Farmers key to carbon answers

Are farmers operating their farms in a sustainable manner? Are they minimizing carbon emissions to the best of their abilities? But the more-appropriate question may be, what exactly does all that mean?

The conversation about responsible stewardship of resources in agriculture can be as vague as it is confusing.

“While there is a (U.S. Department of Agriculture) definition of sustainable agriculture, there’s no equivalent government definition,” said Rob Myers, director of the University of Missouri-Center for Regenerative Agriculture. “Most organizations working on regenerative agriculture have an emphasis on improving soil health, enhancing biodiversity, integrating crops and livestock where feasible, and improving the resiliency of farming systems to challenging weather conditions and other stresses.”

Efforts to deal with climate change incorporate such terms as carbon-intensity scores, sequestration and carbon pipelines – things that would sound foreign to our grandparents.

Sean Arians, vice-president of sustainable production at the National Corn Growers Association, said for many who work the land, all the fancy language merely describes practices farmers have always engaged in.

“‘Renewable’ agriculture is the buzzword that attempts to redefine sustainable production that farmers have been doing for years,” he said. “In some circles, it infers bringing livestock closer to row-crop production to be able to utilize manure, rotational grazing and things like that.”

The percentage of those engaged in production agriculture compared to the general population has shrunk dramatically during the past few decades. Arians said he believes the general population doesn’t give farmers the credit they deserve in terms of stewardship.

“There’s a disconnect of what actually happens on the farm and what is perceived,” he said. “Part of this is trying to bridge communication (across) the divide of what really happens.

“We have a number of programs that encourage farmers to adopt cover crops and other practices, with (the USDA's Conservation Stewardship Program) and things. There is always opportunity for continuous improvement in helping farmers.”