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Cultivation in Context: Renewed tools for better farming
Maximizing The Benefits
MWC that works offers clear advantages for sustainable farming.
These include four opportunities.
Develop weed control customized to your farm.
Remember, tools are only part of a site-specific, self-sufficient
system. Their highest use comes mixed with years of on-farm observation
of your soils, crops and weather. Start where you are, learning
from other farmers with related tools, crops, soils, weeds and
farming goals. As you work with more of these variables, your
system becomes more flexible and more adapted to your farm—in
sum, more site-specific and more sustainable.
Reduce annual expense for consumable purchased inputs.
Yearly costs for herbicides can be reduced as tool use increases.
Most weed tools work years after they’re paid for. Spray
equipment does, too. Herbicides you buy every growing season.
Reasonable maintenance and appropriate use lets you run cultivators
for many seasons. Sweep wear is gauged in thousands of acres,
with replaceable blades minimizing the new steel needed for a
clean cut. Moving parts in some weed tools increase soil action
as well as maintenance needs, but still give long service.
Mesh weed management with crop rotation and soil tilth
improvement. Tillage that replaces herbicides uncouples
crop selection from any limits of chemical carryover. This freedom
maximizes cropping opportunities. It increases options when you
are re-planting an alternative crop in the event of a crop failure
or a weather catastrophe. You can interplant crops or use narrow-strip
tillage of several crops without concern about herbicide drift
causing damage.
Adding small grains or forage crops to a rotation reduces the
size of the niche for annual weeds by shifting the seasonal opening
for weed growth. Plus these crops can add biomass to the soil
when residue is unharvested. Pre-plant tillage can serve dual
purposes of incorporating covers and preparing a seed bed. Rotating
warm- and cool season crops is another way to put weeds on the
defensive.
Innovative farmers are exploring no-till planting into cover
crops left on the surface. These operators use chemical or mechanical
means to kill covers, then plant seed or vegetable transplants
with tools that create openings just big enough for the job. This
route suppresses weeds, preserves moisture and creates habitat
for beneficial insects. Carefully incorporating sufficient cover
crops with tillage can significantly improve soil water retention,
which reduces surface run off with its erosive tendency. Extra
organic matter added over time also increases a soil’s tendency
to flow better when tilled because it becomes more granular and
less cloddy. Covers can suck up moisture as they mature, which
can be a problem in dry years.
Profit from new, high-value markets for non-chemically
produced crops. A MWC-based, non-herbicide system often
offers relief from pesticide applicator’s licensing; incurring
new environmental liability from chemical surface runoff, groundwater
contamination or spray drift; health risks to applicators or family
members; and any accidental contact with livestock or non-target
crops.
Opportunities are increasing for food crops grown under more
ecologically sustainable management. More buyers—local,
regional and national—pay premium prices for vegetables,
fruits and grains grown under integrated pest management systems,
or even from fields that receive no herbicides for the current
cropping season. Organic dairies need grains and hay—and
prefer them to be regionally grown. Exporters need high quality,
specially grown grains and soybeans for customers in Europe and
Japan. Local food buyers, from families to restaurants, seek out
vegetables, grains and livestock raised in ways that seem to be
more ecologically safe.
Even without a market that rewards a shift to lower pesticide
use, you gain a positive conversation starter with consumers and
neighbors. You have new chances to win support for your farming
operation from local non-farmers interested in environmental issues.
Explain the alternative measures you’re taking to produce
profitable crops. Highlight the extra effort you give to understanding
your farm’s complex ecological balance.
Every farmer has a unique range of skills, economic situations
and natural resources. Choosing the most sustainable mix—for
weed management and for an overall, whole-farm approach—is
a privilege and a responsibility that should stay as close to
home as possible. When your tools fit your system, you’re
the one in charge.
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