No-till planting of corn into a cover crop of barley. Photo credit: USDA NRCS. Even as farm commodity prices have been strong, the input costs for industrial farming methods have been increasing. Given a fall in commodity prices, these inputs might not be recovered and these days we’re talking real money to plant a crop. [...]
Please note that this is the fourth of a special four-part series here at Big Picture Agriculture listing and describing methods for producing more crop per drop in farming. This Part 4 post lists methods 26 through 35. 26. Pumps for Irrigating It wasn’t until motorized pumps powered by fossil fuels were used to irrigate [...]
Please note that this is the third of a special four-part series here at Big Picture Agriculture listing and describing methods for “doing more with less” water use in farming. This Part 3 post lists methods 16 through 25. 16. Organic Farm Soils Require Less Water to Grow Crops In the Rodale Institute’s 30 year [...]
