At the KSU Conference on Sustainable Ag held in Manhattan Jan. 23, 2009, Kansas Farm Bureau Vice-President Edie Dahlsten served on a panel with Fred Cholick, dean of the College of Agriculture and director of K-State Research and Extension, and Adrian Polansky, Kansas Secretary of Agriculture.

The conference offered varying views of 'sustainable' agriculture.  Dahlsten pointed out that agriculture is only sustainable when profitable, and provides the ability to feed the world.

With another view of 'sustainable,' Wes Jackson, founder and current president of The Land Institute, also had the opportunity to relate his vision.

The Land Institute currently describes its main goal as the development of Natural Systems of Agriculture, including a perennial polyculture, or planting more than one plant in a field, as in nature, though there is no research on how to harvest such a system.  Critics have argued that Jackson has spent millions in research funds without generating results that have had an impact on agriculture.

Remarks by Edie Dahlsten
KSU Sustainability Conference
January 23, 2009

Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today - it’s been a most interesting discussion.  As indicated, I am Edie Dahlsten, Vice President of Kansas Farm Bureau.  KFB is the state’s largest general farm organization representing roughly 40,000 active farm and ranch families from each of the state’s 105 counties. 

The Dahlsten family farms in McPherson County where we are focused on a no-till primarily wheat, corn, and soybean operation.  My husband and I have been actively engaged in agriculture for most of our lives from the production perspective, but also from the policy side – and a desire to see family farms of all sizes remain profitable and productive. 

I want to come at this issue from a different angle than you may have heard throughout the day.  Farm Bureaus from each of the 50 states and Puerto Rico recently gathered for the American Farm Bureau Convention.  There was considerable discussion on our delegate floor about sustainable agriculture – our conclusion was markedly different than what you’ve discussed here today. 

American agriculture as it has developed over our history as a nation provides numerous benefits including a safe and healthy food supply, food security, and environmental stewardship.  In agriculture we often measure production in terms of eight major field crops – corn, sorghum, barley, oats, wheat, rice, cotton and soybeans.  In 2007 plantings of those crops consumed just over 252 million acres with corn, wheat and soybeans accounting for 88% of those acres. 

Those commodities are consumed in a number of ways – as food, fiber, and more recently fuel – by citizens at home and abroad because 35 – 40% of production of the eight field crops are exported each year totaling near 115 thousand tones.  All of those numbers are important background for several points. 

First, today’s farmer is a businessman.  Each year she or he makes a planting decision – what seed to put in the ground – based on several factors including projections about the harvest value of that crop, the cost of inputs (the seed, fertilizer, and fuel to bring to crop to maturity), and the growing conditions that will likely exist in that part of the world.  You see, if that commodity isn’t going to produce a profit – to sustain his family – then it’s more likely than not that he’ll look for another crop.  Agriculture is only sustainable if it is profitable. 

Second, as producers we know and understand the value of the soil as a valuable natural resource.  After all high quality, well maintained soil provides the life-blood of our operations.  As we’ve come to better understand the impacts of agriculture on that natural resource base, we’ve adapted to meet the challenge of sustaining our environment.  For example, millions of acres of marginal or sensitive land have been returned to a more natural state through the Conservation Reserve Program.  Our members have also embraced set-backs, filter-strips and grassed waterways, in addition to altering our farming practices by shifting away from conventional tillage to no-till or strip-till where practical to address a host of environmental challenges. 

And, in many ways we hope to contribute to the future challenges we all face in creating a safe and abundant, environmentally friendly domestic fuel supply.  To that end, Farm Bureaus across the country have long supported the development and expansion of the wind industry as well as bio-diesel and ethanol – especially the development of 2^nd generation ethanol products that can reduce the strain on feed grains by focusing on grasses or residual products.  We’ve also embraced the concept that agriculture has a role to play in addressing the challenge of green house gas emissions through carbon sequestration in the soils of our farms and ranches.  For us, sustainable agriculture must include stewardship of our environment – we’re embracing that on multiple fronts as we speak. 

Third, we believe that the future of agriculture is tied to the future of rural communities across the nation - those communities and our members who live in and around them need access to goods and services, quality schools, health care and social venues.  It’s that belief that led Kansas Farm Bureau to launch Kansas Hometown Prosperity, an effort to build capacity through leadership, entrepreneurship, youth and local wealth in hometowns across the state.  Ultimately, a successful, prosperous community yields a successful, prosperous farm that will keep our members actively engaged on their farms and ranches for years to come – that’s our goal when we talk about sustainable agriculture. 

Now, let me shift your attention to the broader picture.  I mentioned earlier that in 2008 the United States exported 35 – 40% of the commodities we produced.  Take a moment and contemplate a few more statistics: 

• In January 2009 the world population is estimated to be 6.7 billion persons
• There are on average 134 million births and 56 million deaths each year
• At our current growth rates the population of the earth will be 9 billion by 2042 (that takes our current population and adds to it roughly the entire world population in 1950…)
• 9 of 10 countries in the world with the highest birth rates are African nations, the other is Afghanistan
• Africa is and by all estimates will remain the world’s poorest continent
• The UN reports that approximately 850 million of the world’s citizens currently suffer from malnutrition

Our president has twice traveled to Kenya.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa – a unique effort to more fully engage our nation in the battle to build sustainable agriculture in nations in Africa.  Were he here, he would share a story from one of his travels:  Their travel team arrived at a village in Kenya and were escorted to the local grain storage facility where the village’s supply of corn was to be stored.  Their prize product – after a year-long effort would be several ears of corn – about 10 inches long – each containing about 12 kernels (average US kernels per ear is somewhere in the 600 to 800 range).  That commodity would be harvested and then stored in a facility which was something less than a shack with a leaky roof where it would be infested with pests or consumed by mice leaving the residents of that village with no locally grown commodities – making them entirely dependant on overtaxed and under funded food aid programs for their survival. 

If we are to sustain agriculture – and our growing world population then we must be very concerned and committed to an effort to educate abroad using practices that will allow these struggling nations to develop vibrant food systems that can feed their very hungry and growing populations.  Agriculture is only sustainable when it truly feeds the world.
 

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