Planning for 2025 means planning for uncertainty. At some point during the season, your farm will face too much water, or too little, high wind, heat, cold and everything in between. While not every scenario is manageable or even avoidable, there are things you can do to build resilience into your farming systems.
Here are eight areas to focus on if you want to level out the peaks and valleys of production along the road to harvest.
1. Crop Rotation
Crop rotation is the practice of sequentially planting different crops in the same field year after year. Potential benefits of this practice include improved crop yield, soil nutrients and soil structure; reduced soil erosion; and lower incidence and intensity of pests and diseases. If implemented properly, the financial benefits are usually found in reduced fertilizer and pesticide inputs.
“Alternating monocot (grasses such as corn) and dicot (soybeans, cotton) rooting systems within cropping systems has been shown to improve soil hydrological properties and soil organic carbon,” says Larry Oldham, a retired Extension specialist with Mississippi State University Extension.
There are two general types of crop rotation plans — the simple rotation of two to three crops or the complex rotation of dozens of crops. Rotating at least three distinct crops over five years is optimal.
When studying various crop rotations, consider the nitrogen requirement for the crops. For example, corn is a nitrogen-demanding crop. As corn grows, it extracts nitrogen from the soil that will need to be replenished after harvest. Planting soybeans, a nitrogen-fixing crop, adds nitrogen into the soil by converting atmospheric nitrogen to a usable form.
The key to crop rotations is to realize different plants need different nutrition and are susceptible to specific pathogens and pests.
By rotating crops, you return nutrients to the soil, playing to the natural, inherent strengths of the crops and reducing the amount of purchased inputs needed to grow a productive crop.
Does my crop rotation for a particular field include three different crops over a five-year period? If not, what crop(s) could I add to the rotation?
2. Reduced Tillage
“Too much tillage can destroy soil,” says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist. “The more abrasive the tillage tool, such as a large offset disk, as opposed to a chisel plow, the more you will damage soil structure and destroy residue.”
Reducing tillage means fewer passes through the field and decreasing the intensity of the passes, which can slow the loss of organic matter, increase energy savings and reduce compaction and the need for inputs.
Jodi DeJong-Hughes, a University of Minnesota Extension regional educator, believes it doesn’t have to be no-till or nothing — every farmer can reduce their tillage.
“Reduce the number of passes, reduce how aggressive the machine is or reduce the depth it goes into the soil,” she says.
There are several types of reduced tillage, which include mulch-, ridge-, strip- and vertical-till. Reduced tillage should leave at least two thirds of the surface covered with residue after planting.
The biggest hindrance for many people isn’t soil, according to DeJong-Hughes. It’s tradition. Especially for those who tried to reduce tillage a long time ago to no avail, it’s easy to be discouraged from trying again. However, in the past decade a lot has changed, including equipment, seed genetics, seed treatments and weed, disease and insect resistance.
What am I trying to accomplish with tillage?
3. No-Till
The benefits of no-till extend beyond fuel savings. Fields that have been no-tilled for multiple years generally have a higher water-holding capacity than conventionally tilled fields. No-till adoption also reduces soil erosion and increases soil biological activity and organic matter.
“No-till takes some time to get used to, and the fields can be hard to look at at first,” says Debbie Borg, a farmer from Allen, Neb., who adopted no-till practices more than 35 years ago. “It’s a marathon, and sometimes there’s pain, but once you get over it there are many benefits.”
Ferrie recommends spending up to three years preparing soil for no-till planting.
“The first step is to dig in your field and examine soil structure and root growth to identify dense layers,” he says. “Remove them by using cover crops with roots that can penetrate compacted layers and stabilize new pores, equipment or a combination of both.”
On which fields would it make the most sense to try no-till for the first time?
4. Cover Crops
Cover crops, in conjunction with no-till, have the highest potential to improve soil health, Ferrie says.
“Cover crops can provide diversity for soil microbes; improve soil aggregation, water infiltration and storage; suppress weeds; reduce soil erosion; and recycle crop nutrients so they won’t escape and pollute water sources,” he says.
On your first attempt, Ferrie suggests planting a cover crop that’s easy to manage, and start with a few acres.
“Don’t expect to see benefits the first year, but they could be there,” he adds. “It usually takes three years to see definite results from cover crops.”
Which cover crop or cover crop mix should I try on a few acres?
5. Water Management
Water transports nutrients from the soil into the plant. It literally gives plants the strength — called turgor pressure — to stand up.
There are management steps that you can incorporate to keep water cycling. One of them is vertical tillage, which removes compacted layers and creates uniform soil density for a vertical growing system, Ferrie says.
“A well-designed controlled drainage system can move a lot of water in a short time, when necessary, while storing some it for use later in the season,” Ferrie adds.
A Farm Journal Test Plots study has used adjustable gates to maintain the water table at the desired height, while allowing excess water to exit normally through the tile outlet. Water remains available, but crop roots don’t get saturated.
“Depending on spacing, we’ve observed a 20% to 40% reduction in nutrient loss with controlled drainage during large rain events,” adds Isaac Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.
In addition, the study found installing tile drainage in poorly drained soil bumped corn yields up to 15 bu. per acre, on average, and increased the number of days available for field work.
There are additional layers to water management in irrigated fields. A water management plan helps dial in. Flow meters and soil moisture sensors help achieve greater precision.
What is one action can I take to help keep water cycling?
6. Nutrient Management
Nutrient management should be part of a soil health plan to improve organic matter levels, aggregate stability and soil structure, infiltration, drainage and aeration, soil biological activity and water use efficiency. As tillage is reduced, biological communities and activity change. Adapting the 4Rs of nutrient stewardship to complement the change in biological nutrient delivery, and better physical soil functioning, is key to sustaining yield during the transition from full width tillage.
One of the first steps to manage nutrients in your fields is to understand how they are lost. For example, most nutrients are lost with water leaching down through the soil profile, through tile lines or via the air through denitrification.
“Water moves faster through coarse soils, such as sand and sandy loam, than it does through heavier soil, such as clay loam,” Ferrie explains. “The faster it flows, the easier it is to flush out the nutrients.”
Surface runoff and soil erosion account for the highest level of phosphorus loss because
phosphorus leaves fields attached to soil particles, he adds.
Ferrie suggests starting with these steps to put nutrient management practices into motion:
- Determine what type of tillage, if any, will be best when and where to avoid creating erosion.
- Base all fertilizer applications, whether commercial fertilizer or manure, on a sound soil test.
- Assess the risk of nutrient loss for every soil type you farm.
- Timing your nitrogen application is just as important as the equipment you use.
- Apply less lime more often and use the correct nitrogen stabilizer. Understand your nitrogen source, too.
How might I use variable-rate technology to manage nutrients?
7. Forage and Biomass Planting
Whether you seed grass and legumes for pasture and hay for livestock or for production of biomass to be used in renewable energy production, it helps reduce erosion. The living root promotes water infiltration. As the plants die, they provide further organic matter that decomposes in the soil.
To get the most out of forage and biomass planting, be sure to:
- Follow recommendations from a trusted adviser on planting rates, methods and dates.
- Explore which plants fit best based on management, environment and yield.
- Defer grazing until plants are well established, and avoid initial grazing when fields are wet.
- Assess whether these plantings are compatible with other species in the field.
- Plant when soil moisture is just right and at the right depth for uniform contact.
- Try a pre-inoculated seed or a Rhizobia strain that is best suited for the field before planting legumes.
“Be prepared to feed or stockpile graze a little longer into spring so you have adequate growth before turning out livestock. That means perennial pastures with at least 8" of growth,” explains Allen Williams, an Alabama cattleman and founding partner of Understanding Ag. “If you must graze too early, then do what I call a ‘flash’ or ‘tickle’ graze where you rapidly move the livestock through the pastures. Don’t let them consume more than 30% of the total forage biomass. This stimulates soil biology and jump-starts forage growth .”
Can my soil types and climate/weather support these plants?
8. Data and Record Keeping
Over a year, layers of data come together to provide insights into past performance, identify areas for improvement, help manage risks, optimize resource allocation and maximize profitability. A digital record of all field activities shows sustainability practices to consumers and ensures compliance with regulations.
“The only thing worse than old technology is no technology,” says Steve Cubbage, a precision ag consultant. “Finding no technology on a farm today is rare, but many farms are in a tech rut where the portfolio hasn’t grown beyond a yield monitor and autosteer. In the age of sustainability and consumer transparency, it will take way more digitization than that. Every pass across a field must be recorded.”
Am I really using the technology I already have and the data I gather?
No one knows better than you that the future of your farm depends on balancing practices and profits that sustain your land, resources and family. The stakes are evolving based on weather patterns, technology, market demand and more. What actions are you taking to remain resilient?
