"Adaptable” is the key word to describe Iowa’s farmers. Since the onset of mechanized farming at the turn of the previous century, farmers have adapted practices to meet the growing demand for food and fiber.

Unfortunately, many of these adaptations have not involved the sustainable use of our natural resources. Millions of acres of natural wetlands have been drained by ditching and tiling. Rivers, streams and tributaries have been mechanically straightened to speed the flow of water from the land. These and other adaptations have allowed Iowa farmers to coax productive farmland from what was previously considered wasteland, which can be seen by driving across the vast agricultural richness that is Iowa.

What first may appear to be a highly productive and prosperous system, however, has not come without cost. Soil erosion, diminished water quality and contributions to the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico are but a few of the costs that have not yet been fully discounted. At the same time that Iowa farmers are under increasing pressure to produce grain for export markets, livestock needs and more recently production of bio-energy, the era of cheap inputs is coming to an end. A system that has depended on cheap energy, plentiful water and a favorable climate will be forced to adapt. We must strive for new innovations that will simultaneously provide a pathway to agricultural sustainability.

As I look at my own farming experience, I see a story that starts in the late 1970s, a boom time for agriculture in Iowa. A strong farm economy sparked major changes in our landscape. Fencerows and waterways were disappearing, rotations were forsaken, maximum tillage was occurring, and the diversified family farm with livestock was being replaced by a corn/soybean monoculture. Farmers who didn’t meet efficiencies of scale were pushed aside to make way for the industrialization of agriculture. As people left the land, small rural communities began a decline that continues today.

The move to no-till
In our farming operation we recognized that these intensive management practices were causing our already fragile soil to suffer. In 1980 we took action, plunging 100 percent into no-till. A few years later we replaced the application of anhydrous ammonia with side-dressed liquid nitrogen, much to the delight of the earthworms. These innovations were supplemented by a steady stream of conservation practices encouraged and designed by our local soil and water conservation district and NRCS office. In total, these adaptations have helped stabilize soil loss and improve the soil structure of my own farm while improving the bottom line.

Looking at my efforts and those of kindred conservationists across Iowa, I have to ask myself, are we doing enough? The answer is a resounding “No!” Despite sound management practices and conservation innovations, my own acres are not all farmed to “T” or tolerable soil loss levels. Soil loss continues across the state at what looks to be an accelerated pace exacerbated by external pressures to produce more. In 2007, Iowa had a 22 percent increase in the number of corn acres, some of which was fragile land coming out of the Conservation Reserve Program.

Now I hear people talk about producing ethanol from corn stover. Government policy encourages unsustainable farming through market interference and a mandate and subsidy system that artificially encourages some types of production over others. Farmers receive subsidy payments with little expected in return. We agree to comply with a conservation plan that is loosely interpreted and minimally enforced. Meanwhile land prices are soaring, making it even more difficult if not impossible for beginning farmers to get started.

Adapting to challenge
In my view, lots of challenges remain to be addressed before agriculture in Iowa can move very far along a more sustainable path. However, I am encouraged by the many positive adaptations and developments I see happening across the state. Alternative swine management systems (hoop barns), research on flax and other crops, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) enterprises, farmers markets, research on various cropping systems and rotations, and managing nitrogen and phosphorous to improve water quality are but a few. These and other yet-to-be-developed strategies and innovations will be adopted more universally as energy prices continue to rise.

I mention these positive steps because the Leopold Center has been at the forefront to promote and support each one. The Center has awarded hundreds of competitive grants, and its multi-disciplinary issue teams have initiated long-term programs that are working to make farms more profitable and environmentally sustainable. The Center has been, and will continue to be, a relevant catalyst in the quest for agricultural sustainability.

As the Leopold Center celebrates its 20th anniversary, I applaud and thank those visionary leaders who saw the need and perhaps reflected on Aldo Leopold’s words, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.” I am proud that Leopold Center programs are helping to bring us steps closer to a system that is more in line with Wendell Berry’s definition of sustainable agriculture, “agriculture that does not deplete soils or people.”