Released: February 19, 2003

Sustainable Agriculture Roundup Draws Large Crowd

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Grazing, soils and trends in agriculture highlighted the ninth annual Kansas Sustainable Agriculture Roundup, held Feb. 7-8 in Manhattan.

The event attracted more than 150 participants, who listened to presentations on such issues as water quality, community-based food systems and direct marketing.

The conference featured keynote speakers Fred Kirschenmann, director of the Leopold Center at Iowa State University; Bruce Anderson, forage specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Preston Sullivan, soils specialist with the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas. The ATTRA project is part of the National Center for Appropriate Technology and is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Kirschenmann said that the farm share of profits has been significantly reduced over the last 90 years. In 1910, 44 percent of food prices went to the producer, but by 2000, the number had shrunk to 9 percent, he said.

"The trend is for very large farms and small farms," Kirschenmann said. The medium-sized family farm is disappearing from our landscape. This results in less people in our rural areas, decaying rural economies and a greater dependence on large corporate organizations to provide food and fiber."

Kirschenmann said research being done at the University of Missouri predicts that global food retailers will decrease to roughly six in the near future, with only one being an American company. He questions if this was the model Americans really want for their food supply, or if Americans want to have a closer tie to the food as it is raised, processed and sold.

For livestock producers, the grazing season can be extended through the use of annual plants such as oats, turnips, standing corn and sorghums, Anderson said. Planning ahead is important when using annuals for grazing, however, because it is critical to match forage demand with forage supply.

"People who are successful with year-round grazing are observant of the crop and the animals, and flexible and knowledgeable about when to move the animals to a different pasture or feed source," he said.

Sullivan spoke about the importance of maintaining healthy soils. Healthy soils store moisture for drought periods, resist erosion and nutrient loss and support high populations of soil organisms, he said. Understanding the principles by which native soils function can help farmers develop and maintain productive and profitable soil now and for future generations.

"Some of the things we spend money on can be done by the natural process itself for little or nothing," he said. "Good soil management produces crops and animals that are healthier, less susceptible to disease and more productive."

Speakers from the Kansas Rural Center, Kansas State Conservation Commission, Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Community Mercantile Education Foundation also presented workshops. Meals at the event included locally-grown foods.

The event was sponsored by the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, Kansas Rural Center, Kansas Center for Agricultural Resources and the Environment, K-State Research and Extension, Clean Water Farms Project and the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Professional Development Program.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Lisa Solomon, Communications Assistant
lms4577@ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News