Farmers protect land: Indiana Farm Bureau celebrates Earth Day

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Farm Bureau celebrated Earth Day by highlighting the importance of natural resources to farmers.

From cover crops and manure management to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, Hoosier farmers are providing nutritious food while being good stewards of the land.

“On the farm, every day is Earth Day,” said INFB President Randy Kron. “We’ve been protecting the land for generations. Sustainability and efficiency go hand-in-hand in agriculture.”

“Hoosier farmers are improving efficiency and promoting healthy soil by planting cover crops to replenish nutrients and hold down topsoil.

“They also adopt practices that reduce and, in some cases, eliminate the need for tilling, or plowing the soil, so nutrients stay locked-in.”

Cover Crops and No-Till

Indiana is on the forefront of cover crop and no-till adoption. Indiana farmers went from roughly 200,000 cover crop acres in 2011 to nearly 1.5 million acres of living green cover in 2021, according to the Indiana Agriculture Nutrient Alliance.

“We continue to try to put nutrients that the soil needs in areas that need them,” said Jon Sparks, INFB District 6 director.

“We live in these communities, too. The quality of the environment and the water is just as important to us as it is to our neighbors. Farmers want to have a positive impact on the environment, not be a detriment to it.”

Eighty percent of farmed acres in the state utilize conservation tillage such as strip-till or no-till, and 1.5 million acres use cover crops, according to 2021 Indiana State Department of Agriculture transect data.

In addition, landowners helped prevent more than 1 million tons of sediment, 2.2 million pounds of nitrogen and 1.1 million pounds of phosphorus from entering Indiana waterways in 2020, according to the Indiana Conservation Partnership.

Pigs

Livestock manure is not wasted, but used as an organic fertilizer on farms.

“We sample and analyze the manure so we know we are spreading at an agronomic rate,” said Aaron Chalfant, INFB member from Randolph County.

“We also work with an environmental consultant who comes up with a nutrient management plan for each field, so we can be as cost effective and environmentally friendly as possible. Most farmers work with an environmental consultant to make sure that proper nutrient loads are utilized by the different soil types.”

Cattle & Dairy

Cattle and dairy farmers also manage manure carefully.

“We try not to over-manure our land,” said Layne Koester, INFB member from Vanderburgh County.

“Still, we want to get the fertilizer from the manure, so we create buffer zones using cover crops to combat any runoff that could be caused by the manure.”

Dairy farmers also reuse water to conserve natural resources.

For example, Koester uses a plate cooler full of water to cool the cow milk. Then the water is stored in a tank until it is needed to fill up the cows’ water troughs, wash the barn or even use as a mist to cool down the cows in the excess heat.

Learn more about INFB at www.infarmbureau.org.

Fast Facts

1. Agriculture is responsible for only 10% of America’s greenhouse gas emissions, which is lower than industry, electricity generation and transportation.

2. In 2020, the Indiana Conservation Partnership helped to plant 232,000 acres of cover crops, which sequestered almost 148,000 tons of carbon from the atmosphere. That’s equal to the emissions of more than 28,900 automobiles.

3. Compared to 50 years ago, farmers are using 78% less land, 41% less water and have a 35% smaller carbon footprint per pound of pork produced.

Source: Indiana Farm Bureau

About Earth Day

Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. The official theme for 2022 is Invest In Our Planet.