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In addition to the many organizations working issues related to nutrient management and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, there are a number of innovative farmers and ranchers who have adopted sustainable practices with an array of natural services and economic benefits including a direct benefit to water quality and watershed health and a reduction in nutrient loss from agricultural land.
The following case studies highlight some of these individuals and put face on what’s possible on the landscape that benefits farmers, the Mississippi River and the Gulf.
Ron and Maria Rosmann, Shelby County, Iowa
Ron and Maria Rosmann, along with sons David, Daniel and Mark, farm 600 acres, all certified organic, near Harlan, Iowa. They grow corn and soybeans, most of which is marketed for use in organic food products, as well as oats, rye, barley, hay and flax. They also rotationally graze a 90-head Red Angus cow herd, and have a 50-sow, deep-bedded, farrow-to-finish operation.
The family has been recognized for their soil conservation practices; they maintain 40 acres of permanent headlands, grass waterways, terraces, buffer strips, as well as a 2.5-acre woodland they planted in 1993.
"Ron and Maria were Shelby County Iowa Soil Conservation Award winners and went on to be regional winners," said Jim Sharp, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. "They use contouring on their cropland, have installed buffer strips, waterways, terraces, tree plantings, use a rotational grazing system, field borders, filter strips, wildlife habitat development, have a nutrient management plan for their farm and established a farmstead windbreak. They use ridge till when planting corn and beans with a rotation of oats and meadow. And they are at the 'I' level or a sustainable level of soil loss, which is a great accomplishment and still be organic certified."
The Rosmanns have achieved economic sustainability through higher premiums for certified organic products. They market beef and pork through Organic Valley Farms under the Organic Prairie label. Maria operates a direct-market meat business with their own label, Rosmann Family Farms, that also is sold in several central Iowa grocery stores.
The farm has been in the Rosmann family since 1939, when Ron's father purchased the land. Ron began farming on his own in 1973, and 10 years later he quit using pesticides and relied, instead, on crop rotations and rotational grazing to provide the needed inputs for his crops.
"We have very much a closed system here," Ron said. "The only things we buy are breeding boards and bulls, minerals and hog starter premix. Everything else comes from the farm or is recycled through the farm."
Added on Dec. 5, 2006
