Lara Bryant, Natural Resources Defense Council

Diversified Farming Systems

SWCS Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY July 2016

• “In Iowa…corn and soybeans now occupy 63% of the state’s total land area and 82% of its cropland.” (Liebman and Schulte 2015)

• Findings from Aguilar, et al. 2015:

• Cornbelt region diversity declined from 1978 to 2012, and

• it is the least diverse region.

• “Since 1945, corn and soybean acreage increased 29 and 80%, respectively, in the U.S. Corn Belt.” (Sulc and Tracy 2007)

2

Diversified Agriculture in the MRB

Incorporating livestock into the crop rotation

Image: USDA, Ryan Thompson

3

Replace a portion of corn and soy acres with other crops (perennials)

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Crop rotations of three or more years and continuous living cover, cover crops

Image: USDA NRCS South Dakota

A more diverse Corn Belt…

• Soil health

• Water quality

• Climate resilience

• Pest and disease cycles

• Weed control

• Drought and flood

• Climate mitigation

• Improved habitat for pollinators and wildlife

4Image: Luc Viatour www.lucnix.be

Environmental Benefits

1. Climate Resilience

2. Climate mitigation

3. Water quality

4. Soil health

5Graphic: NRDC, Climate Ready Soil

Climate Ready Soil findings

• Centralized (monoculture) agriculture has been drawing resources away from rural communities (Iles and Marsh 2012)

• Increased profitability to farmer; lower inputs, higher yields

• On the flip side….there are also risks, and the benefits aren’t guaranteed….

• Risk management strategy

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Economic Benefits

0

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Total Payou

t ($ Billion

s)

Year

Federal Crop Insurance Payouts

• Economic and Legislative

• True costs are not internalized or passed on to consumers (Iles and Marsh 2012)

• Specialization found to be more profitable (Aguilar 2015, Swenson 2010, Weingarten 2016)

• Policy incentives for monoculture row crops (Lin 2011)

• Crop insurance replacing the need for other risk management strategies

8

Barriers to Diversification

• Cultural

• Belief that specialization more productive (Lin 2011)

• Not enough resources for DFS

• Negative peer pressure

• Diversified farming lacks positive social branding (Iles and Marsh 2012)

9

Barriers to Diversification

• Operational Challenges

• Equipment, labor, lack of resources and information on alternate crops

• Market

• Probably the major barrier in the literature review

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Barriers to Diversification

1. Risk management

2. Desire to try new markets

3. Supportive community

4. Wish for a lifestyle change; ideology

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Drivers of Diversification

• Can’t be forced.

• Grassroots and CDFI can connect farmers to regional supply chains.

• Educate consumers on benefits of DFS; branding or standards

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Policy Opportunities - Market

• Redistribute subsidies

• Create new crop insurance products (example: Whole Farm Insurance)

• Improve credit access for DFS

• Branding for DFS and regional foods

• Invigorate markets with SNAP dollars (Iles and Marsh 2012)

• Loan forgiveness for sustainable/DFS farmers

13

Policy Opportunities – Institutional

• Research, Technical Assistance, Decision Support Tools

• Other areas for exploration

• Educate public institutions on sourcing from DFS

• Develop guidelines and best practices

• Promote DFS through existing programs

• Assess landowner and lender awareness of DFS

• Develop messaging to promote DFS

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Other Policy Opportunities

• Reexamine barriers within crop insurance program

• Improve access to land

• Improve credit access

• Educate consumers on benefits of DFS

15

Conclusion

Thank you

Benefits of DFS

Davis AS, Hill JD, Chase CA, Johanns AM, Liebman M (2012) Increasing Cropping System Diversity Balances Productivity, Profitability and Environmental Health. PLoS ONE 7(10): e47149. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047149

“[H]erbicide inputs in the 3‐yr and 4‐yr rotation plots were 6 to 10 times lower, and freshwater toxicity 200 times lower, than in the 2‐yr rotation.”