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How fitting it is that this event,
which is titled "Roots to Wings,"

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is taking place here in North Dakota,

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for the motto of the state of North Dakota
is "Strength through the Soil."

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And that's what I'm going
to visit with you about today,

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it's about our soil resource.

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Agriculture has been challenged.

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How do we feed nine billion
people by the year 2050?

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With today's current production
model, we can do that.

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It is a model with which
one tills the soil.

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It's a model of monoculture
production practices.

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No matter where you go
around this great state,

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there's fields of wheat, fields of corn,

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fields of soybeans, and many other crops.

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It's one of livestock
which are now in confinement;

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whether it be poultry housed
in poultry houses,

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or beef cattle in a feedlot, for example.

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However, these practices
have come at a cost.

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They have caused a loss of biodiversity.

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Healthy native range land
has hundreds of different species

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of plants, and animals, and insects.

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Monocultures have but very few.

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This lack of biodiversity

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has led to the destruction
of our soil resource.

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And that's what I'm going
to visit with you about today.

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I'll share some proof with you,

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and this is statistics provided
by North Dakota State University.

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In Walsh County, North Dakota in 1960,
the topsoil was 34 inches deep.

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In 2014, that topsoil
was only 15 inches deep -

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a stunning 56 percent loss.

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The organic matter level on that same soil
had gone from over 8 percent

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to less than 3 percent today.

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Look at the ramifications of that.

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The soil on your left
was the soil that had not been tilled,

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and had not seen monoculture
production practices.

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That's the same soil
17 years later on the right,

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after 17 years of the production model

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of tillage and monocultures.

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It also destroys
the pore spaces in the soil.

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Those pore spaces are critical
for the life in the soil,

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are critical for water infiltration,

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because if we don't have soil aggregates,
we cannot infiltrate water.

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I took this photo in a field less than
ten miles from where you're seated today.

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That shows a half of an inch of rainfall

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can no longer be infiltrated
into the soil profile.

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If we can't infiltrate water,
then what happens?

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We resort to things such as tile drainage.

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And you're seeing this all over
the central United States today.

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What happens when we put tile drainage in

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and we do not have the soil aggregates
to hold our soils in place?

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That soil ends up in the watershed,

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and unfortunately, along with it,
goes all the nutrients

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that may have been applied
to those fields.

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That lack of biodiversity
also leads to lower nutrient cycling.

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If we don't have
adequate nutrient cycling,

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we're going to have to add
more and more synthetic fertilizers.

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Those synthetic fertilizers
come at a cost -

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the cost of fossil fuel usage,

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and, they also spur the decline
of the soil biology.

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We need to understand how soil functions.

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How soil functions is due to that biology,

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because the plants get
their nutrients via the biology.

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High synthetic fertilizer use
also aids in the propagation of weeds.

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Most weeds love nitrogen.

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The more synthetic fertilizer we apply,
the more weeds we get.

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If we have increased weed pressure,
what do we have to do?

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Spray herbicides.

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Now, unfortunately, many
of those herbicides are chelates.

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What is a chelate?

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A chelate binds metals.

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So any of the metals such as magnesium,
manganese, iron, zinc, copper,

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then become unavailable to the plants.

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If the plant cannot uptake
these micronutrients,

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it's more prone to disease.

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Because plants cannot
ward off diseases on their own,

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we need to spray fungicides.

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Fungicides, then, are detrimental to what?

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Soil biology.

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Because plants are not healthy
enough to ward off pests,

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we then need to do what?

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We spray pesticides,

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on the crops which are meant
for human consumption.

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Because we spray pesticides,
we have a decline in what?

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The very predator insects
which would take care of the pests

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which we are spraying.

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We also have a decline in pollinators.

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You can hardly pick up
a paper or a magazine today

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without reading about
the plight of our pollinators.

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These pollinators are critical
in our crop production.

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The current production model
is all about killing.

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Whether it be weeds, a fungus, a pest,

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our diversity, or our profit.

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Take a look at these projections

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just put out by North Dakota
State University.

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They're 2016 projections for some
of the major crops in our state.

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Every one of them
projects a negative return.

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What impact does that have

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on the quality of life
of those producing that crop?

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But take it a step further:

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What impact does it have on our schools?

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Drive around this state of ours
and you'll see a lot of small towns

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that have fewer and fewer children
attending the schools.

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What effect does that have
on our businesses?

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And then on our communities?

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What effect does the current
production model have on our health?

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Take a look at this.

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The nutrient densities
of the foods that we produce

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have declined anywhere
from 15 to 65 percent

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in the last 50 years.

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This has had many negative consequences.

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The United States
spends more on healthcare

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than any other developed
country in the world.

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Yet look at this - we lead the world
in the incidences of ADD,

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ADHD, cancer, osteoporosis,
Alzheimer's, autoimmune diseases,

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and the list goes on and on.

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This is not acceptable.

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It cannot continue.

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But the good news is there's another way,

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and I'm going to share that with you.

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It's nature's way.

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Look at how nature functions.

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In nature, there's no mechanical tillage.

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Yet in our production model,
we're tilling the soil.

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In nature, there's always armor
on the soil surface,

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protecting that soil from wind erosion,
water erosion, evaporation.

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Yet in our production model,
the fields lie bare.

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Nature cycles water very efficiently.

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It's able to infiltrate
into the soil profile,

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then, due to the large amount
of organic matter,

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it's held there, for such a time
it's needed by plants.

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By destroying our soil resource,
we can no longer infiltrate the water

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and store it for when it's needed.

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Nature has living plant-root networks;

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there's things growing at all times
throughout the growing season.

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Not that way with production agriculture.

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So often we hear about
the production model that we have today

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as the "conventional model."

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I would argue that nature's way
is the conventional model,

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because it's been around for eons of time.

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Think of it this way: what did
this land look like 400 years ago?

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You had a lot of diversity.

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There was diversity of plant species:
forbs, grasses, legumes, trees.

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And then also you had a diversity
of animals and insects,

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and all these worked together
to build a healthy ecosystem.

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So there's five principles
that we must follow

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in order to follow nature's model.

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They are, number one: least amount
of mechanical disturbance possible.

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On my own ranch, we have been
100 percent zero till since 1994;

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we have not tilled the soil at all.

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The second tenet of soil health
is armor on the soil surface;

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we always have the soil covered.

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That's a picture of one
of our fields following seeding.

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That field is no longer prone
to wind erosion or water erosion

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because we're keeping armor
on the surface.

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Third tenet of soil health is diversity.

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My son teaches range land management
at the local community college.

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He brought his students
out to one of our paddocks.

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They counted over 140 different species
of grasses, forbs, and legumes.

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Why don't we have that
in production agriculture today?

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On our operation,
we're trying to mimic it.

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These are just some of the cash crops
that we grow on our operation.

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We don't just grow one
cash crop, we grow many.

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Along with that, we do not grow
cash crops as monocultures.

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In the upper left there, that's oats
with three types of clover growing in it.

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In the upper right is a very diverse
cool-season broadleaf mix.

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The lower left, that's corn
with hairy vetch growing in it.

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The lower right, that's sunflowers

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with over 19 species
of covers growing with it.

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A tremendous amount of diversity
feeding soil biology.

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We also have orchards on our operation.

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These orchards, besides
providing us with the fruit,

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we're able to have livestock
grazing underneath them,

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thus stacking enterprises.

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We have five acres
of vegetable production,

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but it's not as monocultures.

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In between each of those corn rows
is rows of peas, beans, squash,

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zucchini, carrots, pumpkins,
and a variety of other species

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so that we get the benefit of diversity.

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Fourth tenet of soil health

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is leaving roots in the ground
as long as possible.

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You don't have to drive very far
around this state

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to see that there are monocultures growing
for only a short period of time,

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and then the land lays idle.

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These are just some of the cover crop
species which we planted

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on our operation this past year.

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We actually planted
over 70 different species.

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From the time the snow
melts in the spring,

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until the snow stays in early winter,
we have a variety of species growing

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on our land to feed soil health.

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We're optimizing solar energy collection.

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Because how the system works is,
we take sunlight through photosynthesis;

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it makes carbon; that carbon
is transferred down to the roots,

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where it's leaked out as root exudates,
that's what all the biology feeds on.

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We need that biology in order
to get the nutrients to the plant

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to nourish animals and people.

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For you see, if we have healthy soil,
we're going to have clean air,

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clean water, healthy plants,
healthy animals, and healthy people.

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We have to focus on feeding biology.

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Along with this, then, we're able to feed

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all of the wildlife
that's on our operation.

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We also feed a myriad
of different insects.

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Insects tend to get a bad rap.

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We like a wide variety of insects

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including all the predator insects
which take care of the pests.

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We want to address our problems
through biological means

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00:13:01,031 --> 00:13:03,081
not through chemical means.

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Dr Jonathan Lundgren,
one of the world's foremost entomologists,

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told me this:

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For every insect species that's a pest,
there's 1,700 that are beneficial.

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Why in production agriculture do we aim
at just killing that pest,

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when we should aim at providing habitat
for all those beneficials?

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The reason producers have a pest problem
is because of a lack of diversity.

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00:13:29,984 --> 00:13:32,669
We need to think biologically.

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00:13:32,669 --> 00:13:36,871
Fifth tenet of a healthy ecosystem
is animal impact.

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On our operation we run
a herd of 350 beef cows.

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We also grass finish that beef
because we know it's healthier,

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00:13:45,612 --> 00:13:48,542
both for us and for the animals.

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00:13:48,542 --> 00:13:52,062
We have a flock of sheep
and raise grass-finished lamb.

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00:13:52,372 --> 00:13:54,354
We have pastured pork.

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00:13:54,904 --> 00:13:57,923
We have broilers which are out on pasture.

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And we have a flock of 750 laying hens
which are also out on pasture.

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00:14:05,835 --> 00:14:07,715
We also have bees.

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00:14:07,715 --> 00:14:10,434
Those bees, besides pollinating our crop,

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provide us with honey.

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00:14:12,644 --> 00:14:15,335
Here's what we've done on our operation.

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When we started in 1993 on the left,
we had very shallow topsoil -

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1.7 percent organic matter.

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00:14:22,625 --> 00:14:27,008
We could only infiltrate
a half of an inch of rainfall per hour.

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00:14:27,618 --> 00:14:29,303
We then went no-till.

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00:14:29,303 --> 00:14:31,985
We started to diversify
the cash crop rotation;

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we noticed an improvement in soil health.

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From there, we started
to add cover crops -

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another improvement in soil health,
our organic matter levels rose,

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our infiltration improved.

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00:14:43,266 --> 00:14:46,576
We then started integrating
all of these livestock species

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on top of it -

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another marked increase
in the health of our soil ecosystem.

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Now in 2013, we actually
have a plot of land

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00:14:55,740 --> 00:15:00,389
which is now over
11 percent organic matter.

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00:15:00,625 --> 00:15:03,379
The same soils that in 1993

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could only infiltrate
a half of an inch of rainfall per hour,

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00:15:06,898 --> 00:15:10,698
can now infiltrate
over 15 inches of rainfall per hour.

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00:15:10,978 --> 00:15:15,741
We've done this without the use
of any synthetic fertilizers,

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00:15:15,741 --> 00:15:18,483
pesticides, or fungicides.

244
00:15:18,763 --> 00:15:21,875
We've done it by following
the principles of nature.

245
00:15:21,875 --> 00:15:27,061
This has led to a ranch that is profitable
every year, regardless of price.

246
00:15:27,061 --> 00:15:31,693
And we do this without taking part
in any government subsidies of any kind,

247
00:15:31,693 --> 00:15:36,492
whether it be a crop insurance, EQIP, CSP,

248
00:15:36,492 --> 00:15:39,032
or any other form of government payment.

249
00:15:39,032 --> 00:15:41,752
Thus, we are not a burden to society.

250
00:15:42,163 --> 00:15:44,326
The stacking of enterprises has allowed us

251
00:15:44,326 --> 00:15:48,022
to produce many more
nutrient dense calories of food

252
00:15:48,472 --> 00:15:53,273
at a lower cost as compared
to the current production model.

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00:15:53,273 --> 00:15:55,997
Yes, we can feed the world,

254
00:15:55,997 --> 00:15:59,982
and we can do it in a way
that regenerates our resources,

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00:16:00,492 --> 00:16:05,091
thus, healing farms,
families, and communities.

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00:16:05,601 --> 00:16:06,706
Thank you.