The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), reported that half of the United States was impacted by drought or extremely dry weather during the past year. While the statistics and impacts of drought can fluctuate from week to week, one thing remains constant: weather has a significant impact on farmers and influences the price of food.

As soil moisture dwindles, crops productivity falls. Droughts can also disrupt the planting and harvesting schedules of plants, resulting in lower yields and making plants more vulnerable to pests and diseases.

Dr. Dennis Todey is a climatologist with the USDA Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, Iowa, and said the full impact of this year’s drought is not yet known.

“There are places that will see significantly reduced yields.  But at this point supply does not seem to be a major problem.  The drought developed later in the season and may hit soybeans more.  Earlier in the season conditions were manageable for crops overall,” he said.

Where irrigation is available, growers were able to irrigate their food crops, so the yields were not affected as much, Dr. Todey said. Row crops such as grains and soybeans are irrigated less often.

However, the drought could cause the prices of meat and dairy products to increase because the cost of animal feed will be higher, reported Clevland.com, a news and information site based in Ohio.

But drought is not the only issue. USDA’s climate tracking is witnessing storm events with greater impacts – more damaging wind or hail events and heavier precipitation, Dr. Todey said. This weather impacts food supplies and prices at the store. For instance, the prices of vegetables, nuts, and berries are higher this year because of flooding in California, according to USA Today.  A combination of factors including drought, labor costs, war in Ukraine and trade disruptions led to record-high food prices in 2022, NPR reported.

Managing extreme events is challenging climatologists, researchers and agricultural producers. Farmers are proactively researching and implementing a range of practices including diversifying cropping systems, selecting crops better suited to drought conditions, and adopting soil management practices such as incorporating cover crops into rotation, in defense of conditions mother nature throws their way.

“Soils are our first line of defense against changing climate conditions,” Dr. Todey said. “Improving soil management has to be part of every operation. Changing rainfall with larger events and more rain when we have no crop canopy are also making soil loss worse. Improving soil management including reducing tillage and cover cropping can help mitigate soil loss issues.”

Weather has a direct impact on how food is grown and can affect the price of food. Farmers and scientists continue to develop methods to lessen the impact of weather and climate change.

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Farmers are developing new and innovative technologies to improve the sustainability of crop farming, influencers learned during the 2020 Best Food Facts TASTE tour.

We hosted nine digital influencers for a virtual tour in July. The tour, originally planned to be in-person in central Iowa, was reformatted into three virtual discussions on these topics:

• Sustainable Crop Farming with a focus on crop practices and environmental stewardship
• Sustainable Food with conversations about food waste, processed foods, biotechnology and food affordability
• Sustainable Egg Farming, providing dialogue on hen housing and impacts on animal well-being, food affordability and natural resources

Brent Renner, an Iowa farmer, spoke to the influencers through a video call from his tractor to discuss the techniques that he uses to grow crops in the most sustainable way.

“Along with GPS, the monitor that steers my tractor is also capable of a lot of other things,” Renner said. “In regards to sustainability and trying to do more with less, which is another way to put it, is applying the perfect rate of whatever product you’re using, whether it’s chemical, fertilizer or insecticide, on the exact spot that it needs to be targeted.”

Dave Walton, who also farms in Iowa, said farmers have been funding research to find practical ways to make crop farming as sustainable as possible.

“We’re going to take that to a level that would boggle your mind,” he said. “Instead of using satellite imagery, which is kind of the standard now, we’re going to get to the point where you’re going to see little robots maybe the size of somebody’s little toy truck. There’s going to be a hundred of them running up and down the field taking pictures of plants in real-time and looking for leaf disease or insects or something that creates a stress on that plant. This technology is going to get down to the plant level, so we can treat one plant if that plant’s affected or 10 plants in a row if those 10 plants are affected.”

The influencers found the information presented by the farmers and other experts during the virtual tour very informative as they and their followers consider sustainable food choices. Other experts who took part in the tour were Shannon Tolliver, social responsibility and environmental sustainability manager for White Castle Systems, and Janet Helms, DVM, global sustainability developer Inter IKEA Group.

“My main takeaway was really about how they are constantly striving to be on the cutting edge of technology and striving to have the most efficient ways of farming both for their bottom line but also for the sustainability of their farm and the environment in the long run,” said Lisa Longly, who blogs at Wine and Glue.

Jocelyn Brubaker of Inside Bru Crew Life said she was surprised by the level of technology that farmers use.

“I’d say the thing I want my readers to know the most would be that farmers are always trying

to learn more. They want the land to continue. They want to be able to pass this land down to

future generations their kids, their grandkids, so they’re always doing more,” she said.

Farm tours have given Lynne Feifer, 365 Days of Baking, a greater awareness of the work that agriculture producers put into their work.

“It’s a 24/7 job and if we didn’t have farms, honestly, we would not have food. It’s important that we support these farmers. I feel that they are the backbone of America, and we need to keep them going. It’s so important,” she said.

The tour was part of Optimizing Sustainability, an initiative of The Center for Food Integrity that supports understand and prioritize factors to decisions that are most sustainable. In addition to the tour, Best Food Facts examined sustainability impacts and the topics of grass-fed and grain-fed beef, pesticides and GMOs. Learn more about the project and read all of the influencers articles.

The post A Conversation About Sustainable Farming appeared first on Best Food Facts.

The month of May was the second wettest on record for the United States, so it is difficult for farmers to till the fields and plant seeds. Farmers have coined the phrase #noplant19 to describe this year. A small town in Illinois had a prevent plant party. 

The USDA Crop Progress report showed that each state was significantly behind on their planting percentage as of June 10. Farmers are usually done planting all corn by now, but only 83 percent has been planted this year. And it is too late in the season in most states to plant any more.  Corn is used as feed for beef and dairy cattle, pigs and chickens. It is also an ingredient in many foods.  

“The farm-gate price of corn, beans, wheat is such a small percentage of our food cost. Processing, packaging, transportation and handling is the highest percentage. Yes, it will have some impact on the price but for the most part, I don’t think the consumer is going to see any impact,” said Dr. Kim Anderson, a professor and extension specialist at Oklahoma State University with a focus on wheat and export markets. 

Only 60 percent of the U.S. soybean crop was planted compared to the five-year average of 92 percent. Soybeans are used in animal feed, cooking oils and ingredients in many foods. Other crops such as cotton and sorghum are also behind schedule.  

Dr. Anderson explained that not only are the prolonged rains causing problems to be able to plant fields, the humidity that accompanies these storms is also hurting the wheat crop that is growing and needs to be harvested at this time of year. Because of this, there will be about a 15% reduction in wheat production in Oklahoma for farmers.  

Wheat typical to this region is used in baking yeasts and all-purpose flour to make bread. 

“With the high humidity, even if it’s dry enough to get in the field, the wheat is not drying out so that we can harvest it,” he said. The quality of the wheat crop in some areas is so poor, some farmers have basically said they are waiting for the fields to dry out just so they can take a match to their crop.  

The USDA raised its price forecast for corn by 50 cents per bushel to $3.80 and raised the soybean price by 15 cents per bushel to $8.25, according to a Meatingplace article. Smithfield Foods Inc., a U.S. global packaged foods and meat company, imported corn from Brazil because they expect a shortage of corn in the U.S., according to a Rueters report. Livestock producers are going to feel the increased costs more directly than consumers, Anderson said.  

“If we get poor quality wheat — in other words we get sprouting — then that could limit the price increase in corn because they could substitute wheat for corn and we’re going to need to get rid of that feed wheat,” Anderson said in regards to feeding cattle wheat instead of corn.  

Stormy weather and mass flooding have made this year difficult for farmers and ranchers. Some crops will not be planted because of the weather. Consumers may see a slight increase in food prices as a result. 

The post Could Heavy Rains Affect Food Prices? appeared first on Best Food Facts.

Before we dive into what we discovered, it might be helpful to define what pesticides are. Pesticides are a broad category of compounds that are used to eliminate or reduce pests, such as weeds, insects or fungus. Pesticides are used by farmers to protect animals from insects, the same way people use pesticides to protect their pets from fleas and ticks. Pesticides are also used in homes and gardens. They may be made from natural or synthetic products.  The series will look at Are Pesticides Safe for Food Consumption?  Are Pesticides Safe for the Environment? What’s the Difference Between Pesticide-Free and Organic?

For detailed information about why farmers use pesticides on crops they grow, we got in touch with Dr. Steve Savage, a plant pathologist who works with the non-profit CropLife Foundation and creates a bi-weekly podcast called POPAgriculture. We also talked to a farmer to find out about pesticides used on crops.

“Most farmers, including both conventional and organic, need to use pesticides because there are various organisms that depend on plants, but do so in ways that are damaging to the crops in terms of yield, quality and even viability,” Dr. Savage said. “These pests include insects, mites, nematodes, fungi, bacteria and viruses. Weeds also compete with the crop for nutrients, water and light.”

Jenny Burgess and her husband raise wheat, corn, soybeans and grain sorghum in Kansas. They are first-generation farmers who have built and work their farm themselves.

“On our farm, we use technology and tools to help our crops grow to the best of our ability. Herbicides and insecticides are just a couple of those tools,” Burgess said. “When used correctly, these tools or technologies will help our crops grow to their best potential. Anything that has room to grow without weeds taking water and nutrients away from the crop, or bugs that don’t eat up it, can grow.”

Herbicides, a type of pesticide that kills weeds, and insecticides, which target insects, are important to enable farmers to grow food crops. These compounds enable farmers to use land, water and resources more efficiently, which also helps improve the “footprint” of carbon and energy use, Dr. Savage said. Benefits also show up in shopping carts and pantry shelves. Because farmers can minimize crop losses by using herbicides, we have access to a more diverse, high-quality and affordable food supply.

“If there were no pesticides, some crops would not even be practical to grow. The quality of many crops would be lower, and they would definitely be more expensive,” he explained. “Organic growers use approved natural pesticides, but these are often not as effective or even as safe. The lower yield for organic is a major reason for its higher cost. It is an indicator of the impact pests could have on the price of food without pesticides.”

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency evaluates all pesticides before they are approved for use.

“We assess a wide variety of potential human health and environmental effects associated with the use of the product. The company that wants to produce the pesticide must provide data from studies that comply with our testing guidelines. We develop risk assessments that evaluate the potential for harm to humans, wildlife, fish and plants, including endangered species and non-target organisms; and contamination of surface water and groundwater from leaching, runoff and spray drift,” the EPA states.

Since the EPA was established in 1970, some of the older pesticides that had more serious environmental impact have been banned, Dr. Savage said.

“With the investment of billions of dollars in new chemical discovery programs over the next several decades, the overall hazard levels of pesticides have dropped dramatically such that most now fall into the EPA’s categories ‘slightly toxic’ or ‘essentially non-toxic,’” he said. “This is because they are mostly now much more specific in that they typically affect enzyme pathways in the pests that do not even occur in animals. Quite a few live biological agents have also been developed with are also very pest-specific in their effects.”

The EPA regulations also include requirements for worker personal protective equipment and re-entry intervals, meaning how soon someone can return to the field after the application and pre-harvest intervals to ensure that those who work on farms as well as those who consume food are safe.

“Each year the U.S. Department of Agriculture evaluates around 10,000 samples from the food supply and consistently finds that residues found are below to well below the conservative tolerances.  Also, farmers and other pesticide applicators are required to take part in detailed and continuing safety training so that they know very well how to follow the regulations,” Dr. Savage said.

Farmers have an important role in making sure pesticides are used properly.

“Pesticides are most commonly used in ‘integrated pest management programs’ which also include genetic resistance, pest avoidance, fostering of beneficial organisms, crop rotations, plant biotechnology and other approaches. This diversity of strategies increases the resilience and efficacy of the pest control system,” Dr. Savage said.

“Many times, I hear or read that we ‘drench’ our crops with so much chemical and don’t care when or where we spray,” Burgess said. “That’s disheartening to hear. My husband and I are very responsible with what we do every day. Special nozzles that create uniformed droplet size combined with speed of tractor, and proper amounts of chemical make it minimal spray”

“Chemicals should be used only when needed and used sparingly. Using too much could cause harm to our soil health as well as run off could harm any wildlife in the area. Chemical are a great tool to help us, but they are expensive,” she said.

She said they use about 24 ounces of herbicide per acre, which is the equivalent of two cans of soda pop for an area about the size of a football field. The rest of the liquid being applied to the field is water.

Summary

Pesticides are used on farms to help grow food by protecting plants from things that would harm them. They help farmers to use land and water more efficiently and enable us to enjoy more variety of foods with better quality. Regulations are in place to make sure pesticides are used safely.

Other articles in this series:

Are Pesticides Safe for Food Consumption?

Are Pesticides Safe for the Environment?

What’s the Difference Between Pesticide Free and Organic?

The post Are Pesticides Needed to Grow Food? appeared first on Best Food Facts.

What makes it different? Kernza is a perennial that lives for several years. Wheat, in comparison, is an annual crop that farmers typically plant in the fall. It is harvested in the summer when the grain is ripe and the plants die. Each year, new seed is planted.

Kernza is not a strain or species of wheat, but a registered trade name owned by The Land Institute for a type of intermediate wheatgrass, a wild relative of annual wheat. The seed is planted and farmers harvest the grain, but the plant continues to live in the soil and produce a crop every year.

Why is it important? Researchers developed Kernza to capture the environmental benefits of perennials. The roots of a Kernza plant grow 10 feet into the soil, much deeper than annual wheat. Those deeper roots allow the plant to store nutrients, resist drought and reduce soil erosion. Kernza can both protect the soil while producing food for people to eat.

How does it taste? The grain has a sweet, nutty flavor making it a good fit for cereals and snacks. The kernel is smaller than wheat and has more bran and fiber, but fewer carbohydrates.

When will it be available? General Mills announced that it will be using Kernza in some of its Cascadia Farms organic brand cereals and snacks. The products will be on store shelves next year.

The Land Institute has been conducting research on perennial grains since the 1980s and continues to work with the goal of developing varieties of Kernza that are economical for farmers to grow on a large scale. They expect the first Kernza variety will be widely available by 2019.

Where can you buy it? Kernza is available in a few specialty products now. Patagonia Provisions produces a beer called Long Root Ale which is sold on the West Coast. Chefs in the Minneapolis area, where Kernza is grown in test plots, have made pasta, tortillas and muffins. The Perennial restaurant in San Francisco serves Kernza bread and crackers.

Kernza is a new grain that has the potential to change how farmers grow crops. “Kernza is among the first of a range of new perennial crops in development that together are expected to build soil, improve wildlife habitat, protect water and provide abundant nutritious food. Over a few more decades of research and development, dedicated global partnerships will make this vision a tangible reality. Already the first fields now yielding Kernza perennial grain and the food and farming innovators working with the grain promise great things to come,” the Land Institute told us.

_{Photo Credit: The Land Institute}

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What determines which crops are grown in each area of the country?

Dr. Parrott: “It’s really a combination of traits of the particular crop and the associated economics. For example, coffee and bananas would never survive a winter, so they must be grown in warmer climates. Peanuts or potatoes have to be dug up, so those crops get grown in areas where sandy soil makes this easier. Corn and wheat would both grow well in Iowa, but corn is the more valuable of the two, so it gets preference there. Wheat then gets relegated to the drier areas where corn is more difficult to grow.”

Why can’t oranges be grown in Montana?

Dr. Baenziger: “They can’t take the cold. They’re a tree that can’t take freezes well. How many times do you hear about a frost in Florida killing orange trees? Imagine if that were in Montana. If you buy garden plants, there’s a hardiness zone that indicates whether a certain plant will grow in that zone. It’s a similar situation with crops. It’s important to buy (and plant) with hardiness zones in mind. If you’re in Montana, you never want to buy a plant that can’t take the cold temperatures!”

Where are most of the fruits and vegetables in the U.S. grown?

Dr. Parrott: “These can be grown in many parts of the country. California’s San Joaquin Valley has dry air that helps prevent diseases (as long as there is water for irrigation). As winter comes to an end, vegetable production starts in Florida, then moves northward as spring progresses and the days get warmer.”

Dr. Baenziger: “It really depends on two things – climate and labor force. A lot of vegetables are grown in southern states, where the climate is favorable and there’s access to a labor force. You often hear of migrant workers starting in California or Texas and moving northward. A lot of fruits and vegetables are still picked by hand, and the labor force is following the northward movement of fruit and vegetable production as the weather gets warmer.”

Can crops grown in certain areas change over time?

Dr. Baenziger: “Yes. At one time, Nebraska was the center for apple production, but right around World War II there was a very harsh winter, which killed the trees. No one was around to replant them because they were either fighting in the war or working to aid war efforts.”

What are some of the most commonly grown crops in the country? Where are these crops grown?

Dr. Baenziger: “The number one and two crops are corn and soybeans. Another one that is not often thought of as a crop is turf grass, because it’s in everybody’s yard. Corn is grown virtually everywhere there is enough heat. Corn is a heat-loving crop, so it needs heat to grow. It takes a lot of water in the summer, so sometimes farmers might switch to a more water-conserving crop, like sorghum. Soybeans are similar to corn, but tend to be a little more cold sensitive, so they aren’t grown in areas where freezes are more common. When you get into drought, that’s when you start to see more sorghum and wheat coming in more often. In the corn and soybean areas, wheat is mostly a rotational crop (meaning you rotate crops each year, because rotating crops helps control pests and diseases and improve soil health). In drier areas, wheat becomes the primary crop as it’s much more drought-tolerant. Cotton is grown in the South where it’s hot, and rice is grown mainly in California, Arkansas and some parts of Texas. Rice fields are flooded, and it takes quite a bit of water to grow that crop.”

What about growing seasons? Can most crops be grown year ’round?

Dr. Baenziger: “Most crops can’t be grown year ’round because they are acclimated to the climate, and most crops don’t grow through the winter. Crops can be grown at different times of the year in different areas of the country. For example, strawberries start in California, then move to Oregon, Washington and even into Canada. Then it will be strawberry seasons in South America. So somewhere in the globe fruit is in season, hence you can always have fresh fruit. Growing fruits and vegetables in greenhouses is another option.”

How do the limitations on crop growth affect food trends, like buying local foods?

Dr. Parrott: “As Dr. Baenziger mentioned, there is a seasonality to what crops can be grown locally. Cities out West must use lots of irrigation to grow locally, and they don’t always have it. Very large cities are unlikely to have enough open land around them to feed themselves locally.

I should point out that my grandmother in Kentucky ate local all her life, but it meant she spent long hours in the summer canning produce for the winter months. Fresh produce during the winter was out of the question. In this day and age, it can take less energy to grow the produce far away and ship it to areas where it is out of season, than to grow it locally and preserve it for the winter. It’s important to not automatically assume that because something is not local it is not sustainable. Many factors come into play that can affect the answer.”

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