Page B—Corn Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 17,1993
ARE WE
SUSTAINABLE?
Recently I was asked to
make a presentation on the sus
tainability issues facing com
growers in Pennsylvania.
Given the concern over sus
tainability th£se days, it’s
something many of us should
be prepared to address, but as I
found, it’s a rather complicated
subject to deal with.
First you need to define sus
tainability and that alone is not
an easy task. Several of us who
have discussed this at length
recently came up with some
guidelines for “sustainbility”
that we feel comfortable with.
To be sustainable, a cropping
system should be: 1) economi
cally viable, 2) have little
impact on the environment, 3)
minimize its dependence on
non-renewable resources, such
as energy, 4) be socially accept
able to the rest of the popula
tion, and 5) minimize its depen
dence on external or off-farm
inputs.
Personally, I can go along
with all but the last one since I
have a difficult time under
standing why we shouldn’t
import products that can be pro
duced more efficiently some
where else.
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SYLVANIA MASTER
GROWERS
OCIATION
'tween The Rows
Dr. Greg Roth
n State Agronomy
isistant Professor
Let’s briefly examine each of
these issues and some of the
sustainability considerations
we need to consider about com
production in Pennsylvania.
Is com production economi
cally viable here in the long
run? That depends to a large
degree on the individual situa
tion, but if we look at the big
picture we’ll see that com
acreage is down in Pennsylva
nia by about 400,000 acres in
the last 10 years. This means a
fair amount of growers have
elected not to grow as much
com or to participate in govern
ment set-aside programs.
Much of our economic com
petitiveness in the future will
depend on our ability to com
pete with Midwest com pro
ducers. Several issues appear to
be important: 1) Can we com
pete given the soils and field
size considerations we have to
work with? 2) Can we produce
the consistent quality of com
desired by industry? 3) Will
low transportation costs con
tinue to make it easy to import
com into the state? and 4) Can
we continue to maintain the
access to and afford the tech
nology as we have had in the
past? '
I think we can be competitive
in the future since our livestock
range of fanning practices
Very good spring emergence vigor
and fall plant health
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industry is growing. Transpor
tation costs may increase in the
future and many of the less pro
ductive com acres have been
taken out of production. We
will have to be committed to
maintaining our production
efficiency, however, to take
advantage of these trends.
How is com production
impacting on the environment?
I maintain there are probably
five main environmental areas
we need to be concerned about
and that we are making good
progress in each area. These
include soil erosion, nitrate
leaching, phosphorous buildup
in soils, pesticide leaching and
runoff, and effects on birds and
wildlife.
The growth of conservation
tillage and the new conserva
tion tillage equipment innova
tions will help to address the
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soil erosion problem. We hope
that new innovations such as
the nitrogen soil test and nutri
ent management planning can
help reduce some of the exces
ses of the past and reduce the
nitrate leaching problem.
Pesticide leaching and runoff
should also be declining with
new low rate products, reduced
dependence on atrazine, the
new atrazine regulations, and
the decline in the use of some
insecticides. Wildlife problems
should also be on the decline as
some of the more toxic pro
ducts have been phased out.
If anything, recently it seems
as if wildlife is getting the
upper hand in many situations
and negatively affecting the
com. Phosphorous (P) buildup
in soils is die one problem that
will be difficult to solve, but it
results mostly from importing
more P on to the farm than
we’re taking off and is not
necessarily a result of com pro
duction. If anything, good com
yields should help to reduce
this problem.
In assessing the sustainabili
ty on an individual situation, we
should consider all of these fac
tors. The best answer is often
difficult to arrive at. For exam-
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pie, is it better to no-till and use
more pesticides than it is to
plow, disk and harrow and use
more energy and increase the
potential for soil erosion and
nutrient runoff? The best
answer probably depends upon
field specific conditions such as
slope, leaching potential, and
the mobility of the pesticides. I
think that with careful decision
making, some growers can
approach the level where their
impact on the environment is
minimal.
How dependent are we on
nonrcnewable resources such
as energy? Com production
consumes a substantial amount
of energy, but unlike some
industries, it produces about
three times as much energy in
the product as is used. So, on
the balance, we are an energy
producing industry.
Can we be more energy effi
cient? I think so, but as in many
industries, this often comes
down to economic decisions.
Questions regarding input deci
sions such as hybrid maturities,
dryer modifications, N fertiliz
er rates, and storage systems all
revolve around the cost of
energy.
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ii
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(Turn to Page 10)
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