I live on a full-time farrow-to-finish hog farm, with four hundred acres of cropland, including three hundred rented acres. Our farm has expanded during the last twenty-six years with the addition of a new barn, a Harvestore silo, and a family. These improvements have been made possible by the time and money-saving techniques developed through personal research and experimentation.

One of these experiments is the injection of five thousand gallons per acre of liquid manure between corn rows. This has required the modification of our manure tanker, by attaching cultivator teeth on either side of each injector tooth, to remove weeds while covering the manure. Besides providing a disposal method for hog manure, this has benefited the soil by increasing organic matter, phosphorus, and potash levels. We have found that by injecting after planting, when the soil is dry, compaction is limited. By comparing manure injected corn fields with those given chemical fertilizers, we have calculated equal yields, and a savings of fifty dollars per acre.

After years of growing continuous corn, our clay soil had become hard, and yields were declining, while weed control problems were increasing. So, we developed a rotation of corn, wheat, barley and soybeans. In time, the soil loosened, weed competition decreased, yields increased, and the use of insecticide for corn root worm became unnecessary.

Rotation has shown that different fields experience different weed pressures. When these pressures are treated individually, there can be a great savings in herbicide use and costs. For example, in 1997 herbicide costs for our soybean fields ranged from fifteen dollars per acre to forty-five dollars per acre. This tailoring of chemicals has saved not only money, but time.

We also continuously experiment with new crop varieties: seeking improved crop characteristics, such as yield, disease resistance, suitability for clay soil, and tolerance to weather stresses. For barley, we are particularly interested in ‘standability’, because our manure-rich soil increases height and lodging. We plant corn test plots, examine company field trials, and observe neighbour’s fields. When a variety seems suitable, we plant a small acreage for comparison with our current varieties. We use this type of plant research to effectively experiment with new varieties, without risking an entire season’s crop.

Our family has begun no-tilling winter wheat, after harvesting soybeans. This has been a work-saving technique with pleasing results. By allowing the wheat to just sprout before the frost, we have observed that the crop experiences little winter kill. This wheat grows quickly in the spring, and yields well at harvest. However, we do not use no-till for spring-planted crops, as our clay soil is very heavy.

Sustainable agriculture on our farm takes several forms. There is self-sustenance in the natural crop-to-hog and manure-to-field cycle. There is environmental sustenance in the decreased use of chemicals, and in the goal of working with the needs and abilities of the soil. There must also be sustenance for the family, through profits, and reasonable working hours. This sustainable system is derived, and improved upon, but the continuous process of personal research and experimentation.

We acknowledge that while we still dream of those perfect, bumper crops, our family enjoys the excitement of new discoveries. This excitement is what makes scientists of us all: and these discoveries provide the satisfaction and personal growth that are a far greater measure of our success, than the yield or monetary value of our crops.