RSWD Russell Hedrick 2018

[@alisonbender8611]

Thank you, I found this to be quite informative and hope farmers are listening

[@foster3316]

This guy is the embodiment of a successful farmer and or riverboat gambler. Bet with him.

[@downbntout]

Now there's a Farmer.

[@Enjoy_my_1st_Amendment]

Diversity, well you got the train in the right train yard. Just remember however complex you think it is, it is much more complex than that. The farms of the future will not be 1,000s of acres. The complexities will not allow such vast areas to be managed by so few people. We will stop farming by the mass and start farming by the masses, as we have done for thousands of years prior. Technology has simply kept artificially and temporarily solving problems it itself has created. There is no problem we face today in agriculture that nature has not been governing or has the answer to in one way or another for thousands of years before us. We have simply been to arrogant with our technologies to listen and observe these patterns. We as farmers seek fertility, water, little weed pressure and loose soil to plant. Where in nature do we see this happening with no human input? Deciduous forests does everything we desire as farmers. Fertility annual applications of organic matter leafs, sticks and billions of different manures. Once you consider all the microorganisms also. Water, annual mass injections of carbon in the fall in the form of leafs turning and falling off. 1 molecule of carbon can hold 4 molecules of water. A 1% raise in organic matter of the soil can hold an additional 19,000 gallons of rainfall per acre. Weed pressure, dense forest canopy, now it doesn't matter if the canopy is 2ft tall or 80ft tall as long as the density is there. The annual leaf little also acts as a mulch helping to suppress undergrowth also. Loose soil, with the annual applications of leafs and other organic matter the biology of the soil has a heaping supply of food. What is the byproduct of this micro biology and all its activity. You guessed it nutrients and loose soil. Ever cleared out a pile of leafs to hunt in the forest? Rich dark aromatic soil is what you uncovered in most cases. But it cant be done with so little people managing so many acres, just as a forest could not survive without its mindboggling diverse populations that keep it going. Enduring droughts, continual growth without rest and without a fertilizer spreader. It is up to our intelligence and how well we can mimic these observations and not inquiring about roundups next line of defense because the last one is no longer effective. That is called a spiral of expense and eventually death to us, the farmer.

[@benbabcock3504]

Has the study about the water usage for converting Nitrogen been published yet?

[@TOMMYSURIA]

Great info; slow it down to 0.75 so he can breathe and we can catch up.

[@pedro97w]

Every farmer that takes a cent from the government should be exposed to these principles.

[@etherealrose2139]

lol farmers are the welfare queens of the current age

[@downbntout]

Make it mandatory. No video, no check.

[@downbntout]

Ethereal Rose SOME farmers.

[@foster3316]

...and they make good liquor. All I need to know.

[@Chris-op7yt]

latest research is showing that it's not soil deficiencies causing crops of lesser nutrient content; instead it's the extra carbon from the air replacing other nutrients with more carbon based molecules.

[@christophergruenwald5054]

Chris our souls are being depleted of carbon so I’d rather doubt the accuracy of that. If the majority of agriculture starts implementing cover crops, those little solar panels are going to store that carbon back into the soil though.

[@Chris-op7yt]

Christopher Gruenwald : the plants already are storing extra carbon, which helps a tiny tiny bit, but nutrient levels drop, not good for consumers. we're not plants and dont need much carbon. souls...whatever.

[@TS-vr9of]

​@@Chris-op7yt I think you might be misunderstanding a few things. To say we don't need carbon is just silly. Glucose is 40% carbon, 53.2% oxygen, and 6.7% hydrogen by weight. Glucose which plant's manufacturer, is the base building block of all carbohydrate, amino acid, protein, and fat molecules. All these molecules are just longer and more complex chains of glucose with a few added minerals sprinkled in. When plant's grow in healthy living soil microbes make all necessary minerals available in a chelated soluble form to plants.

[@Chris-op7yt]

T S : who said we dont need carbon as an element that is part of organic life? soil organic matter is being depleted wherever regular tilling occurs, as it accelerates the cycle for oxidative (cellulose consuming bacteria) to release carbon as gas into air. these bacteria were not yet present when the majority of carbon was stored en masse in soil that we now use as coal etc. in any case, we do want to increase the depleted carbon in soil, but that only works with minimum till. piling up cellulose based carbon dead matter just gets released into air within a few months. anyhow, the research points to increasingly reducing veggie/plant nutrient levels being replaced by more carbon in plant tissues. we've been observing nutrient level decline for a long time, but didnt know why (how) it was happening.

[@christophergruenwald5054]

You being a first generation farmer is inspirational. I always wanted to be a farmer, but listening to negative people telling me it can’t be done because it cost to much money put those dreams to a halt long ago. My family owns land and rents it out, perhaps there is a way yet to make a go of it through land rental instead of ownership. Like Greg Judy said, “it’s not what you own, but what you control”.

[@TS-vr9of]

27:58 The corn yield chart has some crazy implications. Basically, once you get healthy soil its better to apply 0 N in order to help your soil life maintain a balance nutrition and feed the plants for free. Also another obvious take away is that tilling literally causes a dependency on chemical N fertilizers in order to make a decent yield. The sad thing is that as tilled soil yields go up so do the costs to produce each bushel. It's better to spend 35 bucks on cover crop seed and pull 180 bushel corn, all while improving the soil year by year I might add. I have a feeling that in a few years this guys average field will be pulling 200+ bushels as his soil gets deeper and healthier.