Cover Up or Laid Bare?

One of the key messages I have learnt from my Nuffield travels this year has been the need to look after  and feed the soil whenever possible.  This is fundamental to the farming system here in the UK.  If we look back 10,000 years the country was covered in trees and grasses; fields weren't created and there was no bare land.  It had something growing on it all of the time and this is what I feel we have to recreate now.  The soil is alive, or at least it should be.  It should be alive with bacteria, fungi and worms constantly re-cycling dead and decaying matter to release nutrients that we can then recycle.  With this in mind, the area of land going into spring cropping that doesn't not have a cover crop on it is down to the bare minimum 30Ha that we have as part of our Stewardship Agreement.

The picture below shows a field that has been split with two scenarios.  Half is in cover crops and half has been left as over winter stubble; although we had to do a light cultivation to get anything to green up.  Modern combines do not leave much grain behind.  The field will be direct drilled with spring barley next year and I can't wait to see what difference the cover crop will have made to the soil health, friability and structure.  Will it warm and dry faster with a crop on it?

The mix contains mustard, to produce organic matter, peas to fix a little nitrogen; oats, forage rye and volunteer wheat to mop up residual nitrogen, fodder radish to push tap roots into the soil and reduce compaction and turnips, just in case we run some sheep over the field.  I have a few observations so far that I would like to share.  The crop needs to be established as soon as the combine leaves the field to maximise the moisture left in the soil.  Any soil surface exposure to sunlight and no crop cover and vital moisture is rapidly lost.  This was a lesson learnt in Oklahoma where a second crop of sesame was being planted directly into wheat stubble in 45 degree heat!  Where the soil is moved we are getting a nice germination of weed seeds as well, so there is a nice flush of black grass and brome, all adds to reducing the seed bank in the top few inches of soil.  The field also walks well, it's hard to describe but it appears to have a cushioned effect, that can only be the organic matter that later will be returned to the soil.  Did you know that a 1% increase in organic matter in the top 6" of top soil means an additional 27,000 gallons/acre can be stored?  Well it's true, meaning that periods of dry weather will have less impact on our potential yields, especially on lighter, thinner soils.  I'm not expecting a fix in a year but over a rotation we should start to see a difference.  A more volatile climate is something that we should expect more often and we need to make plans to have a more resilient farming system. Prof Sir Brian Hoskins only mentioned last night at the Sainsbury's and Grantham Imperial College Lecture that temperatures could rise between 2-4 degrees by the end of the century, this will only cause more volatility in the climate, causing more weather extremes.  Last year for example 3,200 of the 5,000 weather stations in the United States recorded a record weather event  e.g. highest temperature, lowest rainfall, highest rainfall etc.

Another key benefit is the stabilisation of the soil.  All of the roots actively growing through the periods of heavy rainfall and the canopy above, shielding the soil surface will reduce water run-off and increase filtration rates.  Reducing run-off keeps soil particles in the field where they belong but also keeps phosphate fertiliser and any residual pesticides in the field rather than in the local stream.  I haven't even mentioned the amount of carbon that is being sucked out of the atmosphere and stored in the soil,  hopefully helping to turn around the recent losses of organic matter levels in the soil. Which ever way you look at it there are many positives.  But what are the negatives?  Well I guess there is the cost of the seed and establishment which when added together could be in the region of £80/Ha.  There is also the requirement for extra labour, and potentially machinery, at an already busy time of year when everyone is focused on the harvest. Do the positives out way the negatives?  Well it's early days but I would have to say that so far they do.  Are we creating a longer period for slugs to breed and feed?  Are we continuing the 'green bridge' and providing habitat for aphids transmitting BYDV (Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus) or too many brassica's potentially increasing the risk of club root?  Time will tell but as always with farming it's a long term game and there are many obstacles in the way before the results will be shown.  What I am certain of is that building soil carbon and reducing the level of tillage (cultivation) will, overtime increase the crop yields and reduce the variability of production and that can only be beneficial.

Day 17 - Flying North to Idaho

Today marked my Mason-Dixon line, the halfway point in this leg of my Nuffield journey and it was back in the air for the trip from Oklahoma City to Lewiston, Idaho via Salt Lake City.  Oklahoma said farewell with a great sunrise.  It was an early start to the day and the transition from Motel 6 to airport thankfully went well.

Flying in over Salt Lake City gave an incredible view of why the area is named as it is.  There were miles and miles of lakes all with their salt deposits on the banks.  The water there is 4 times saltier than natural sea water.

I arrived in Lewiston in a very small little jet aeroplane after a short hop and a time zone switch to a traditional walk down the steps and onto the tarmac.  The daytime temperature's here ware currently hotter than in Oklahoma at this time.  During the afternoon it got up to 109 degrees!  In 2010 Idaho, nicknamed the Gem State,  had a population of 1.57 million people in an area of 214, 315 km, meaning there are 7 people per Km.  Great Britain as a contrast has about 257 people/Km.  Agriculture is important to the state of Idaho and it produces about 1/4 of the potatoes consumed in the US as well as wheat, apples, corn, barley, sugars beet and hops.

I was met at the airport by Robert and Rhonda Blair.  Robert is an Eisenhower Fellow from 2011and  in 2009 was named the Precision Farmer of The Year.  I knew we were going to get along this week! We all loaded up and headed in to Lewiston for grocery shopping and located a new BBQ ready for the celebrations on the 4th of July (American Independence Day).  The previous one got smashed up in a storm.

We headed out of town and saw the first combining team in the area starting on some human consumption peas.  The picture below doesn't do it justice but the self levelling of the combine was very impressive.  There are some very steep banks these guys are farming, with some at angles of 45 degrees and still combined, across the slope!

We headed onto the farm, situated East of the Cascade mountains, near a small town called Kendrick, in Central Northern Idaho, where I met Robert's two son's Dillon and Logan, who had been out swathing (mowing) alfalfa for hay while we were away.  We took a drive out to Helmer for a fabulous homemade burger supper and drove back through some wonderful rolling farmland to give me an appreciation of the area, topography and scale.  When we got home the pork and beef were prepared by Robert in readiness for the 12 hours in the smoker tomorrow.

Day 16 of Nuffield Extension With OSU

Another full on day today with the OSU (Oklahoma State University) this time in the great company of OCES NW Area Agronomist Roger Gribble.  Roger and I met in Stillwater and headed out towards Enid to the North.  We stopped briefly to look at some where the wheat grazing trials are located at the OSU Wheat pasture research Unit.  We headed on to meet up with Brent Smith who works for Equity Marketing Alliance.  This company markets the grain from many of the OS grain coops, taking the grain marketing pressure off the elevator managers.  In total between 40-50 million bushels are marketed each year (1.1-1.4 million tonnes) by the company.  The main commodity being wheat but some corn, canola, grain sorghum, soya and sunflowers.  After the visit we took a drive to one of the many elevators based at Enid.  In the picture above there is an elevator capable of storing 60,000,000 bushels (1.6 MT) of wheat!  There is actually enough storage in Enid to store all of Oklahoma's wheat if required.

On the way to the next stop, a meeting with Mike Rossen from Wheeler Brothers Grain Elevator's I saw the graveyard for the other major industry in Oklahoma; oil.  There are 'nodding' donkeys everywhere.  New drilling rigs are being installed almost daily and there is plenty of employment opportunities for people working in the oils industry.  It's something that Agriculture has to compete with to attract and retain new entrants.

Mike's operation is wide reaching from grain storage and marketing to seed, fertiliser and chemical selling and scouting.  There is also custom application of lime and fertilisers and even applications of pesticides applied by air.  The company also has it's own railroad to move grain around the SW of the US even down as far as Mexico.  Another string to the operation is a cattle feed yard.  There is space there for 30,000 head of finishing cattle.  At the moment it isn't filled right up as there is no money in beef with high corn prices.  Cattle come into the wheat grazing fields (1st Nov ish) at about 200Kg before staying on the pastures until mid Feb (ish) and weighing  about 375 Kg before putting the final weight on in the feed lot, ending up at 570Kg.  There is a compromise between grazing too much, which increases soil erosion and reduces wheat yields and not grazing enough which reduces the value of the cattle.  It's a bit of a compromise but as wheat income has improved and cattle numbers are reducing, there are fewer 'stocker' cattle being used this way.

After lunch we headed down to Oklahoma City to the Producers Cooperative Oil Mill.  This mill started crushing cotton seeds, producing cotton oil in 1944.  The mill is owned by a cooperative of Gin's from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee and processes over 200,000T of cotton seed/year.  There is storage for 128,000T of whole cotton seed which takes up a lot of space as shown here

The cotton goes through various stages to extract the oil.  Firstly the lint is removed in the gin saw.  This takes two passes and the better quality cotton first taken off is used in domestic markets for bedding, then the next grade with a few husks in it is used for cellulose breakdown, hot dog skins, jet fuel, dynamite and TV screens!  The husks are then removed and used a s a 'filler' in beef cattle rations before the oil is chemically extruded from the seed or meat.  these chemicals are then refined out of the process firstly on site then through a couple more processes at the customers.  THe plant is also able to crush Canola now which has enabled Oklahoma growers ti have a local market for the newbie crop in the state.  Canola area is gradually increasing thanks to work form the OSU, providing technical knowledge and the fact that adding this crop into the rotation in contributing to higher wheat yields. Thanks to Joe Gribble for showing us around this afternoon, it was the first time I had visited a cotton crushing plant.

After the cotton crushing plant Roger and I headed into Oklahoma in search of some an authentic cowboy hat for me.  We located one fairly quickly and it was steamed to create the right style.  We had a look around the Oklahoma Cattle Stockyards before Roger very kindly drove me to drop the hire car off and find a hotel for the night.  A very, very big thank you to everyone at the Oklahoma State University, but especially to Jason and Roger for their time, knowledge, hospitality and information they have shared with me over the last couple of days.

Day 15 of my Nuffield Study, Oklahoma State University

What a great day and so eye opening to new opportunities and to conform some of my thoughts are not complete rubbish.  If you want to make things happen they will, even if they are considered outside the box.  Also you don't know unless you try.  The morning started with an office meeting with Dr Brian Arnall, Bob Hunger and my host for the day Dr Jason Warren.  We talked about Precision Farming techniques employed here in Oklahoma, namely the Green seeker device for monitoring chlorophyll level in the leaves, before talking wheat breeding traits, drought tolerance and rainfall patterns.  Jason and I then headed out for a 12 hour road trip around the trial sites and local farms.  We started off with stripper headed harvested wheat, originally drilled at 10"spacings and then soybeans planted between the rows.  It looked really odd seeing the stubble standing up missing the ear of wheat but the soybean stand was very good.

Next Jason and I headed to Lahoma, one of the Oklahoma State University trial sites.  Here Jason is with the cover crop species trials that he and the team are growing.  It was a very interesting comparison to see establishment rates and how the different crops competed with the weeds.

The soil in this part of Oklahoma is actually very good and over a 12 month period this area will have over 30 inches of rain which is more than we get at home.  The difference is that the evaporation rate from the soil and the crop is immense.  With low humidity, high temperatures and strong winds these fields can loose over 21 inches of moisture.  Cover crops would still use up a proportion of this moisture but that moisture would disappear anyway and by using these cover crops, at least nutrients are being locked up and organic matter in the form of root, stems and leaves are being formed to recycle the nutrients.   It's a big dilemma for farmers in this area, especially considering the extra cost to the rotation of the seeds.

One man Matt, shown here in his Sorghum Sudan Grass and Cow Peas mix (a row of each planted with a John Deere air seeder) has taken on the cover crop challenge and is doing a great job.  The tall stubble protecting the crop from wind (evapo-transpiration) are the grazed remains of forage rye and triticale used to fatten 'stocker' cattle over the winter.  Incidentally Matt manages to stock at twice the density of others, due to cover cropping.  Matt puts this down to extra moisture retention at planting (August) due to the amount of organic matter covering the soil.  When 4" of rain falls in an afternoon it is important that it goes through the soil profile and is protected without washing off or being blown away from bare soil.

Here is another example of the Cow Pea nad Sorghum Sudan Grass which looked equally as well.  By the way this was only planted 20 days ago and was already 15" tall!  Many thanks to Jason for taking a full day out to show me around and demonstrate the great work that OSU is doing.

Day 14 - On The Road Again

Sunday morning and I was off to the Church of the Nazarene in Walters Oklahoma with Jimmy and his family.  The service was great and I even had a song sung in Commanche for me.  It was very special.  I met up with Edward Eschiti after the service who is a Native American Indian.  Edward was telling me stories about his culture, events of the past and about his grandfather White Eagle.  It was a real pleasure and an honour to meet him.

I wanted to take a photo of the soil to show the light nature of it and to try and remind me of how easily it blows when cultivated.  I couldn't take any of Jimmy's soils as they are all under zero tillage and therefore safely locked to his farm!  I set off on my travels after church and along Interstate 44 I called in to visit Moore where the huge tornado touched down in May this year.  The sight I found was heart breaking and very humbling.  Houses just removed from sight leaving only the concrete bases where peoples homes once stood and children played.  What struck me was the silence.  Even though the highway was fairly close to where I parked the erie silence was haunting.

In places there was nothing left.  One side of a road almost untouched and opposite, just 50 yards away, the houses had gone.  It was like a huge bomb had gone off removing everything in its way, cars lifted up and laid against homes, others bent in half smashed with debris, I can't even imagine what it must have been like during the horrific event and in its aftermath.

Even among the destruction and devastation there were signs of rebuilding, people starting to rebuild their homes and their lives, where they can and where it is safe to do so.  The sign above stood out like a beacon to me showing me that even in this desperate situation there really is hope and support from the community.  Many of the homes were under insured and fund raising events for the residents have been advertised on the radio.  I headed North on Interstate 35 to Stillwater where I have meetings on Monday morning at Oklahoma State University.

Day 13 A Tour Around the Local Area with the Kinder's

After a bit of a lie in, I set off with Jimmy and Margret-Ann to have a look around the local area and to see some sights typical of the South West Oklahoma region.  On the way to get a tyre fixed we spotted a newly planted cotton field; a second crop after the wheat harvest.  It's a bit of a gamble and will need favourable rains to make a good harvest but obviously someone thinks the risk is worth it.  We also spotted the harvester and bale compactor so I had to have a look at them as well.  

After the tyre repair we headed to a wildlife reserve to have a look at the history, native plants and wildlife.  We were very lucky to meet a herd of Bison (or Buffalo) crossing the road.  When the settlers moved west there were estimated to be about 60 million Bison migrating the plains but mass slaughter, nearly brought around their demise.  Conservation started in the early 1900's.  It was a very special moment to get this close to a bull Bison weighing in at approximately 2,000Lb's!

We headed off to the next stop, Medicine Park where we stopped for lunch.  Jimmy recommended a local dish from The Old Plantation which was delicious.  Chicken Fried Beef, is a tenderised cut of beef, medium rare, dipped in a Southern batter and fried.  It came accompanied with fully loaded (onions, bacon, tomato, sour cream) mash.  It was a job to finish it but I just made it! (just to help the DLW gain)

We saw some long horn cattle along the way depicting a scene that would have been very frequent over 100 years ago.  It really was like being transported back into history.

We headed up Mt Scott, located in the Wichita mountains to the summit at 2,464 feet.  The winding road seemed to go on and on with Turkey Vultures gliding on the thermals below the car.  The view from the stop was stunning, looking down on speed boats in lake Lawtonga and the Fort Sill artillery range.  Fort Sill is the last remaining operational fort built during the Indian wars and is home to the Field Artillery School. 

After Fort Sill we headed to Lawton and had a burger at Braums which is a chain of burger and ice cream stores started by the farmer who was not getting paid enough for the milk he produced.  It is a great success story and shows what can be achieved!

We also managed to catch up with some prairie dogs along the way, although a native species they are a bit of a pest but rather fun to watch!  We headed home and sat out in the evening sun talking farm support, Common Agricultural Policy verses The Farm Bill.  A very busy but enjoyable day!

Day 12 of Nuffield - Oklahoma

Day 12 of my Nuffield adventure continued where I left off at the Samuel Noble Foundation, this time meeting James Rogers a grassland/grazing specialist.  We talked about the three main livestock systems in Oklahoma, all based around cattle.  Firstly the grazing of the wheat crops to provide winter forage for the cows. These crops are planted in August to produce high biomass for feeding.  Growing cattle will put on about 3lb/day liveweight on this grazing system.  Then we talked about Cow and calf (Suckler Cow production) on Bermuda grass and finally the native grass grazing systems.  This certainly got me thinking more about sheep interaction with the arable, potentially grazing forward wheat, reducing disease and potentially fungicides.  The trick is to get the stock off in good time, before the plant moved into the reproductive stage,

After leaving the foundation, I headed West to the Stuart ranch but not before I got into trouble with the local Ardmore police!  I got pulled over for taking photographs of the local petroleum plant, which I have to say was interesting especially as the policeman (nice chap) was well tooled up!  I didm't look like a threat to National Security so was allowed to carry on Phew!

When I arrived at the ranch, Jim Johnson who I had had meetings with the previous day was well into the session with local farmers.  Originally it was meant to be a couple of farmers looking at cover crops but then a few more joined and so on.  Eventually there were nearly 25 people present.  This was new territory for a lot of people present but it was very interesting for me to hear about the different cover crops grown in the area.  There's some concern about cover crops taking out vital moisture through the summer.  They would be planted in late June, after wheat, and would only grow with a rain event.

Here are some of the cover crops being planted, from left to right we have Grazing Corn, Pearl Millet, Brown Top Millet, Brassica's , Cow Peas and Sunflowers.  This way of thinking is very new in Oklahoma as it is in the UK but there were plenty of similarities.  All aimed at improving soil health, reducing erosion, (which is quite a problem here on tilled land), potential grazing and creating a better tilth for zero till.

On the way to my next stop I travelled was right through the rural heart, and heat of Oklahoma.  This area is part of the Native American Territories; areas of land that were given over to the Native Americans as there were re-homed by settlers and government well over 100 years ago.  There were cattle grazing along the roadside fields, some taking a wallow in the pools as the temperature reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit. 

My next destination was Kinder Farms to stay with Jimmy, Margret-Ann and their daughter, Whitney.  Jimmy is a pioneer in the county and well known; not only in the state but also at Washington for work on the current farm bill.  Jimmy was one of the very first adopters of zero till in the area which has proved to be a brilliant decision.

Day 11 at The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

Lloyd Noble was an oilman in Oklahoma at the start of the oil business and was a pioneer back in the days of the very wild west, before Oklahoma became a state.  Today the Foundation is at the cutting edge of research, technology and extension for the farmers and ranchers in about a 100 mile radius of the research station in Ardmore, Oklahoma.    Lloyd is quoted as saying "the land must continue to provide food, clothing and shelter long after the oil is gone" and that's still the philosophy of the foundation today.  There are so many similarities between Lord Nuffield and Lloyd Noble, both pioneers, both at the cutting edge of technology and both visionaries. 

I was joined last minute at my visit here by fellow scholar Andrew Brewer and after we had both done a short presentation we headed off for a look around the very impressive site.  All the building's are linked by underground corridor's that act as Tornado shelters, and carry the main services safely out of harms way.  Robyn showed us around the under ground warren.

We met David McSweeney from New Zealand who is the greenhouse manager and heard about the novel ways to keep the green houses cool rather than hot.  One day when the power went out the greenhouse rose 44 degrees in 14 minutes!  Lots of Oklahoma wheat is grazed with cattle and not harvested, but Mark Newell is taking hose varieties near the top of the recommended list and seeing how they respond to grazing and then recovering to be harvested for the grain.  A practise using sheep, used in the UK when crops are too thick.  It might be something to try at home, thinning the over growth down, reducing disease pressure and applying some fertiliser.

After lunch I met up with Jim Johnson and Eddie Funderburg to talk about wheat growth, soil sampling, or rather the lack of it in the general state region.  We talked about the year of records in the state in 2011 when there was record cold, snow, heat, drought, tornadoes and hail!  Next it was out into the fields to visit Coffee Ranch with Will Mosely who is a wildlife and fisheries Consultant.  We looked at areas of the farm that were being used to explore more use of 'fire' as a method of pasture regeneration.  Parts of the fields were burned two weeks ago and with some rain the grasses were starting to shoot again.  This method will help control the shrub and stop it encroaching on the prairie grasses.  The main four prairie grassed are Little Blue Stem, Large Blue Stem, Indian Grass (OK state grass) and Side Oat Grama (TX state grass).

Russel, Josh and Hope accompanied Will and me around the burn trials looking at the grasses, flowers and the, what seemed like millions, of grasshoppers.  It was great to see the cattle, many Angus crosses up close.

We headed onwards to look at Joshes mark 2 'Hog Buster'  A very clever design aimed at catching the epidemic populations of wild hogs.  The baited trap is raised and then when activated by motion Josh gets a photograph sent to his phone.  If it's deer then all can be ignored but if its hogs the trap can be remotely released.  This is resulting in much higher catch rates and a saleable product at the end of the day.  Wildlife management is taken very seriously by these guys and it was a pleasure to spend a few hours learning about their roles.  

The 'Hog Buster' was set up in a Pecan orchard, under grazed by cattle.  The trees were beautiful and still had some fruit (inedible) hanging on from last year.  It takes 15 years for a tree to reach maturity to produce a marketable Pecan nut.  

We had a great day and wrapped it off with an excellent dinner at the Conference Centre with some home made ice cream powered by a little John Deere engine.