the milkweed stems off
and makes then start to grow
again. The problem with this is the
weed will be smaller and easily
missed by a wicker.
Mr. Traut said he found fewer
weed problems on farms that use a
no-tillage system. “Tillage just
tends to increase weed germination
and growth and the longer fields
are not tilled, you can see fewer
and fewer annual weed problems.”
He has also discovered that
no-till fields have less problems
with root worms. Since the eggs of
the worm have to sit out all winter,
they are exposed to the bitter
elements and will be killed easier
than if they are * ‘tucked in for the
winter,” said Mr. Traut.
The argument farmers have for
tilling their fields is that plowing
under the old crop will help fertilize
the soil for next year’s crop. But
Mr. Traut said this is not always
the case. “Sometimes when you
plow a crop down, there is no air in
the soil for the micro-organisms to
break the material down and quite
often the next year, you will plow
the crop right back up again.”
The key point he mentioned was,
“the treatment is always more
expensive than the prevention.”
Gerald Poechman had a few
similar ideas about soil conserva
tion from his perspective as an
organic farmer and being a mem
ber of the Ecological Farmers
Association of Ontario. The asso-
Weeds balance
soil problems says
ecological farmer
ciation’s farming methods include
soil tillage, greenmanures, cover
crops, crop rotations, composting
and windbreaks.
Mr. Poechman, who had been
farming ecologically for several
years since he bought his own
farm, believes emphasizing the
non-economic aspect of farming
allows farmers to better conserve
the land. In thinking this way, the
first thing to do is cut down
fertilizer use, he said. “After I
graduated from Centralia College, I
worked on my dad’s farm for five
years and we were using all the
fertilizers we could but we
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- New plug.
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carburetor.
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found we couldn’t get better
yields.” He said only 10 per cent of
yields can be credited to fertilizer
usage.
To keep the soil up, he plants
greenmanures for plow-down and
cover crops to catch the sun and
light to create nutrients for the soil.
“You need to have living material
on the fields at all times,” he said.
Then with minimum tillage and
composting of manure, the soil can
come back to life. “Micro-organ
isms living and dying the soil will
give the soil organic matter,” he
said adding that the organic matter
in his soil has increased one and
a half percent in the last couple of
years.
Mr. Poechman also trys for long
rotation periods in his fields and
likes to keep grass in the fields as
long as possible. Once the soil is
ready, he trys to plant families of
crops in order of how they feed.
Low feeders like barley and rye are
planted and then heavy feeders like
corn. But, Mr. Poechman doesn’t
like what a corn crop does to the
soil. “The soil structure starts to
deteriorate very quickly with corn
and it doesn’t help the soil loosen
up,” he said.
He has found that some fields do
have intense weed problems but
“sometimes you have to let weeds
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balance problems in the soil.” He
said that nature knows best and
when you leave the soil alone, it
will heal itself.”
Though his yields are down, Mr.
Poechman is very enthusiastic
about ecological farming because it
has helped him put him back on
track financially. When he first
bought his own farm and was using
fertilizers and herbicides, he was
losing so much money on the farm,
he realized he was soon going to
lose the operation to Farm Credit
Corporation. Now. without the
tremendous costs of sprays, he
estimates in two years that he will
be out of debt.
As well, he has found his soil
erosion problems have improved
greatly with the minimum tillage
and crop rotation he does on his
farm.
Mr. Traut said that ecological
farming is just another way of
conservation tillage. He said what
really appeals to him about ecologi
cal farming is that nothing is
wasted as they don’t need to buy
many seeds as they use their own,
they fertilize with composted man
ure and don’t use specialized
machinery for their farming prac
tices. “Resources are far more
precious to them and they should
be more precious to us,” he said.
Soil erosion from tillage
not restricted to fields
BY BRENT KENNEDY
SENIOR SOIL CONSERVATION
ADVISOR FOR HURON COUNTY
Traditional tillage and cropping
practices employed by today’s far
mers cause erosion problems which
are not always restricted to farm
fields. The effects of soil erosion
can be divided into two basic areas,
those occurring on-site and those
which move off-site.
On-site effects refer mainly to
those occurring at the farm field
level. Field knolls or long sloping
fields tend to erode over time.
Yield reductions result, even
though additional inputs may be
added in an attempt to maintain
yields. Areas which are showing
signs of erosion may seem relative
ly small at first, but tend to grow
rapidly as the thin layer of topsoil is
washed away. This is a direct cost
to the land owner, after the
sediment leaves the field he starts
to share the expense of erosion.
Sediment laden water running
off conventionally cropped fields
carries the soil away to cause
off-site problems. As the runoff
water slows the suspended soil
particles settle out, slowly filling in
our costly drainage systems. Clean
out of this alone is a major expense
yet not as significant as the costs
attached to removing the nutrients
or chemicals which can move with
the surface runoff water. Of key
concern is phosphorous which is
used on farm fields to promote crop
growth. This nutrient quickly at
taches itself to soil particles and if
eroded moves downstream eventu
ally ending up on our water course
where it stimulates algae blooms
resulting in water quality pro
blems.
As a result, even if you don’t
crop the land, you are affected!
Express your concern if you see a
neighbour has an erosion problem.
Should you pay the cost of cleaning
out the municipal drain which is
silted in by upstream erosion
problems? Many simple alterna
tives exist to reduce the potential to
load sediment or phosphorous into
our water courses, thereby main
taining the productivity of our
agricultural resources.
•LAWN RIDERS
- New plug and change oil
- Check ignition and adjust
carburetor.
- Clean air cleaner.
- Sharpen biades.
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chains.
- Check oil and tires.
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bearings.
Check tiansmission oil.
Change transmission
filter.
Check battery/
connections
Wash/clean complete unit
Parts extra
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- Check ignition/new plug.
- Clean air filter.
- Adjust carburetor.
(CHAIN SHARPENING ■ •5.00)
- Check blade and bearings
in clutch.
- Clean unit
- Parts extra 29.99
•SNOWMOBILES (Summer Storage)
- Inspect track and adjust. - Check for wear and alignment of drive
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- Check idlers, sliders, springs, limiter - Lubricate engine and drain carburetor,
strap. - Disconnect battery and charge
- Check bolts and skis for wear. - Check fan belt.
- Check chain case oil. - Parts Extra
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