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What you can do
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What can you do about sustainable agriculture?
While much needs to be learned about sustainable agriculture,
there are several practices that farmers can utilize now:
- Use legumes in crop rotations. Planting Austrian winter
peas as a winter cover crop between silage corn or small
grains can provide 20-50 pounds of nitrogen per acre for
the next crop, as well as prevent erosion caused by snowmelt.
- Regularly test soil to assess fertility. Comprehensive
soil tests (N-P-K-micronutrients) may be needed only every
2 or 3 years. An annual soil nitrate test may be adequate
for spring crops. Some research shows that a "quick"
spring nitrate test can reduce nitrogen fertilizer costs
by more than 30%.
- Rotate crops regularly. For example, many growers have
reduced pesticide applications when corn or silage is grown
for only 2 or 3 years in succession, and other crops (alfalfa
or small grains) are then grown for 2 or 3 years.
- Apply pesticides only when the economic threshold of damage
is reached, the point when the damage caused by insets exceeds
the costs of chemical control. Consider applying pesticides
at reduced rates by using spreader stickers and reduced
volume techniques.
- Reduce the number of tillage trips with no-till techniques.
Conventional drills can be used for this purpose if planting
occurs in early spring when soil is moist and penetrable.
- Consider alternate crops that enrich the soil, crops such
as forage peas mixed with forage triticale.
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