Dakota Lakes Research Farm

After breakfast Tom Sewell (no-till Tom) and myself headed out to the Dakota Lakes Research Farm to meet Dwayne Beck.  Dwayne is the Farm Manager, Chief Scientist and Tour Guide at the farmer owned and run research centre.  We hopped into the car on arrival and headed out to a field meeting about combinable peas hosted by the County Extension Officer, Ruth Beck (Dwayne's Wife).  The State used to grow more than 40,000 acres of combinable peas but now the total stands at 4,000 acres, but the area is growing.  A pea/lentil/chickpeas splitting, processing and bagging plant has just organised funding, (backed by the Federal Government) to build a facility in the local town of Harrold.

We drove over to Harrold to look at further development in the Agricultural Industries with a look around a huge grain/corn storage facility.  There is space to load trains with 120 rail cars, each capable of carrying 80 tonnes each.  A possible 9,600T could be shipped out on each train. Dwayne has concerns that it's a good way of shipping nutrients out of the state, which I would have to agree with. Utilising the railway was a Monsanto distribution hub where Roundup is delivered, also by the rail car load.  Each of these held 78,000L and there was at least 8 of them!  Agriculture is huge in America.

After lunch we headed back to the farm.  The farm has about 480mm of rain per year with 1/3 of that coming in the form of snow during the winter.  Moisture capture and conservation are key reasons for the no-till system.  No cultivation, other than seeding, means the macro-pores the 'night crawlers' create are not disturbed, so drainage into the soil profile is fast and efficient.  The water seeps down these tubes in the soil until they find a dry area and then move over soaking the soil at depth, rather than running off.  This was well demonstrated when 37.5mm of rain is applied in 6 minutes and you can walk on the field in your shoes.  I know because I did it!  Cover crops especially Linseed (Flax) also play a roll in providing little snow fences stopping snow blow across the Northern Great Plains during the winter.  The crop residue also plays a vital role in recirculating the soil nutrients, keeping the soil cool, actually fairly damp, and by protecting the soil surface from wind erosion.  The trash will disappear in a relatively short space of time.  These issues have created many problems for the area in the past but now with this method of crop establishment, yields are increasing, the environment in improving and farmers are actually making money.

The soybeans above have been direct drilled into corn (maize) stubble's after a cover crop of fox tail millet and oats and looked great.  

A similar story for the maize shown above.  Direct drilled as a second crop of maize.  These will be followed by two years of wheat (potentially one winter and one spring) and then a broad leaved crop of soybean, flax or peas.  The rotation is key and is one of the main reasons for the success of the system.  We just need to work out a way to use some of these techniques in the UK, with the crops we are able to grow.  There should be space for a perennial crop in the UK system that will occupy the soil for more than a year, draw up deeper nutrients and create organic matter.  Just need to work out which one it is!

Many thanks to Dwayne and the Dakota Lakes Research Farm for organising the day for Tom and myself.  We really enjoyed it and have come away, as normal, asking more questions than finding answers!

Nuffield Contemporary Scholars Conference - The End of The Beginning

Sunday morning arrived all too quickly after a late night in the bar; continuing  the discussions after Steve Larocque's excellent presentation; dancing, talking and letting our hair down (those of us that have any).  We even got restricted in the bar to one drink per person per hour, but that didn't dampen anybodies spirits.  Over the week I have made some incredible friendships and had some very interesting conversations and discussions about farming, global threats, encouraging new entrants into agriculture, trying to strengthen the appeal of agriculture to our customers and how we can feed people more sustainably.  I have also learnt that other farmers around the whole world are having the same discussion that we are, we are not alone and that by talking about problems, solutions can be found.  Soberingly I also appreciate the small part we, the UK, have to play in the global production of food.  However our part is becoming clearer to me, we need to be more productive, more efficient, more environmentally aware and better linked to our customer, whether that is the supermarket selling our lamb or the flour miller grinding the wheat that we grow.  Just the right time for my study topic, 20T/ha in 20 Years time, Fact or Fiction?

I also have 78 new best friends.  You might think that is impossible after only a week, but I know that if I wanted to go and visit any of the #Nuffield13 scholars doors would be wide open in all four corners of the globe and that is something very special.  Of course that is mirrored here at Overbury.  The washing machine will be maintained regularly to make sure it's ready to be pressed into service.

It really was a great week and one that will stay with me forever.  I know that we all felt the same way, and it was hard to say good bye to everyone; assuming that, as a group, we will probably never be together again.  There will be reunions from time to time but I sadly doubt all of us will be together again.

For some it was on with the Global Focus Group Tour, something I plan to do in the future.  Blake Vince (above) from Ontario is part of that group who headed to Washington DC very early on Sunday morning to continue the 7 week world tour.  Next week (8th April) they are in the UK so we'll meet up again, which will be fantastic to hear their stories from California and Brazil, having seen some facebook pictures and comments.

For others it was heading back to Toronto airport and back to the UK, but for me; I headed North West with Karen Daynard (CDN), Julian Raine (NZ) and Karen Brosnan (IRE) back to Guelph.

We stopped along the way at Sue-Anne Staff's winery, you could say for 'one for the road' and then after dropping Julian and Karen along the way, Karen (CDN- next to me) headed to her parents house. Terry and Dot Daynard had very kindly offered to put me up for the night.

I have to say it was a great feeling to be in a proper home and not living out of a suitcase for a change.  Terry and Dot cooked a lovely meal (on the BBQ in the snow, proper Canadian's) and we were joined by Karen and her sister Kelly, who spoke earlier in the week on social media.  After a great nights sleep and Dot doing some washing for me (thank you so much), we had a look around the farm buildings and the outside corn store

which was used to store corn (maize) on the cob over winter.  The cold dry air would keep the crop safe gradually drying it out over the winter before it was sold.  Terry and Dot showed me some pictures of the store being filled.  In a dry year the cobs would flow easily up the elevator but if they were wet almost every one had to be prodded up into store. We also has a sneaky peak around the machinery shed and saw this little beauty..

tucked away.  I guess it was a sign, once entangled in the Nuffield world there is no escaping!