How energy efficient are U.S. farmers?
Del
DOVER,
productivity of American
agriculture is unquestioned,
but some people think it’s
been achieved through a
wasteful use of energy.
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The
Cititcs of modern farming
methods hold to this view in
spite of the fact that only 2.5
percent of the nation’s
energy is consumed by
agriculture.
fh
p
th
“This seems a modest
share, considering how it has
been used to ease the burden
of field work for farmers and
provide an abundant supply
of high-quality food for the
"jmm *
A
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rest of us,” says University
of Delaware extension
agronomist William Mit
chell.
He says there’s no
evidence that farmers need
any incentive to conserve
energy other than the profit
motive.
“Since profits are closely
tied to crop yields, energy
cutbacks must be weighed in
terms of their effect on
yield,” says Mitchell “If we
conserve energy but reduce
production, we’ll end up both
cold and hungry ”
Before they reject modem
agricultural technology, the
folks who make a big
whoopla about saving
energy on the farm had
better take a close look at the
real energy wasters there,
says Mitchell.
Take irrigation, for
example. This is an energy
intensive practice, but it has
the potential to more than
double com yields. More
mtorgen, more seed and
more lime are needed to
grow com under irrigation,
and more gas is needed to
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 20,1980—D23
dry the additional
gram produced. On
balance, irrigation could
be considered an energy
efficient practice because,
with it, relatively more
energy (in the form of grain)
is produced than is con
sumed.
This was decidedly true
last summer when yields on
many drought-stricken
fields were only 15 bushels.
At 1600 K cal of energy per
pound of com, the harvested
gram from those fields
matched the energy needed
for production. But none was
left to cover harvesting,
hauling, drying and storage
needs
It actually took more
energy to produce and
handle this (fry land com
than what was contained in
the harvestedigrain.
With similar production
inputs but by adding 12 in
ches of irrigation water and
100 more pounds of nitrogen,
the yield on many Delaware
farms was boosted to 160
bushels an acre. The 145
bushel increase, containing
13 million k cal of energy,
was achieved at an
estimated energy cost of 2.8
million k cal for the water
and nitrogen. Irrigation and
additional mtrogen made it
possible to recover 4.6 units
of energy for each unit in
vested in the crop.
Through this is a lower
recovery rate than would be
expected with conventional
tillage at the 100 bushel yield
level, it is a vast im
provement over the negative
value obtained in 1980
without irrigation, says
Mitchell. Last summer the
energy spent producing dry
land corn on many farms
was pretty much wasted
energy.
Energy use in crop
production has been the
focus of a number of recent
studies at the University of
Delaware Agricultural
Experiment Station.
Station researchers have
compared the energy
demands of various tillage
systems to find out which is
most efficient. They have
also studied the use of
leguminous cover crops as a
source of biological nitrogen.
These studies show that by
combining no-tillage with a
nitrogen-producing cover,
such as hairy vetch,
Delmarva farmers can grow
com using about 40 percent
of the energy reqired for
conventional tillage with
no drop in yield.
Besides using cover crops
to supply some of the
nitrogen needed to grow
corn, Mitchell suggests
farmers take a closer look at
how they’re using this
nutrient in general.
“Fertilizer nitrogen is the
highest energy input in the
cornfield,” he says. “In the
interest of using it ef
fectively to achieve
maximum economic yields,
careful thought should be
given to application rates.”
Growers should be
realistic about their yield
goals both with and without
irrigation, says the
agronomist. More available
water and higher moisture
levels through irrigation and
no-tillage justify higher
plant populations and higher
yield goals. And these call
for more nitrogen than
needed under other systems.
He also thinks farmers
need to examine application
methods carefully. Where
possible, nitrogen should be
sidedressed or dribbled
down the row. Urea should
be incorporated to avoid
ammonia losses. And em
phasis should be placed on
application of nitrogen
through the irrigation
system.
Nitrogen applied this way
is carried to the soil surface
by 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of
water per acre, so essen
tially it can be considered a
broadcast soil application.
“There is no evidence,”
says Mitchell, “that it is
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