Iowa Farmers Helping Farmers Learn the Ropes
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February 7, 2008
Des Moines, IA – Iowa's sustainable farmers are coming together, to help sustain each other. Growing numbers of farmers are branching out from traditional row-crop and animal confinement operations to adopt more sustainable agriculture methods. They're also conducting research and demonstrations on their farms to improve their profitability and conservation practices.
The group Practical Farmers of Iowa has its annual "Cooperators' Meeting" beginning today. Tom German, of the rural Holstein area, is among the presenters. He'll share what he's learned from returning to livestock grazing.
"There are a lot of environmental benefits to going to grazing. There also are some human health and consumer benefits that stem from how the livestock is raised and cared for."
German says it's especially important for farmers who use sustainable practices to trade ideas, pool resources and perform their own, "farmer-driven" research -- because there isn't as much data or funding available for sustainable practices as for conventional farming methods.
"Some areas where there are not significant research dollars are in dealing with soil biology and how it relates to this type of agriculture. Those are areas where research could be used."
For more information on the event, visit www.practicalfarmers.org.