More help on the horizon for establishing biomass crops?

Since beginning work on Productive Conservation on working Lands in July of 2007, one of the major obstacles has been making biomass crops economically competitive in comparison to traditional row crops such as corn and soybeans. In an article from the November issue of Ethanol Producer magazine, author Susanne Retka Schill details new programs that will be working toward that end. Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) received most of Shills attention. Also mentioned in the article was Minnesota’s Re-invest in Minnesota (RIM) Clean Energy program. Both of these programs promise to provide establishment incentives for farmers to grow biomass crops for nearby industrial users.

Environmental Service Payments?

Am I seeing a pattern here? I hope so.

• In the September issue of Amber Waves, the publication
of the USDA Economic Research Service
(http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves) an article titled
“Creating Markets for Environmental Stewardship” the
author Marc Ribaudo covers several issues important to
the concept of Productive Conservation. In the article
ribaudo argues that when farmers make their production
choices, market commodities win out.
• The 2008 election is over and voters in Minnesota
and around the nation have spoken. On the ballot in
Minnesota this election was the Clean Water, Land
and Legacy Amendment. The passing of this
amendment demonstrates the leadership role Minnesota
has taken nationally in conservation of natural
resources. This shows Minnesota residents
value their environment, and are willing to pay to
protect, preserve and restore the natural resources
they value. The dedicated funding from this amendment
will allow significant progress to be made improving
the quality of Minnesota’s natural environment.
• "Periodic guest blogger at env-econ and full-time blogger at aguanomics, David Zetland, does a nice job of summarizing the case for placing dollar values on environmental assets. I have a couple of things to add and a small quibble.
We are used to paying for oil, coal, fish and other things "out there" in Nature -- either because someone owns the rights to those resources or its costs money to get them from "the commons."

Contrast our attitudes towards resources with our attitudes to the environment, which we are accustomed to "consume" for free.

As the environment is threatened and becomes more scarce, perhaps we have to think of it as a resource -- and one that is worth paying for."
(Environmental Economics blog)

How to recycle a house

In the summer of 2007 my wife and I began the process of looking at houses to move onto our farm. We had decided on moving an existing house mainly due to economic reasons and our aesthetic tastes did not dictate building new. Most homes we looked at were the typical 2-3 bedroom ramblers in varying states of repair. There was one particular one that caught our eye was fairly plain on the outside, but the original late 40's interior woodwork almost convinced me.

Luckily we passed on that one because a few weeks later a friend called me with a hot tip. There was a farmer just 5 miles away who was building a new house on his farm. Due to the zoning laws in our county, the old house had go. It actually was a friend of my friend's dad, who happened to go to high school with my uncle. Well, anyway I called him and he invited us over to look at the house. The 9 foot ceilings and generous footprint of the house immediately struck us. We were sold and we reached a verbal agreement for the house that day.

Between delays building his house and our struggle with the power company to schedule the 5 mile move, we were not able to get our house on site until the end of May the following year. Because of the height of the house they had to drop at least 10 power lines along the route. We were finally able to schedule a date to move, and we were able to find an excavator who was able to dig a hole for the basement of a 1,400 sq foot house on 4 days notice. Needless to say I was quite relieved.

The house arrived at our farm at 4:00 am, slowly creeping down the alfalfa field that runs the length of our half-mile long driveway. At some point the peak of the roof got snagged by a branch on our walnut tree, but other than a few small cracks in the plaster, that was the only damage inflicted to the early 1900’s farm house in the move.

Once on site, the house was backed into the hole and suspended about 12 feet above the bottom of the hole to allow the forms for the basement walls to be set. After the basement walls were cured, the house was lowered onto the foundation with the help of a hydraulic pump powered by a 5 hp gas engine.

The next big project was to lay the heat exchange loops in the trench we had dug extending 385 feet out from the house. After the run up of energy prices during late 2007 and early 2008, the economics of installing a geothermal heat pump were looking extremely good. We did much research online and settled on a local contractor with 25 + years experience installing geothermal heat pump systems. Seven 800 foot loops of ¾ inch tubing were laid in the bottom of the trench and secured with wire staples to prevent them from moving during the back filling process.

Now the house was set and the heat exchange loops installed so the back filling could begin. There were still a lot of smaller projects involved to get the house ready for winter, but working evenings and weekends since the middle of June has gotten us a well built house with 2800 sq feet of living space and a full basement with 9 foot ceilings. All for less than the cost of building a new home of half the size, and saving a great farm house from demolition. As for the old house, we plan on deconstructing it in spring, salvaging as much of the domestic hardwood ion the framing as possible. The old house was constructed with brick in fill between the exterior wall studs, and we plan on recycling these into sidewalks and a patio. We will even be recycling the 1950’s era aluminum siding for use on a small garage.

This summer's efforts

Summer has come and gone and we are quickly moving into the fall harvest season here in Southern Minnesota. This summer was busy as usual - traveling around the state promoting Productive Conservation on Working Lands, and keeping the other programs here at Three Rivers going. This summer we hosted our annual grazing management workshop series. The report can be viewed here. As part of the grazing management series I hosted a fence construction demonstration at our farm. We also helped organize a pasture walk in Brown County.

In addition to keeping things running here at the Three Rivers office, my Wife and I have nearly completed a house recycling project. While not directly an RC&D project, my own housing project fits well with the idea of resource conservation. We moved an early 1900’s farm house onto our farm site as replacement for the existing dilapidated house. The old house will be deconstructed and as much of the lumber salvaged as possible. The process has taken over a year from start to finish, and has been a lot of work but we are starting to enjoy the fruits of our labor. In order to make our new home as energy efficient as possible we decided to install a ground source heat pump, also known as a geothermal heating system. I will post pictures of the project soon.

More on climate change and agriculture...

As a well timed but unintentional follow up to my last post about climate change and agriculture, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) recently released "Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3 : The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States."

This report has profound implications for the Three Rivers RC&D region. As a region heavily dependant on agriculture, we would be wise not to ignore the changes that are already happening to the natural systems that support so much of our local economy. Global climate change is no longer an abstract academic debate, it has moved into the real world with real consequences.

“The report finds that climate change is already affecting U.S. water resources, agriculture, land resources, and biodiversity, and will continue to do so.” The news release from the USDA cites several specific findings pertinent to agriculture in the Three Rivers RC&D area:

• Grain and oilseed crops will mature more rapidly, but increasing temperatures will increase the risk of crop failures, particularly if precipitation decreases or becomes more variable.


• Higher temperatures will negatively affect livestock. Warmer winters will reduce mortality but this will be more than offset by greater mortality in hotter summers. Hotter temperatures will also result in reduced productivity of livestock and dairy animals.


• Much of the United States has experienced higher precipitation and streamflow, with decreased drought severity and duration, over the 20th century. The West and Southwest, however, are notable exceptions, and increased drought conditions have occurred in these regions.


• Weeds grow more rapidly under elevated atmospheric CO2. Under projections reported in the assessment, weeds migrate northward and are less sensitive to herbicide applications.
  Horticultural crops (such as tomato, onion, and fruit) are more sensitive to climate change than grains and oilseed crops.


• Young forests on fertile soils will achieve higher productivity from elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Nitrogen deposition and warmer temperatures will increase productivity in other types of forests where water is available.


• Invasion by exotic grass species into arid lands will result from climate change, causing an increased fire frequency. Rivers and riparian systems in arid lands will be negatively impacted.


• A continuation of the trend toward increased water use efficiency could help mitigate the impacts of climate change on water resources.


• The growing season has increased by 10 to 14 days over the last 19 years across the temperate latitudes. Species' distributions have also shifted.
  

“USDA agencies are responding to the risks of climate change. For example…The Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Services Agency are encouraging actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration through conservation programs. USDA's Risk Management Agency has prepared tools to manage drought risks and is conducting an assessment of the risks of climate change on the crop insurance program. “

Global climate change and Minnesota agriculture

I was in Denver May 12-14 for Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Soil and Air Resource Management Air Quality and Global Change Research Customer/ Stakeholder Workshop. I had beeen invited by Dr. Abdullah Jaradat from the ARS research lab in Morris, MN. Dr. Jaradatalso happens to be a member of the Productive Conservation on Working Lands Technical Committee. The purpose of this workshop was to engage ARS stakeholders in the process of setting research priorities for the ARS in the coming five year period. ARS has identified global climate change as an urgent priority for research activities. Currently there is little conclusive data regarding the role of agriculture in greenhouse gas emissions, and there is a lack of knowledge on what effects climate change will have on agriculture. The focus of this workshop was placed on identifying specific topics that can be addressed by ARS in the next five years.

Attendees of this workshop included top ARS research scientists from across the country in addition to representatives from various Ag related businesses, industries, and farms. There were several scientists that were involved in the Nobel Prize winning International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC was responsible for the report that Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” was based on. I was asked to contribute input to this meeting from the perspective of our work as a non-profit organization. Our work with PCWL, local food production, and sustainable agriculture offered a unique perspective in contrast to the other interests represented in the break-out sessions.

The Group discussion I participated in identified the following topics as research priorities:

Feeding the growing world population
Integrating Production knowledge with environmental impacts.
Effects of changing land use on Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, especially in respect to ethanol production.
Implications of bringing marginal land into production.
Biomass harvest and its effects on soil quality.
Life cycle analysis of GHG emissions for different cropping systems.
Best management practices for water use efficiency in agriculture.
Maximizing nutrient use efficiency in agriculture.
Better communication of ARS research results.
Multi-factor integration research - examine effects of multiple stressors on crop production.
Integration of current knowledge regarding global climate change and agriculture and analysis of variability of research results.
Extend and expand GRACEnet.
More emphasis on social and economic feasibility of management practices.

Key points I brought to the discussion from the perspective of Three Rivers RC&D included these research topics and issues:

Sustainable biofuel production – this includes examining effects of biomass harvest on soil carbon content, sustainable biomass harvest rates, and examining effects of crop residue removal on soil carbon content.
Nutrient Management – continuing to expand research on increasing efficiency of nutrient application, use of productive conservation crops to mitigate excess nutrients.
Landscape scale water management practices.
Practices for reducing Ag inputs for environmental and economic benefit.
Diversifying crop rotations.
Local and organic food production – this includes examining production practices, training new farmers and market development.

I also stressed the point that regardless of what practices their research show to have environmental benefits, if the practices are not economical, they will not be adopted on a scale that will offer significant benefit to reducing the effects of global climate change. Private landowners will play an essential role in the implementation of land use practices that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester atmospheric carbon in the soil.

This focus of research on the role agriculture plays on global climate change and what effects climate change will have on agriculture presents a golden opportunity for agriculture in Minnesota. There already is significant research being conducted in Minnesota in the area of sustainable biofuel production. We are uniquely poised to take advantage of out excellent university research system, Ag industry, and abundant natural resources. We can research and implement solutions to the problems presented to our natural ecosystems while generating positive economic activity.

Spring?

With bits of green grass poking through the stubble form last year’s residue spring is finally here. The paperwork for our field demonstration and market development studies has been finalized, and our participants are chomping at the bit to get going. I have also received word that several of our native grass establishments have been planted. As soon as they germinate I will be going to inspect them and will post some pictures here.

The Gristmill has posted an interesting article regarding what we consider a farmer. In many areas in the U.S. being a “farmer” requires somewhere around 1000 acres, a million dollars in green tractors, and possibly several thousand hogs or cows. It is good to notice that this is not always the case, or even common in all parts of the world. This has only been the standard for a few brief decades here in the North America. Few can argue that our agriculture systems have evolved to be largely dependant on relatively cheap energy prices. As energy prices continue to rise and the concept of peak oil seems to be becoming a reality, we have to question the status quo in agriculture. Will industrial agriculture disappear as a result of rising energy costs? Not likely. However, agriculture will most definitely look different in 20 years. Will increasing input costs drive farmers to ever increasing sizes to take advantage of economies of scale or will the pendulum swing in the opposite direction with smaller farms producing more high value food for human consumption food? This will likely be determined by a combination of factors, some of which will be technological advances, federal ag policy and the level of interest in the new generations of farmers. Since we all know change is the only constant, I will leave predictions and prognostications to the palm readers, but I know which team I am cheering for…

So much for the Minnesota River...

American Rivers has issued a report listing the Minnesota River as the 5th most endangered river in the nation. As the report states this is primarily due to the proposed Big Stone II (yes, there is already a Big Stone I plant in operation) coal fired power plant, which will be built on Big Stone Lake, the headwaters of the Minnesota River. The primary problems with locating this power plant here is the copious water consumption and increased mercury deposition in the Minnesota River valley. Not to mention the fact that “clean coal” is nothing more than a myth, much like the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny (sorry kids). This issue is compounded because the Big Stone II plant will be located on the South Dakota side of the Minnesota-South Dakota boarder.

From the mining process to the burning in power plants, the environmental decimation that follows in the wake of the coal industry will be remembered as a blight left on future generations. With fish Minnesota consumption advisories covering most bodies of water in the state with sufficient testing, it is hardly prudent to increase the deposition of mercury in the Minnesota River Basin. With the substantial increase in water withdrawal from the headwaters of the Minnesota River, current impairments to water quality in the Minnesota River will be amplified.

Our Federal and State Government has spent millions of dollars working to improve water quality in the Minnesota River Basin, and much of those gains will be wiped out by an ill-advised scheme as this. The press and the Minnesota state government have also been shamefully silent on this issue. Apparently the citizens of the Minnesota River Basin are providing the leadership our “leaders” seem to be neglecting. We should be thankful we have groups such as Friends of the Minnesota River Valley, CURE and Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River to work in our best interest to stop this foolish endeavor. In a time when permits for new coal plants are being denied on environmental and economic grounds, why is this even being considered? Our leaders need to take a small political risk and stick their necks out for the well being of their constituents.

I really need to get some photos up here to liven things up a bit, but the weather hasn’t cooperated. The spring greening of our fields and forests has been postponed by our seemingly endless limbo between winter and spring. The dreary brown landscape is getting a little old for everyone here in Southern Minnesota. I suppose soon enough the weather will turn and we will be cursing the mosquitoes.

Earlier this month the Productive Conservation on Working Lands Technical Committee approved several new crop establishment projects. These projects will assist the establishment of 180 acres of native grasses and flowers in central Minnesota. These Productive Conservation crops will be used for biomass and seed production. The seeds from these crops will be harvested and used in native prairie restorations across Minnesota. PCWL cooperators Minnesota Native Landscapes has been very helpful in locating land to plant many of these productive conservation crops. We look forward to seeing their plots of native wild flowers once they are growing this summer. We will be sure to post pictures.

For those who feel like they have missed out, PCWL still has funds for another 580 acres of perennial conservation crops! If you are a Minnesota Landowner or farmer and have been thinking about how to make some income on under utilized land, PCWL may be a good match for you. Previously funded projects have included: native berries, hazelnuts, native grasses for seed and biomass, as well as hybrid poplar and willows for biomass. For more information or assistance with the application, please contact us.

The American Farmland Trust, Ag Subsidies, and Ecosystem Services

In a recent American Farmland Trust newsletter they report Washington State passed an AFT supported bill - “Promoting farm and forest land preservation and restoration through conservation markets”. According to AFT, this bill will result in new ecosystem services markets for farm and forest landowners while also potentially improving the performance of existing environmental mitigation and restoration programs.

This bill should serve as a model for other states to implement similar programs. Here in Minnesota, we are lucky to have programs such as Productive Conservation on Working Lands, which is working in parallel to what this new law in Washington proposes to address. Economic viability has long been the weak link in the conservation programs chain. The bottom line is we need to make conservation competitive with commodity crops in the most environmentally sensitive areas. While PCWL is being implemented on a relative small scale statewide in Minnesota, it is attempting to address the three legged stool that is this problem. Without coordinated development of market development, product supply, and agronomic knowledge productive conservation crops will not be competitive with row crops on marginal lands.

For decades we have subsidized the agricultural practices that have resulted in excessive nutrient and sediment loads in our nation’s rivers and streams. To expect farmers to bear the full cost of mitigating these problems is unrealistic. The hyper industrialization of agriculture did not evolve in a market devoid of influence outside of supply and demand. Our federal farm policy has played a profound role in the shaping of domestic and international commodity markets. As unfortunate as it is, we paid to cause the problem, now we need to pay to solve the problem.