I often wonder what we as a group of direct seeders have learned over the past number of years about our method of seeding. I also wonder if the people have adjusted to a "new" method of seeding for the right reasons. Then I go to the annual Direct Seeding Conference and I witness Robert, an 80+ year old farmer asking questions of one of the speakers from the research community, and I suddenly know that someone out there has been listening and learning.
He asked questions about what is going on in and under the soil because he understands exactly just what is going on when it comes to his farm and his method of operation. This gives me faith to carry on and continue to do extension secure in the knowledge that we are doing some measure of good. But are we all doing our part?
Maybe it is time to swallow our pride and share some of our secrets of success in direct seeding with those in our neighborhood who still believe in the old traditional ways. You all know them. They are the soothsayers who say "you have to work your summerfallow at least 4 times to even stand a chance of getting a crop, and for each time you work it after that, you get another 5 bu/ac." I wish I could clearly and finally get them to realize that you actually loose 1/2 inch of moisture for each pass over the summerfallow, and that a little actual thinking might be in order.
I talk to people who often get caught in the "rotation trap' lured in by high commodity prices, and with no thought to what they seed on that land the following year. This is doubly hazardous of the selected commodity price suddenly goes in the toilet, or a drought year comes into play.
Robert (remember him?) has a plan and a rotation, albeit one that is flexible and allows for moisture probabilities and commodity price fluctuations. Robert also talks to his neighbors about what they are planning to seed in the area. Robert, you see is on top of the situation, and though he is a risk taker, he feels he can manage his risk and still sleep at night. Robert ,you see, also belongs to a local marketing group that analyzes farm production problems, and adjusts to demands and pressures of the market, instead of having a snooze after lunch each day.
Robert, I know also reads the newspaper, and was quite upset that the forest industry tried to take all the credit for carbon sequestering in the soil as the only group that were actually doing anything to help the poor federal government in their quest for solutions to global warming and the emissions dilemma that they now have to try and do something about as a result of the Kyoto conference and the global promises made to deal with the situation. He realizes that soils are very capable of taking carbon dioxide out of the air emitted by smoke stacks and by not overly disturbing the soil, allowing the plants growing over the prairie to do an equally good job of cleaning up the atmosphere and rebuilding the soil organic matter at the same time. He knows the value of direct seeding as a valuable tool to rebuild the organic matter content of his soil that was so rudely lost over the last 90+ years.
So , what is the value of lost organic matter, anyway? I guess the answer will eventually be calculated as maybe $2/tonne or $5/tonne or whatever. It wasn't so many years ago that scientists considered acceptable losses of topsoil of 5 tonnes per acre as reasonable. That is about the thickness of a dime spread over the acre and was barely detectable. Unless you wanted to buy topsoil to landscape with and then you had to pay around $200 per dumptruck load (about 8-10 tonnes).
Robert, you see, has the right idea. He values things in proper perspective, and he is not afraid to tell people or even show them. Robert brought three younger farmers who do not now direct seed with him to the conference. He wants them to learn. He wants them to tell all their neighbors about the advantages of direct seeding. Way to go Robert! I salute you.