By Warren Beeler, Mr. Kentucky Agriculture

Farming today requires producing more with less. The U.S. has lost 19 million acres of farmland in the past 10 years with almost 1 million of that in Kentucky. That said, as our farmland is decreasing, our world population is estimated to increase to 9 billion by 2050. Agriculturalists understand that being sustainable while producing more with less requires improving soil health, soil fertility and at the same time, keeping life’s most important resource, water, clean and available. Farm families know that the next year is just as important as this year, the next decade or even the next 50 years require being good stewards of the land. The problem seems to be that agriculture gets blamed without knowing if we even have a problem, and if there is a problem, who is at fault.

There is a popular opinion that suggests high-yield systems deplete and degrade soils. In Kentucky, we have learned that high-yield systems can actually improve soils and are important to sustainable farming. Crop production has made amazing strides over the years in the effort to produce more with the same amount of land or with less.

UK crop specialist and director of the Grain and Forage Center of Excellence, Dr. Chad Lee, tells me that in 1930 we planted 7-8 pounds of seed per acre and produced 1,500 pounds of corn (29 bushels). Today, with hybrids, we plant 19 pounds of seed per acres and produce 11,200 pounds of corn (215 bushels). We have the potential to plant 37 pounds of seed per acre and produce 18,200 pounds of corn (350 bushels). We need to sustainably produce at this level if we are going to help feed 9 billion people. Increasing yield while improving soil health requires several best management practices. Here are a few sustainable techniques that we know to be tried and true:

No-Till - invented in Kentucky - protects the soils from erosion, limits compaction and allows the capture of more water from rainfall, making the soil more resilient and healthier.

Cover crops - crops planted off-season to protect from soil erosion. Continuous root growth allows for bacteria and microbial growth and opens the ground to water and nutrients.

Edge of field buffer strips - captures soil and nutrients in heavy rain before they enter a creek or waterway.

Precision farming - soil testing allows data to be plugged into GPS-controlled equipment. Precisely planting less seed in poor ground and more seed in very fertile ground. Actually managing nutrients as they lay in the field.

Grass ditches - limits erosion, sediment loss and hold nutrients in the field in those areas most susceptible to runoff.

Strip-cropping - growing strips of crops then a sod crop of hay to hold soil. A practice used on land with some slope.

Crop sequences - rotating crops helps control disease and pests, improves soil health with the varieties of nutrients taken up by various crops. About 90 percent of fields in Kentucky undergo crop rotations.

Increase yields - plants take up more nutrients and leave less for runoff or leaching out.

Irrigation - droughts cause environmental disasters leaving nutrients not taken up by the crop available to leach or runoff. Applying water when it is needed helps improve nutrient uptake and subsequent yields.

Kentucky agriculture and environmental agencies are being proactive by placing monitors to measure nutrient loads in rivers coming into and going out of Kentucky. For example, from Ironton, Ohio to Olmstead, Illinois, 633 miles of the Ohio River have largely unchanged nutrient concentrations, which includes two large cities and rivers entering from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Several of these Kentucky rivers have monitors measuring nutrient load as it enters the Ohio. We even have a monitor attached to a boat for mobile monitoring.

Specific watersheds are being chosen for monitoring. The first to be studied was Little River Basin near Hopkinsville. Genetic markers and isotopes were used to identify the source of bacteria or nutrient. The study revealed only two sources, both at very low levels. The lowest was from cattle, which makes sense as the Little River is located in livestock grazing country. The higher of the two genetic markers found was human. This was great news for agriculture and marked the first time Kentucky agriculture had proof that best management practices are working and had resulted in very limited nutrient loss.

I ask, “Why would any farmer waste nutrients?” It makes no sense.

Kentucky is doing an outstanding job of managing nutrients, limiting erosion and limiting nutrients entering our waterways. Kentucky agriculture is pleased but never satisfied. Agriculture needs to significantly grow production and yield to feed an expanding world population. In order to do that in an ecological fashion, we must continue to monitor and actually understand and identify if we have a problem. In the occurrence of an issue, we must use the best management practices or develop new practices to fix it. Farmers understand that you cannot mistreat the land and pollute the water and think you will be farming very long. Sustainability is essential if we intend to leave the land better for our children and grandchildren.