AMES, Iowa -- While many farmers express interest in growing alternative crops that could be profitable and improve environmental quality, there are strong incentives for growing conventional row crops. Easy access to markets and crop insurance programs are among the reasons farmers avoid straying from corn and soybeans.
Exploring the potential of other options that could outweigh those risks is a professional quest for Andy VanLoocke, associate professor of agronomy at Iowa State University.
“I am interested in conservation that pencils out,” he said.
Recent research he led showed that incorporating miscanthus, a perennial biomass crop, on less productive farm ground can offer multiple benefits: increased farm income, improved water quality and better soil health.
The work used the Upper Raccoon River watershed as a case study. It combined high-precision soils information and paired cropping systems models with available site-specific data on crops, weather and water quality to predict possible outcomes for farmers and for water.
Potential to increase profitability, reduce nitrogen loss
PhD student Kelsie Ferin, now a scientist in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, helped lead the field research and modeling on the project. Findings from the four years of their study indicated that about 12% of cropland in the project area (that included land in five counties) lost an average of $40 per acre and also leached high levels of nitrogen (up to 45 lbs. per acre). Their results showed that substituting miscanthus as a crop on these less profitable areas might result in a 4% reduction of N loss from the watershed under current weather conditions. What was more promising, under future predicted weather scenarios the switch could further improve profitability and reduce N loss by 21–26%.
Their modeling suggested that the greatest benefits are likely to be realized in “goldilocks zones,” where the land is semi-productive, but crop productivity is generally lower, especially in years that are wet or dry. These areas often represent land that is still farmed and fertilized, but more vulnerable to yield losses, as well as higher losses of nutrients from leaching and soil erosion.
“A perennial crop, like miscanthus, has a longer growing season, with roots in the ground all year long. It grows during the spring and into the fall, taking up water and nutrients and protecting the soil when corn and soybean fields are often bare and exposed,” VanLoocke said.
Alternative markets growing
The economic tradeoffs will vary based on weather and crop and rental prices, VanLoocke said. “It also depends on the demand for an alternative crop. The good news is that demand for miscanthus has been increasing, making it a more viable choice.”
Miscanthus can be used for biofuels, animal bedding and as a component in compostable papers. Iowa State currently sells most of the miscanthus grown on its research farms to a paper company in Minnesota that manufactures compostable feed bins, according to VanLoocke.
He is working with partners at Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute and the University of Illinois on ideas to build upon his initial studies.
“We want to gather more detailed information and refine the models to give farmers and conservational professionals information they can use to calculate risks and benefits of alternative cropping scenarios for specific farms,” he said. “It’s essential that these tools are practical, easy-to-use and accurate to ensure farmers can feel confident in applying them to decision-making on their farms.”
For more details, view a recording of an Iowa Nutrient Research seminar presentation by Ferin discussing the research.
The team for the exploratory studies also included faculty and graduate students in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management at Iowa State, Indiana University and the University of Minnesota.
Funders for this project and related supporting work include the Iowa Nutrient Research Center, the US Department of Energy's Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the USDA National Institute for Agriculture – Hatch Grants 1008969 and IOW04414; and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovations at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water Systems (INFEWS) program, Grant 1855996.
Contacts
Andy VanLoocke, Department of Agronomy, 515-294-8398, andyvanl@iastate.edu
Ann Y. Robinson, Agriculture and Life Sciences Communications/Iowa Nutrient Research Center, 515-294-3066, ayr@iastate.edu