Jeff Moyer at Quivira Coalition Conference

©2008 Rodale institute
By Jeff Moyer
Farm Director
RODALE INSTITUTE
Regenerative Agricultural
“Healthy Soil = Healthy Food = Healthy People”
A Flawed Food Production System
&
An Organic Solution

For the First Time in History We Have the Power
to Crush Our Environment

Inspirational Wisdom
• “ A nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• “Despite all our pretensions, we still are totally
dependent on 6 inches of top soil and the fact that
it rains.”
Confucius
• “Nature is the greatest gift of all!” “Soil has the
ability to regenerate itself”
Robert Rodale

Let’s Think About the Problems

The Way We Farm Effects The Environment

Dead Zones Continue To Expand
2008 Soil From Iowa in the Gulf of Mexico

We’re Polluting Our Water

We’re Killing Our Farmers

Childhood Obesity is Epidemic

2007 Census of Agriculture,
National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS)

Net Farm Land Loss Tops 27,000,000 Acres

One Solution is Organic Production
Supported by Statistics
Supported by Science

Same Resources…… Different Philosophy

• Soil is a complex, multi-component system of interacting inorganic and organic materials,
and the properties of soil result from the effect of all these interactions.
Healthy soil management – emphasizes the conservation and increase of soil
organic matter – by maximizing the contributions of on-farm resources
Conservation - Prevents Erosion (loss of Organic Matter)
Cover crops
Green Manures
Composts
Animal Manures
Soil Health & Fertility

Soil Organic Matters
1% 5%
5 % 1%

Soil Microorganisms
Group Average Number per
Gram Of Soil
Live Weight per Acre
Plow Depth (pounds)
Bacteria
Actinomycetes
1 billion
10 million
500
750
Fungi 1 million 1,000
Algae 100 thousand 150
TOTAL 2,400
Francis E. Clark, A Perspective of the Soil Microflora, Soil Microbiology
Conf.,
Purdue University (June 1954)

Typical Numbers of Soil Organisms in
Healthy Ecosystems
Crop Land Prairie Forest
Organisms per gram (teaspoon) of soil
Bacteria 100 mil. -1 bil. 100 mil. -1 bil. 100 mil. -1 bil.
Fungi Several yards 10s – 100’s of yds 1-40 miles
(in conifers)
Protozoa 1000’s 1000’s 100,000’s
Nematodes 10-20 10’s – 100’s 100’s
Organisms per square foot
Arthropods < 100 500-2000 10,000-25,000
Earthworms 5-30 10-50 10-50
(few in conifers)

• Higher corn and soybean
yields in drought years
• Increased soil C and N
• Higher water infiltration
• Higher water holding cap.
• Higher microbial activity
Soil in Organic Systems

Organic Corn - 1995 Drought
Organic Conventional
Better infiltration, retention, and
delivery to plants helps avoid drought
damage

According to The 2007 Census of Agriculture:
• In 2008 organic farms had an average of
$217,675 in sales compared to $134,807.
• Census Conclusion: Adding in cost of
production organic farms are more profitable.
Where Does Organic Stand In The Agricultural World?

Let’s Take a Look at
me Tools to Build Soil Health
Cover Crops

Rodale Institute - Regenerated
1970
1970
2000

Each square represents
one year’s global
emissions of carbon
dioxide, measured by the
weight of carbon it
contains. The size of each
square is proportional to
the amount of that year’s
emissions.
Sources: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; “Managing The Transition to Climate Stabilization, “A.E.I.-Brookings, by Dr. Richard
Richels, Dr. Thomas Rutherford, Dr. Geoffrey Blanford and Dr. Leon Clarke; Climate Analysis Indicators Tool, World Resources Institute; Dr. Jeffery Greenblatt, Environmental
Defense; Dr. Alex Farrell, University of California Energy Institute.
BILL MARSH / New York Times, December 16, 2007 ©

Unproven Carbon Sequestration

Proven Carbon Sequestration
Plants
The soil‘s microbial “labor
force“ incoporates carbon
into the soil structure
Air
Soil
Human nutrition
and health starts
in the soil, from
which plants
draw their
nutrients
The soil microbial
community
provides the
nutritional
building blocks
that plants need
to grow and
thrive
Light is the
energy
source
www.rodaleinstitute.org

-44.6 -18.9 -8.1
312 330
1000
1261
2363
-500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Moldboard
Plow
Sub Soil Mole
Knife
Raw Dairy
Manure
Cov. No
Till
Winter
Cover
Crops
Compost
Broiler
(litter,
leaves)
Compost
(Dairy,
Manure,
Leaves)
Carbon Impact by Field Treatment
Carbon Sequestration ( kg C / ha /year)

Beneficial Root Fungi
on Bahia Grass
Dr. David Douds -
USDA-ARS Researcher,
specializing in beneficial
root fungi research for
the last 25 years
www.rodaleinstitute.org
Mycorrhizal Fungi

• Extends plant root
systems
• Produces erosion-
resistant, carbon
enriched soil
• Provides mechanisms
for soil biological
carbon fixation
• Slows decay of organic
matter
Mycorrhizal Fungi

Chemical synthetic N fertilizer
• produced by the industrial Haber-Bosch process
• requires huge amounts of energy to create the
2939 PSI and 842ºF of heat
• needed to industrially extract N from the atmosphere and
hydrogen from natural gas.
• The production of 1 kg (2.2lbs) of chemical N
fertilizer burns the equivalent of 1 L (1.05 Qt.) of oil
and 17.6 cubic feet of natural gas, releasing a great
deal of carbon and other greenhouse gasses into the
atmosphere
NITROGEN

Energy “Required” ?
Bosch Haber
Process
www.hydro.com/upload/4518haberboschen.jpg

Tap root
Root nodules housing
Rhizobia bacteria

2006 Hairy Vetch N (Lbs/acre) in above ground biomass
Field #60, The Rodale Institute
232
172
155
191
103
151
167170
232
180
195
253
193
203
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
MN-1 OR-1 OR-2 Steve Groff PA-1
(Planted 9-8-05)
Steve Groff PA-1
(Planted 9-27-05)
WI-1 Field Average all
plots
Hairy Vetch accession
Lbs/acreN
(Abovegroundbiomassx%Ntissueanalysis)
Above ground dry matter biomass/acre x %N
tissue analysis = lbs N /acre
(4-21-06)
Above ground dry matter biomass/acre x %N
tissue analysis = lbs N /acre
(6-9-06)
4.24
% N
2.84
% N
4.84
% N
4.91
% N
5.66
% N
3.85
% N
5.09
% N
N
4.77
% N
3.76
% N
3.12
% N
3.16
% N
3.81
% N
3.16
% N
3.31
% N

How Green Is My Orange?
New York Times, Jan. 2009
PEPSICO/ Tropicana

Carbon Footprint

Published Research
The Myth of Nitrogen Fertilization for Soil Carbon Sequestration
S.A. Khan, R.L.Mulvaney, T.R.Ellsworth, and C.W.Boast Univ. of Ill
Conclusion: A half century of N fertilization has played a crucial
role in expanding worldwide grain production, but there has been a
hidden cost to the soil resource: a net loss of native SOC and the
residue C inputs. This cost has been exacerbated by the widespread
use of yield-based systems for fertilizer N management, which are
advocated for the sake of short-term economic gain rather then long
term sustainability.
Published in Journal of Environmental Quality (2007)

Tillage has it’s Drawbacks

A Different Way of Farming

Organic No-Till

Corn
PLOW TILL
• PLOW
• DISC
• PACK
• PLANT
• ROTARY HOE
• ROTARY HOE
• CULTIVATE
• CULTIVATE
• HARVEST
• (143 Bu/A)
NO-TILL
• ROLL/PLANT
• HARVEST
• (160 Bu/A)
A two step organic production system Plant and Harvest!

231.7
199.2
121.6
77.5
0
50
100
150
200
250
Conv. Till Conv. No-
Till
Org. Till Org. No-Till
Energy Used in Different Corn
Production Systems
Units = Diesel Fuel Equivalents

3111
4837
5344
6669 6978
8392
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
Oats HV Plow
5/12/03
BuWh HV 6/9/03 Oats HV 6/9/03 Barley HV 6/9/03 Wheat HV 6/9/03 Rye HV 6/9/03
Cover Crop Treatment & Date Collected
Biomass(Lbs/Acre)
Average Biomass (lbs/A) of Cover Crop Mixtures:
2003 Corn Cover Crop Trial

Tools That Make it Possible

Dense Cover Crops
Prevent Weed Expression

Corn 3 Days After Planting

Corn Planted into Hairy Vetch @ 3 Weeks After Planting

Corn Mid-Season

2010 Soybean Research Plots

2009 Tomato

Pumpkins 2010 Planted on 30” Rows – 5’ Centers
Hairy Vetch Cover

6 weeks after rolling

California Transplanted Eggplant

30 Foot Roller Illinois

Works on Small Scale Ag Systems

A New Way of Marketing and Buying Food
Together We Can Change Our Food System

Organic Conventional
Change the Soil and We Change the World

Jeff Moyer
The Rodale Institute
611 Siegfriedale Road
Kutztown, PA 19530 USA
Phone: 610-683-1420
Fax: 610-683-8548
Email:jeff.moyer@rodaleinst.org
Web: www.rodaleinstitute.org

Jeff Moyer at Quivira Coalition Conference

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