Accidental Conservationist: Iowa farmer turns tillage happenstance into a way of life
Wayne Fredericks calls himself the “accidental conservationist.” When he started farming in 1973, he believed a fully conventional tillage operation was the only way to go. But after nearly 20 years, Mother Nature stepped in and upended those plans on the Osage, Iowa, farm, turning Fredericks into a lifetime proponent of all things conservation.
“Our land needed the plow to raise soybeans successfully, or so I thought,” he says. “For the first 19 years, I plowed all my cornstalks ahead of soybeans, and I worked all my soybean stubble ahead of corn. In the winter of 1991, I was faced with a challenge I had yet to encounter. My farmland froze early, and I had not gotten my
cornstalks plowed. What was I going to do?”
On the advice of his John Deere dealer, Fredericks planted his soybeans with a drill the following season. The crop performed well, weeds were under control and a smooth harvest led to strong yields. Fredericks never looked back, and today after almost 50 years farming with his wife, Ruth, the 756-acre farm of corn and soybeans is in a no-till/strip-till rotation. The farm also includes about eight acres of pollinator habitat enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
“Strip-till corn came about a decade after no-till. The technology evolved and showed very real promise for those of us farming in colder, wetter climates,” says Fredericks. “I live and farm ‘just south of the North Pole,’ where many farmers believe it is too cold to practice no-till or to plant cover crops. I have proved them wrong.”
Fredericks says his goal became one of setting an example for other farmers by successfully showing that no-till and cover crops work, sharing information he learned and trying to make a dramatic difference on a large scale. As part of that effort, in 2008 he began working on replicated strip trials with the Iowa Soybean Association’s (ISA) On-Farm Network.
“To date, I have done over 100 replicated trials,” he says. “In 2016, while serving as president of ISA, Iowa was amid the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit against three northwest counties over nitrate levels in the Racoon River. I immediately moved from 50% to 100% in planting cover crops, and I knew from water sampling that it would dramatically reduce nitrates in tile drainage water. Everything we do on land affects someone else’s water downstream.”
Fredericks has seen positive results on his soils as well. “We learned early on that there was a huge reduction in the amount of organic matter in our soil under tillage. In a long-term study that looked at some of our farm, we nearly doubled our organic matter in 30 years after we quit conventional tillage and went to no-till, strip-till and now, cover crops,” he says. “Organic matter helps build soil structure and can supplement additional moisture needs when it gets dry.”
Monitor and Manage Nutrients
Fredericks also began focusing on his fertility program to enhance water quality. He now keeps nitrogen rates near Iowa State University’s (ISU) Maximum Return to Nitrogen (MRTN) values.
“Our nitrogen applications are split three ways; using about 30 pounds in a dribble band behind the planter, 30 pounds as a carrier with our burndown herbicide application and the balance side-dressed with a coulter applicator approximately three inches deep in early June,” he says.
Fredericks has monitored tile outlets for nitrates as he has made these changes and has witnessed significant nitrate reductions in fields planted to cover crops. He added the first nutrient bioreactor in the area and said the average nitrate reduction in the past six seasons was 42%. Fredericks maintains drainage tile on 65% of fields and has waterways and buffer strips.
“To minimize other nutrient runoff, we place the majority of our phosphorus and potassium seven inches deep in a band when we strip-till in the fall for corn and soybeans,” he says. “By soil testing every two years, we keep close track of soil levels and prescribe only the amount of nutrients likely to give a crop response. We get better efficiency of the banded fertilizer and protect the environment while maintaining soil fertility levels and crop production.”
Fine-Tune Cover Crops
Fredericks has documented fertilizer cost reductions with the addition of cover crops. Phosphate runoff is less, and more deep soil phosphate is released. He recorded $8.78 per acre phosphorus and potassium savings compared to ISU’s crop budgets over the past 18 years.
“It wasn’t until about 2012 that we started working with cover crops and doing experimental work for the ISA On-Farm Network, trying to learn what worked, when to plant, how to plant, how thick to plant, how to terminate, the effect on yield and more,” he says.
Nearly 10 years later, Fredericks says his best practices now include fall aerial seeding with cereal rye, usually in late August or early September into standing corn. He has added oats to the mixture in the last two years to create some diversity. Most recently, he included kale for a three-way mix. Soybeans were no-tilled into the green plants that were then terminated chemically following planting. After soybean harvest, Fredericks drilled a cereal rye/winter camelina mix. Strip-till will follow and in the spring Fredericks will no-till plant a cover crop mix into those strips. Termination will follow prior to crop emergence.
“Camelina is new for us. We’re looking at bringing new species in for even more diversity,” he says. “That helps the soil biology. I think that is the most beneficial aspect of using cover crops. Soil biology is key to all our success and everything we can do to enhance it is a huge plus.”
He also cites as benefits is an increase in air exchange in the soil and an additional four months for carbon harvest. He qualifies for a $5 per acre premium discount on his crop insurance and says his yield risk is much lower, so he can purchase less expensive insurance products, too.
He is embarking on a new cover crop venture during the next three years with Corteva. “The study is looking at perennial cover crops, particularly Kentucky Bluegrass. We have laid out the seeding plan for 33 acres set up in four replicated plots, and we will compare it to our normal seeding mix. If the practice works, it will cut down on annual seeding, a major concern,” he says.
Establish a Pollinator Habitat
Fredericks has undertaken conservation practices beyond his crop fields. In 2014, he completed a farm profitability analysis to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
“We found some spots in our corn-soybean rotation that were not, necessarily, always profitable,” he says. “By placing them in a conservation program, we could improve our bottom-line profitability but also provide wonderful habitat for monarch butterflies and other species.”
He had noticed a dramatic loss in the population of monarchs at about the same time. Since farming practices in the Midwest were partly blamed, he wanted to help protect the species. He seeded seven acres of pollinators across seven different locations and became ASA’s representative to Farmers for Monarchs, an initiative of the Keystone Policy Center. The small sites also provided new habitats for wildlife. One pollinator habitat next to the farm’s windbreak has added to the winter traffic of wildlife as animals find both food and protection in the area.
“Deer and pheasants are a common sight all winter long in these areas, and many fawns have been reared in our habitat,” he says. “We also have a relationship with Pheasants Forever.”
Never Stop Learning
In fact, Fredericks enjoys having research partnerships with many groups, such as his long-time relationships with researchers from Iowa State University and the Iowa Soybean Association.
“It is fun for me to open our farm up for researchers to do long-term studies. I know we’ve worked with both groups for several years on in-depth soil erosion and organic matter studies,” he says. “I also got to work with Dr. Jerry Hatfield from USDA’s Agricultural Research Service office in Ames, Iowa. He was looking for a farmer to cooperate with them to prove that if you have long-term conservation measures on your farm, you see changes over time.”
Fredericks sent 16 years of digital yield and weather data to Hatfield for analysis. Researchers looked at 10 different fields and found Fredericks had dramatically reduced yield variability.
“In other words, we took the poorer parts of the farm and made them perform better,” he says. “We also learned about water use efficiency, and we were getting tremendously higher yields per inch of water. Soil changes and the expansion in organic matter over time led to soil structure improvements, allowing us to absorb better and hold more water.”
Bottom line, Fredericks says he has learned that what you do on your land doesn’t just stay there. Positive implications can stretch for thousands of miles.
“What starts out as a practice on your farm eventually becomes a way of life. Conservation becomes a state of mind,” he says, “and soon your mind looks beyond your fields toward the horizon. Early adopters
must help other farmers who want to adopt these practices.”