How Tennessee Farmers and Landowners Benefit the Environment
This article first appeared in Tennessee Home & Farm.
Even in the middle of winter, drive through rural Tennessee and you’ll likely notice green crops growing in fields. Often this is winter wheat, which is both a cover crop and a cash crop, planted in the fall and harvested in June to protect the environment. However, many of the other green crops you may see are cover crops that aren’t harvested and sold like wheat, corn and soybeans. Still, they play an important role in helping the farmland remain viable for the long term.
“Our land is our No. 1 asset,” says Brad Cochran, president of the Madison County Farm Bureau and a fourth-generation farmer. “Without the land and good soils, we can’t be sustainable for future generations.”
No-till Practices, Cover Crops and Carbon Sequestration, Oh My!
Tilling, or breaking up the soil to prepare it for planting, has been done for thousands of years. But over the last few decades, it has become clear that this conventional method can lead to soil erosion, which isn’t good for the environment nor crop yields.
As a result, farmers have moved toward conservation practices like no-till, but that means the soil can get compacted. Planting cover crops naturally loosens up the soil and prevents nutrient run-off in between planting their cash crops. It also helps the soil retain moisture by acting like a sponge to absorb rainwater. Cochran – who hasn’t tilled for 30 years and has used cover crops for almost as long – plants cereal rye, black oats, crimson clover, forage turnips and tillage radish as cover crops.
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In the last five years, he’s seen a greater push for farmers to use cover crops as a tool to improve soil health as they move away from tilling.
“Even in the winter, we want to maintain cover crops,” he explains. “Anything that can make biomatter improves our soil structure.”
As an added benefit, by increasing the organic matter, farmers are also increasing the soil fertility and having to lean less on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. And a good sign of healthy soil? Earthworms. Another benefit is increased yields.
“It’s no more than a big organic garden,” Cochran says, “because you increase the microbial activity in the soil structure, and that pays dividends for the farmer and the environment.”
Having a Field Day
While Cochran’s farm in Jackson implemented no tilling and cover crops decades ago, for others, it’s a newer practice or one they’ve yet to try. Through organizations like USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, UT Extension and even Farm Bureau, farmers can attend grower meetings and talk about what’s working, what’s not and to share ideas.
“It’s a learning curve,” Cochran says. “People have to be willing to change.”
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Since 1981, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture has hosted the Milan No-Till Field Day, a summer event dedicated to conservation tillage that draws people from across the state, the U.S. and several foreign countries. UT is considered a pioneer in the practice, and the event allows farmers to see demonstrations of how to no-till, planter set up, weed control and new technologies in a no-till system that they can implement back on their own farm.
Winter Greens
“An enormous amount of information is exchanged with visitors to the field day, many of whom are multigenerational landowners,” says Dr. Blake Brown, director of the UT AgResearch and Education Center at Milan.
“Really, our goal is no longer teaching farmers to no-till because over 95% of our acres are farmed with some form of conservation tillage in Tennessee,” says Brown. “We want to help our farmers incorporate all the new agricultural technologies into a no-till system.”
Farmers who can’t get away from their fields or travel to the field day site can still benefit from the event. Due to the pandemic, UT started hosting it as a virtual event in 2020 with presentations available online, and more than 100,000 attended that year, according to Brown. Though the in-person No-Till Field Day is back, they’ve continued offering virtual components. Learn more at milannotill.tennessee.edu.
Our land is our No. 1 asset. Without the land and good soils, we can’t be sustainable for future generations.
– Brad Cochran, president of the Madison County, Tennessee, Farm Bureau
Entering the Carbon Market
In addition to no-till and cover crops, carbon sequestration is another sustainable practice being implemented by farmers, landowners and even UT itself. By storing carbon instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, landowners are helping the planet while gaining additional revenue by selling their carbon credits on the carbon market.
Though the EU Emissions Trading System accounts for 90% of the world’s carbon trading value, on a local level, property owners can participate through groups like The Nature Conservancy and NCX. More recently, the American Forest Foundation partnered with the conservancy to launch the Family Forest Carbon Program.
“It incentivizes people to change the way they’ve managed their farmland or timberland in the past with improved management practices,” says Dr. Kevin Hoyt.
Hoyt serves as director of the UT Institute of Agriculture’s Forest Resources AgResearch and Education Center, a field research laboratory located on more than 11,400 acres in East and Middle Tennessee. In 2019, it made history as the first academic institution to enroll in The Nature Conservancy’s Working Woodlands program, a 40-year commitment that encourages forest landowners to utilize sustainable practices and improved timber harvesting operations. With the changes, the property managed by the Center is focusing on improved forest management, biological diversity and timber harvest planning.
These practices generate carbon credits for potential sale, since standing live trees store carbon through carbon sequestration. Additionally, solid wood maintains a level of carbon even after being harvested, such as furniture or other wood products used in construction.
Tennessee Farmers Care About the Environment
“The project has improved our forest management of the property, and these properties will continue to support the research of our scientists at the University of Tennessee,” Hoyt says.
At the end of the day, farmers and landowners of all sizes have always strived to protect their most important natural resources and are continuing to look to practices that make their footprint on the planet a little bit greener.
“We have to be advocates for agriculture, and if we don’t tell our own story, nobody will,” Cochran says. “So, we need to be leaders in our community. We need to be at the forefront to let people know that we are committed to taking care of the environment – it’s our livelihood.”
Learn more about cover crops with this infographic showing how a farmer’s no-till field looks throughout the seasons from year to year:
