Crop Modeling Protects Farmers’ Bottom Line & Environment

Farming looks easy with your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles away from a cornfield said President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and that same sentiment holds true today. But unlike the farmers in Eisenhower’s time, today’s farmers are able to use high-tech tools to help make their decision-making just a little bit easier.

That’s why Ashland Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)  is hosting the fifth of its new Conservation Chats field day events on Precise Solutions in cooperation with Holmes SWCD. The event will take place August 25 at Fairview Farms, outside of Lakeville at  12970 Township Road 474.

“In-season prevision modeling is a great tool for farmers to accurately manage and measure their nutrient applications and input,” said Erica White, Ashland SWCD technician and Jerome Fork watershed coordinator. “These tools are not only making our farmers more profitable by becoming more efficient with their inputs, but they are also making a significant impact to improve our water quality.”

To help make that transition, Ashland SWCD has offered 100 percent cost-share to producers in the Mohican River watershed for the last two years in a partnership with Sunrise Cooperative, Land O’Lakes/Winfield United, Yara International, Ohio Farm Bureau and the Caring for Our Watersheds student competition.

Earlier this year, West Holmes High School sophomore Garrett Houin won first place in Ohio’s Caring for Our Watersheds student competition, and by becoming a state finalist was able to bring cost-share dollars from the program directly to the Mohican River watershed to help implement modeling tools. 

He worked hand-in-hand with White and Ashland SWCD staff to develop his proposal. In his research, Houin discovered that nutrient runoff from farm fields and bacteria from failing septic systems and livestock manure are the biggest threats to water quality in the main stem of the Mohican River watershed, where he lives in Holmes County.

As a result, his proposal included providing farmers in the watershed with cost share to implement new, high-tech computer modeling tools to make the right choices when it comes to nutrient management.

This Conservation Chat will be held at one of the field’s Houin’s proposal helped fund for the 2021 growing season, and it will include a farmer panel of farmers who are participating in his project talking about their successes and challenges using precision modeling tools.

“I’m excited to be able to invite people out to the field to see my project in action,” Houin said. “Precision conservation tools are a shift for many farmers, but we’re hearing farmers who have used to program tell us how their modeled field are some of their most productive, highest yielding fields with the best return on investment.

White agrees that modeling makes good sense for both farmers and the environment.

“Through crop modeling applications, producers can determine their return on investment, identify correct nutrient application timing and rates and assess the risk of losing those nutrients,” White said. “All of that saves the producers money on fertilizer costs, which ties into improving water quality. The end result is less nutrient runoff when you take a deeper look at timing and rates of applications.”

The Adapt-N model utilizes over 30 years of research from Cornell University on how nitrogen moves spatially through different soil types over time. It factors in how the source of the nitrogen, whether that be from a cover crop, manure application or commercial fertilizer and after taking into account management practices and weather data, it can identify how much nitrogen is actually available to the growing crop, giving producers the information they need to make the best nutrient management decisions possible.

“Adapt-N helps farmers assess how much nitrogen they have available so that they can be more efficient with their in-season nitrogen applications, but also more profitable by increasing the efficiency of their nitrogen dollars,” said Jane Houin, Ashland SWCD district program administrator.

Similarly, Winfield United’s R7 Field Forecasting Tool allows producers to input detailed management data and run different scenarios to determine the best timing, rate and return on investment for nutrient application. This tool uses soil tests, weather, potential yield, growing degree days, tissue tests, etc. to determine how different management decisions and timing are predicted to impact both yield and return on investment.

“Field Forecasting Tool is a predictive model that allows producers to see their investment of nutrient applications and when to apply those applications,” said White. “When using theses crop modeling tools, producers are able to see how the four Rs, right rate, right time, right source and right place, can benefit the bottom dollar for farmers, all while managing nutrients to reduce the risk of nutrient runoff.”

The field day will not only include an in-season look at one of the crop-modeling fields, but it will also include a panel of local farmers who have participated in the crop modeling program. White will share information about the precision conservation cost share programs available through Ashland SWCD, and Sunrise Cooperative will be providing details on how the models work pre-season, in-seaon and for post-harvest analysis..

The Conservation Chat: Precision Solutions event is free, and includes dinner, but pre-registration is required. Attendees can register by calling the Ashland SWCD office at 419-281-7645, the Holmes SWCD office at 330-674-2811, or by visiting https://www.eventbrite.com/e/conservation-chats-interseeder-intro-tickets-144551989893?aff=ebdssbeac

The event will take place at Fairview Farms,  12970 Township Road 474 just outside of Lakeville. and will begin promptly at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Ashland SWCD at 419-281-7645 or visit www.ashlandswcd.com