WEBVTT 00:00:21.011 --> 00:00:25.611 How fitting it is that this event, which is titled "Roots to Wings," 00:00:25.611 --> 00:00:27.970 is taking place here in North Dakota, 00:00:28.200 --> 00:00:33.099 for the motto of the state of North Dakota is "Strength through the Soil." 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:36.322 And that's what I'm going to visit with you about today, 00:00:36.322 --> 00:00:39.220 it's about our soil resource. 00:00:39.530 --> 00:00:41.859 Agriculture has been challenged. 00:00:41.859 --> 00:00:47.370 How do we feed nine billion people by the year 2050? 00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:52.000 With today's current production model, we can do that. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.267 It is a model with which one tills the soil. 00:00:56.517 --> 00:00:59.981 It's a model of monoculture production practices. 00:00:59.981 --> 00:01:02.292 No matter where you go around this great state, 00:01:02.292 --> 00:01:05.992 there's fields of wheat, fields of corn, 00:01:05.992 --> 00:01:09.523 fields of soybeans, and many other crops. 00:01:10.103 --> 00:01:13.532 It's one of livestock which are now in confinement; 00:01:13.532 --> 00:01:18.254 whether it be poultry housed in poultry houses, 00:01:18.254 --> 00:01:21.718 or beef cattle in a feedlot, for example. 00:01:21.888 --> 00:01:25.883 However, these practices have come at a cost. 00:01:26.343 --> 00:01:29.471 They have caused a loss of biodiversity. 00:01:30.401 --> 00:01:36.096 Healthy native range land has hundreds of different species 00:01:36.216 --> 00:01:40.524 of plants, and animals, and insects. 00:01:41.644 --> 00:01:44.503 Monocultures have but very few. 00:01:45.345 --> 00:01:47.624 This lack of biodiversity 00:01:47.624 --> 00:01:52.694 has led to the destruction of our soil resource. 00:01:52.894 --> 00:01:55.784 And that's what I'm going to visit with you about today. 00:01:56.154 --> 00:01:57.717 I'll share some proof with you, 00:01:57.717 --> 00:02:02.277 and this is statistics provided by North Dakota State University. 00:02:02.277 --> 00:02:08.206 In Walsh County, North Dakota in 1960, the topsoil was 34 inches deep. 00:02:08.496 --> 00:02:13.487 In 2014, that topsoil was only 15 inches deep - 00:02:13.997 --> 00:02:17.365 a stunning 56 percent loss. 00:02:17.708 --> 00:02:22.475 The organic matter level on that same soil had gone from over 8 percent 00:02:23.085 --> 00:02:25.527 to less than 3 percent today. 00:02:26.604 --> 00:02:29.082 Look at the ramifications of that. 00:02:29.402 --> 00:02:34.818 The soil on your left was the soil that had not been tilled, 00:02:34.818 --> 00:02:38.448 and had not seen monoculture production practices. 00:02:38.448 --> 00:02:42.363 That's the same soil 17 years later on the right, 00:02:42.753 --> 00:02:47.148 after 17 years of the production model 00:02:47.148 --> 00:02:50.208 of tillage and monocultures. 00:02:50.808 --> 00:02:54.248 It also destroys the pore spaces in the soil. 00:02:54.248 --> 00:02:58.490 Those pore spaces are critical for the life in the soil, 00:02:58.490 --> 00:03:01.969 are critical for water infiltration, 00:03:01.969 --> 00:03:06.849 because if we don't have soil aggregates, we cannot infiltrate water. 00:03:06.849 --> 00:03:12.239 I took this photo in a field less than ten miles from where you're seated today. 00:03:12.959 --> 00:03:16.482 That shows a half of an inch of rainfall 00:03:16.482 --> 00:03:20.581 can no longer be infiltrated into the soil profile. 00:03:20.581 --> 00:03:24.114 If we can't infiltrate water, then what happens? 00:03:24.114 --> 00:03:27.347 We resort to things such as tile drainage. 00:03:27.347 --> 00:03:31.956 And you're seeing this all over the central United States today. 00:03:32.274 --> 00:03:35.195 What happens when we put tile drainage in 00:03:35.195 --> 00:03:39.155 and we do not have the soil aggregates to hold our soils in place? 00:03:39.155 --> 00:03:41.704 That soil ends up in the watershed, 00:03:41.704 --> 00:03:45.384 and unfortunately, along with it, goes all the nutrients 00:03:45.384 --> 00:03:49.026 that may have been applied to those fields. 00:03:49.550 --> 00:03:54.621 That lack of biodiversity also leads to lower nutrient cycling. 00:03:55.018 --> 00:03:58.228 If we don't have adequate nutrient cycling, 00:03:58.228 --> 00:04:01.940 we're going to have to add more and more synthetic fertilizers. 00:04:01.940 --> 00:04:04.829 Those synthetic fertilizers come at a cost - 00:04:04.989 --> 00:04:07.250 the cost of fossil fuel usage, 00:04:07.250 --> 00:04:13.135 and, they also spur the decline of the soil biology. 00:04:14.073 --> 00:04:16.412 We need to understand how soil functions. 00:04:16.412 --> 00:04:20.683 How soil functions is due to that biology, 00:04:20.683 --> 00:04:25.024 because the plants get their nutrients via the biology. 00:04:25.673 --> 00:04:31.634 High synthetic fertilizer use also aids in the propagation of weeds. 00:04:31.634 --> 00:04:34.453 Most weeds love nitrogen. 00:04:34.453 --> 00:04:38.693 The more synthetic fertilizer we apply, the more weeds we get. 00:04:38.983 --> 00:04:42.474 If we have increased weed pressure, what do we have to do? 00:04:42.784 --> 00:04:44.625 Spray herbicides. 00:04:45.235 --> 00:04:49.236 Now, unfortunately, many of those herbicides are chelates. 00:04:49.536 --> 00:04:50.725 What is a chelate? 00:04:50.725 --> 00:04:52.895 A chelate binds metals. 00:04:52.895 --> 00:04:58.445 So any of the metals such as magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc, copper, 00:04:58.565 --> 00:05:01.086 then become unavailable to the plants. 00:05:01.626 --> 00:05:05.306 If the plant cannot uptake these micronutrients, 00:05:05.446 --> 00:05:07.705 it's more prone to disease. 00:05:07.705 --> 00:05:11.345 Because plants cannot ward off diseases on their own, 00:05:12.055 --> 00:05:14.367 we need to spray fungicides. 00:05:15.507 --> 00:05:18.607 Fungicides, then, are detrimental to what? 00:05:19.469 --> 00:05:21.003 Soil biology. 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:26.157 Because plants are not healthy enough to ward off pests, 00:05:26.317 --> 00:05:28.333 we then need to do what? 00:05:28.831 --> 00:05:30.817 We spray pesticides, 00:05:31.377 --> 00:05:34.659 on the crops which are meant for human consumption. 00:05:35.018 --> 00:05:38.799 Because we spray pesticides, we have a decline in what? 00:05:39.998 --> 00:05:44.678 The very predator insects which would take care of the pests 00:05:44.678 --> 00:05:46.420 which we are spraying. 00:05:47.458 --> 00:05:49.985 We also have a decline in pollinators. 00:05:50.349 --> 00:05:52.935 You can hardly pick up a paper or a magazine today 00:05:52.935 --> 00:05:56.019 without reading about the plight of our pollinators. 00:05:56.019 --> 00:06:00.489 These pollinators are critical in our crop production. 00:06:01.599 --> 00:06:04.750 The current production model is all about killing. 00:06:04.750 --> 00:06:08.511 Whether it be weeds, a fungus, a pest, 00:06:08.961 --> 00:06:12.971 our diversity, or our profit. 00:06:13.270 --> 00:06:14.801 Take a look at these projections 00:06:14.801 --> 00:06:17.570 just put out by North Dakota State University. 00:06:17.570 --> 00:06:22.170 They're 2016 projections for some of the major crops in our state. 00:06:22.170 --> 00:06:25.491 Every one of them projects a negative return. 00:06:26.141 --> 00:06:28.082 What impact does that have 00:06:28.082 --> 00:06:32.163 on the quality of life of those producing that crop? 00:06:32.663 --> 00:06:34.343 But take it a step further: 00:06:34.343 --> 00:06:36.822 What impact does it have on our schools? 00:06:37.152 --> 00:06:40.534 Drive around this state of ours and you'll see a lot of small towns 00:06:40.534 --> 00:06:44.452 that have fewer and fewer children attending the schools. 00:06:44.592 --> 00:06:47.182 What effect does that have on our businesses? 00:06:47.542 --> 00:06:49.703 And then on our communities? 00:06:50.433 --> 00:06:55.372 What effect does the current production model have on our health? 00:06:56.593 --> 00:06:57.923 Take a look at this. 00:06:57.923 --> 00:07:01.713 The nutrient densities of the foods that we produce 00:07:01.713 --> 00:07:06.026 have declined anywhere from 15 to 65 percent 00:07:06.426 --> 00:07:08.596 in the last 50 years. 00:07:09.126 --> 00:07:12.307 This has had many negative consequences. 00:07:12.307 --> 00:07:14.315 The United States spends more on healthcare 00:07:14.315 --> 00:07:16.628 than any other developed country in the world. 00:07:16.978 --> 00:07:22.299 Yet look at this - we lead the world in the incidences of ADD, 00:07:22.299 --> 00:07:28.668 ADHD, cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's, autoimmune diseases, 00:07:28.898 --> 00:07:31.010 and the list goes on and on. 00:07:31.426 --> 00:07:33.199 This is not acceptable. 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:35.811 It cannot continue. 00:07:36.181 --> 00:07:38.542 But the good news is there's another way, 00:07:38.542 --> 00:07:40.471 and I'm going to share that with you. 00:07:40.471 --> 00:07:42.302 It's nature's way. 00:07:42.552 --> 00:07:45.015 Look at how nature functions. 00:07:45.485 --> 00:07:48.833 In nature, there's no mechanical tillage. 00:07:49.243 --> 00:07:52.932 Yet in our production model, we're tilling the soil. 00:07:53.230 --> 00:07:56.916 In nature, there's always armor on the soil surface, 00:07:57.179 --> 00:08:02.163 protecting that soil from wind erosion, water erosion, evaporation. 00:08:02.712 --> 00:08:05.876 Yet in our production model, the fields lie bare. 00:08:06.392 --> 00:08:09.612 Nature cycles water very efficiently. 00:08:10.182 --> 00:08:12.693 It's able to infiltrate into the soil profile, 00:08:12.693 --> 00:08:15.334 then, due to the large amount of organic matter, 00:08:15.334 --> 00:08:18.854 it's held there, for such a time it's needed by plants. 00:08:19.181 --> 00:08:24.314 By destroying our soil resource, we can no longer infiltrate the water 00:08:24.314 --> 00:08:26.789 and store it for when it's needed. 00:08:27.263 --> 00:08:30.153 Nature has living plant-root networks; 00:08:30.153 --> 00:08:34.533 there's things growing at all times throughout the growing season. 00:08:34.824 --> 00:08:37.524 Not that way with production agriculture. 00:08:38.464 --> 00:08:42.684 So often we hear about the production model that we have today 00:08:42.684 --> 00:08:45.024 as the "conventional model." 00:08:45.024 --> 00:08:48.731 I would argue that nature's way is the conventional model, 00:08:48.731 --> 00:08:51.594 because it's been around for eons of time. 00:08:52.084 --> 00:08:56.267 Think of it this way: what did this land look like 400 years ago? 00:08:56.839 --> 00:08:59.073 You had a lot of diversity. 00:09:00.043 --> 00:09:05.853 There was diversity of plant species: forbs, grasses, legumes, trees. 00:09:06.013 --> 00:09:10.105 And then also you had a diversity of animals and insects, 00:09:10.105 --> 00:09:15.056 and all these worked together to build a healthy ecosystem. 00:09:16.515 --> 00:09:20.985 So there's five principles that we must follow 00:09:20.985 --> 00:09:23.382 in order to follow nature's model. 00:09:23.382 --> 00:09:27.777 They are, number one: least amount of mechanical disturbance possible. 00:09:28.187 --> 00:09:33.784 On my own ranch, we have been 100 percent zero till since 1994; 00:09:33.784 --> 00:09:36.517 we have not tilled the soil at all. 00:09:37.266 --> 00:09:41.987 The second tenet of soil health is armor on the soil surface; 00:09:42.307 --> 00:09:44.941 we always have the soil covered. 00:09:44.941 --> 00:09:48.528 That's a picture of one of our fields following seeding. 00:09:49.178 --> 00:09:53.774 That field is no longer prone to wind erosion or water erosion 00:09:53.944 --> 00:09:56.914 because we're keeping armor on the surface. 00:09:57.290 --> 00:10:00.081 Third tenet of soil health is diversity. 00:10:00.381 --> 00:10:04.312 My son teaches range land management at the local community college. 00:10:04.312 --> 00:10:07.300 He brought his students out to one of our paddocks. 00:10:07.300 --> 00:10:13.441 They counted over 140 different species of grasses, forbs, and legumes. 00:10:14.231 --> 00:10:17.871 Why don't we have that in production agriculture today? 00:10:18.191 --> 00:10:20.818 On our operation, we're trying to mimic it. 00:10:20.818 --> 00:10:25.063 These are just some of the cash crops that we grow on our operation. 00:10:25.063 --> 00:10:29.112 We don't just grow one cash crop, we grow many. 00:10:29.112 --> 00:10:33.273 Along with that, we do not grow cash crops as monocultures. 00:10:33.383 --> 00:10:37.093 In the upper left there, that's oats with three types of clover growing in it. 00:10:37.093 --> 00:10:41.431 In the upper right is a very diverse cool-season broadleaf mix. 00:10:41.431 --> 00:10:44.855 The lower left, that's corn with hairy vetch growing in it. 00:10:44.855 --> 00:10:46.543 The lower right, that's sunflowers 00:10:46.543 --> 00:10:49.843 with over 19 species of covers growing with it. 00:10:49.843 --> 00:10:54.204 A tremendous amount of diversity feeding soil biology. 00:10:54.204 --> 00:10:56.904 We also have orchards on our operation. 00:10:56.904 --> 00:11:01.344 These orchards, besides providing us with the fruit, 00:11:01.664 --> 00:11:05.164 we're able to have livestock grazing underneath them, 00:11:05.164 --> 00:11:07.245 thus stacking enterprises. 00:11:07.575 --> 00:11:10.165 We have five acres of vegetable production, 00:11:10.165 --> 00:11:12.905 but it's not as monocultures. 00:11:12.905 --> 00:11:17.185 In between each of those corn rows is rows of peas, beans, squash, 00:11:17.185 --> 00:11:21.345 zucchini, carrots, pumpkins, and a variety of other species 00:11:21.345 --> 00:11:24.816 so that we get the benefit of diversity. 00:11:25.205 --> 00:11:26.578 Fourth tenet of soil health 00:11:26.578 --> 00:11:29.846 is leaving roots in the ground as long as possible. 00:11:29.846 --> 00:11:32.605 You don't have to drive very far around this state 00:11:32.605 --> 00:11:37.205 to see that there are monocultures growing for only a short period of time, 00:11:37.205 --> 00:11:39.135 and then the land lays idle. 00:11:39.767 --> 00:11:42.831 These are just some of the cover crop species which we planted 00:11:42.831 --> 00:11:45.166 on our operation this past year. 00:11:45.166 --> 00:11:48.276 We actually planted over 70 different species. 00:11:48.856 --> 00:11:51.775 From the time the snow melts in the spring, 00:11:51.775 --> 00:11:57.725 until the snow stays in early winter, we have a variety of species growing 00:11:57.725 --> 00:12:00.505 on our land to feed soil health. 00:12:00.505 --> 00:12:03.636 We're optimizing solar energy collection. 00:12:03.636 --> 00:12:09.645 Because how the system works is, we take sunlight through photosynthesis; 00:12:09.645 --> 00:12:13.966 it makes carbon; that carbon is transferred down to the roots, 00:12:13.966 --> 00:12:19.376 where it's leaked out as root exudates, that's what all the biology feeds on. 00:12:19.376 --> 00:12:23.580 We need that biology in order to get the nutrients to the plant 00:12:23.580 --> 00:12:26.858 to nourish animals and people. 00:12:26.858 --> 00:12:30.648 For you see, if we have healthy soil, we're going to have clean air, 00:12:30.648 --> 00:12:35.650 clean water, healthy plants, healthy animals, and healthy people. 00:12:36.069 --> 00:12:39.100 We have to focus on feeding biology. 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:41.872 Along with this, then, we're able to feed 00:12:41.872 --> 00:12:45.219 all of the wildlife that's on our operation. 00:12:45.219 --> 00:12:47.970 We also feed a myriad of different insects. 00:12:47.970 --> 00:12:50.761 Insects tend to get a bad rap. 00:12:50.761 --> 00:12:53.501 We like a wide variety of insects 00:12:53.501 --> 00:12:57.432 including all the predator insects which take care of the pests. 00:12:57.432 --> 00:13:01.031 We want to address our problems through biological means 00:13:01.031 --> 00:13:03.081 not through chemical means. 00:13:04.001 --> 00:13:07.351 Dr Jonathan Lundgren, one of the world's foremost entomologists, 00:13:07.351 --> 00:13:08.881 told me this: 00:13:08.881 --> 00:13:14.741 For every insect species that's a pest, there's 1,700 that are beneficial. 00:13:15.012 --> 00:13:19.491 Why in production agriculture do we aim at just killing that pest, 00:13:19.491 --> 00:13:24.432 when we should aim at providing habitat for all those beneficials? 00:13:24.432 --> 00:13:29.984 The reason producers have a pest problem is because of a lack of diversity. 00:13:29.984 --> 00:13:32.669 We need to think biologically. 00:13:32.669 --> 00:13:36.871 Fifth tenet of a healthy ecosystem is animal impact. 00:13:37.001 --> 00:13:41.871 On our operation we run a herd of 350 beef cows. 00:13:41.871 --> 00:13:45.612 We also grass finish that beef because we know it's healthier, 00:13:45.612 --> 00:13:48.542 both for us and for the animals. 00:13:48.542 --> 00:13:52.062 We have a flock of sheep and raise grass-finished lamb. 00:13:52.372 --> 00:13:54.354 We have pastured pork. 00:13:54.904 --> 00:13:57.923 We have broilers which are out on pasture. 00:13:58.263 --> 00:14:04.704 And we have a flock of 750 laying hens which are also out on pasture. 00:14:05.835 --> 00:14:07.715 We also have bees. 00:14:07.715 --> 00:14:10.434 Those bees, besides pollinating our crop, 00:14:10.434 --> 00:14:12.644 provide us with honey. 00:14:12.644 --> 00:14:15.335 Here's what we've done on our operation. 00:14:15.335 --> 00:14:20.054 When we started in 1993 on the left, we had very shallow topsoil - 00:14:20.054 --> 00:14:22.625 1.7 percent organic matter. 00:14:22.625 --> 00:14:27.008 We could only infiltrate a half of an inch of rainfall per hour. 00:14:27.618 --> 00:14:29.303 We then went no-till. 00:14:29.303 --> 00:14:31.985 We started to diversify the cash crop rotation; 00:14:31.985 --> 00:14:34.777 we noticed an improvement in soil health. 00:14:34.777 --> 00:14:37.754 From there, we started to add cover crops - 00:14:37.754 --> 00:14:41.483 another improvement in soil health, our organic matter levels rose, 00:14:41.483 --> 00:14:43.266 our infiltration improved. 00:14:43.266 --> 00:14:46.576 We then started integrating all of these livestock species 00:14:46.576 --> 00:14:47.750 on top of it - 00:14:47.750 --> 00:14:52.256 another marked increase in the health of our soil ecosystem. 00:14:52.256 --> 00:14:55.740 Now in 2013, we actually have a plot of land 00:14:55.740 --> 00:15:00.389 which is now over 11 percent organic matter. 00:15:00.625 --> 00:15:03.379 The same soils that in 1993 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.898 could only infiltrate a half of an inch of rainfall per hour, 00:15:06.898 --> 00:15:10.698 can now infiltrate over 15 inches of rainfall per hour. 00:15:10.978 --> 00:15:15.741 We've done this without the use of any synthetic fertilizers, 00:15:15.741 --> 00:15:18.483 pesticides, or fungicides. 00:15:18.763 --> 00:15:21.875 We've done it by following the principles of nature. 00:15:21.875 --> 00:15:27.061 This has led to a ranch that is profitable every year, regardless of price. 00:15:27.061 --> 00:15:31.693 And we do this without taking part in any government subsidies of any kind, 00:15:31.693 --> 00:15:36.492 whether it be a crop insurance, EQIP, CSP, 00:15:36.492 --> 00:15:39.032 or any other form of government payment. 00:15:39.032 --> 00:15:41.752 Thus, we are not a burden to society. 00:15:42.163 --> 00:15:44.326 The stacking of enterprises has allowed us 00:15:44.326 --> 00:15:48.022 to produce many more nutrient dense calories of food 00:15:48.472 --> 00:15:53.273 at a lower cost as compared to the current production model. 00:15:53.273 --> 00:15:55.997 Yes, we can feed the world, 00:15:55.997 --> 00:15:59.982 and we can do it in a way that regenerates our resources, 00:16:00.492 --> 00:16:05.091 thus, healing farms, families, and communities. 00:16:05.601 --> 00:16:06.706 Thank you.