Get 18 Crop-Years of Organic Transition Experience in Three Years
Are you thinking about transitioning to organic?
Here are some common excuses for not trying it — and some thoughts on overcoming those fears.
It takes too much thinking — the Creator gave you three brains for a reason (left, right and bottom — the gut brain). Use them all and think in terms of systems (like every farmer does).
I don’t have enough time — But you normally get all your planting done in less than 30 days … and August has 31.
It costs too much — think of it as a capital investment of advanced research on 30 acres.
There isn’t any university research on it — check out Albrecht’s and Reinbott’s research at the University of Missouri.
My own experience says it’ll work. Two seedings of buckwheat cover crop helped me hit 80- to 100-bushel soybeans the following year, as it made more iron and manganese available in reduced form. Over five years of continuous corn, my ideal soil averaged 25 percent higher yields than the NPK control plots.
To help you overcome all your fears, the accompanying chart is a simplified 12-step roadmap for three crop / cover-crop combos, two soil treatments and three years of rotations (reps). That’s 3 x 2 x 3 = 18 crop-years of experience, right on your own farm.
Experience counts. Commit 30 acres to this test for three years. Do it close to the farmstead so you can watch the results every day. That beats the heck out of two years of disappointing results from two tries on the back 40.
Post a copy of this plan right on your door at eye height so you think about it every day.
There have been really significant advances in soil detox methods recently. Catawater has been used to detox glyphosate in soil and balance nutrients on thousands of transition acres in northcentral Iowa (catawater.com). Agni Hotra has been used around the world to remove toxins from air, soil and water (agnihotra.org). These will definitely get a successful transition off to a good start.
There has never been a better time than now to test these new organic transition methods.
So get crackin’. You need to do some soil testing and mineral balancing so you are ready to start organic certification by the middle of September!
Jim Porterfield grew up on a grain and livestock farm in Iowa and has worked in the areas of soil, water quality, energy and forestry for the last 50 years. He is a CCA and currently owns and runs a small research farm in Illinois. Contact him at jporterfield51@msn.com.
