Sustainability is a word we hear quite a bit these days. In agriculture it translates in context to caring for the air, land and water to pass our farms onto the next generation to produce food and fiber for a global economy. Sustainability also translates into improving the efficiencies of agriculture in order to provide a profit to those involved in the industry in order to sustain their families and their livelihoods.
Often folks ask me why don’t farmers do this or that. Most times it comes down to profitability and timing, which inexplicably go hand in hand. When commodity market prices are good farmers tend to have greater profitability and can afford to make equipment, farming practice changes or conservation projects on the farm. When commodity price is low and farmers are farming at a net loss per acre the funds simply aren’t available at that moment in time to make those expenditures. It’s a delicate slope to operate on.
Sustainability and efficiency on the farm go hand-in-hand. Farmers today are doing more with less thanks to innovation and technology. In fact, U.S. agriculture would have needed nearly 100 million more acres 30 years ago to match today’s production levels. Smarter farm equipment, precision ag tools and biotechnology are helping farmers care for their crops, while using less water, fertilizer and pesticides.
As farm efficiency goes up, emissions are going down in the livestock sector. Although livestock emissions get a lot of attention in discussions around sustainability, they make up 4.3% of overall emissions in the U.S., and those numbers are declining thanks to improvements in feed and production.
Agriculture can also play a role in offsetting emissions beyond the farm gate. From climate-smart farming practices to voluntary management of forests, grasslands, wetlands and croplands, farmers are not only reducing their footprint, but also are actively absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. The demand for carbon offsets from agriculture has grown significantly in recent years, but the process is still confusing and cumbersome, which then limits farmers’, ranchers’ and foresters’ participation. Often, farmers who want to participate have to hire private parties to help them adopt the right conservation practices and verify that certain processes and protocols were followed in implementing those practices. As these markets are being developed work is being done with industry partners and lawmakers to identify solutions to ensure these markets are voluntary and economically viable for farmers.
Farmers are embracing and growing renewable energy. Biofuels are an American-grown energy success story, reducing our country’s emissions and increasing our energy independence. Over the last decade, nearly three trillion pounds of corn have been used to produce clean, renewable ethanol for blending into motor fuels. In 2022 alone, the reduction in GHGs from the use of renewable fuels in place of gasoline was equal to taking 30 million cars off the road.
Beyond biofuels, farms and ranches are embracing a variety of clean energy sources, harnessing natural resources and turning farm waste into fuel. Over the last decade, we have seen a 167% increase in farms and ranches using renewable energy-producing systems, which includes geothermal, solar panels, windmills, hydro systems and methane digesters— that’s nearly 100,000 additional farms.
The only way agriculture will be able to achieve the dramatic goals being discussed today is through investments in research to develop the next generation of technology and practices to help us take our efforts to the next level. We need researchers and innovators working on tomorrow’s tools today if we are going to continue to reduce net emissions across the food chain. Many of the innovations that have helped farmers and ranchers significantly reduce their environmental footprint in the last several decades began in agricultural research labs at America’s land-grant universities, but funding for these programs has declined in recent years. The U.S. has dropped from being the global leader in funding research and development in the last decade, and it’s time to bridge that gap before we also lose our place as the leading producer of sustainable food, fiber and renewable energy.
“Ask five economists and you'll get five different answers - six if one went to Harvard.” -Edgar Fiedler
Ron Kern is the manager of the Ogle County Farm Bureau.
