Efforts to Perpetuate Pay Off

Soil, crops and bottom line benefit from precision farming technology and a new conservation program. By Lisa Schmidt

Jim Squires never stops learning. He listens to audio tapes as he drives, researches new technology on the internet and knows the names and phone numbers of most agricultural researchers in the West. He does not like to take classes.

“I don’t adhere to a formal structure, like a classroom. Usually, I’ll just find out which book the class will use and buy it and read it on my own,” says the Glendive, Mont., small grains farmer.

That lifetime of learning has paid off, both in profitable farming practices and acceptance in Montana’s first Conservation Security Program (CSP) sign-up.

Always keeping up with the latest technology and information, Squires didn’t hesitate to apply for CSP when he heard the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) would pay him for what he was already doing.

Congress authorized CSP as a part of the 2002 Farm Bill with the hope that outstanding agricultural operators like Squires would be rewarded and their neighbors would copy them.

“For example, no-till early-adopters preserve our best soils,” says Bruce Knight, Chief of the NRCS. “My objective with CSP is to reward that kind of conservation leadership.”

That’s exactly what happened when Squires was accepted into the program.

The Operation

Marketing is critical to a farmer’s success, Squires says, but “you succeed in ag on the input side.”

For example, Squires saved about 50 percent on nitrogen costs when he began banding fertilizer into the soil when he seeds his crop. Nitrogen-fixing pulse crops reduce his fertilizer bill, too. He drives a train of implements behind his Caterpillar/Challenger crawler tractor so he has to make only one pass to direct seed. His train makes it possible to get 2,700 acres of crops in the ground within tiny windows of opportunity in the fall and spring.

Squires uses a train of implements to seed and apply fertilizer and a biological growth enzyme in one pass. Direct seeding with no tillage increases organic matter in his soil and reduces compaction problems, which helps Squires qualify for the highest tier of the Conservation Security Program.

“I’m a one-person crew. I couldn’t get it done otherwise,” says the 62-year-old who also preaches at the Glendive Church of Christ. “I used to ride a tractor 750 hours between April and October. Now 320 hours is a lot.”

Squires also uses a Global Positioning System to reduce overlaps and gaps in his rows. “I’ve been using GPS for two years. It paid for itself in the first year with fewer inputs.”

Many producers who advocate precision agriculture promote auto-steer units, but Squires does not use auto-steer yet.

“It’s hard to find auto-steer for crawler tractors,” he says.

Although Jim Squires does not use auto-steer technology in his Challenger tractor, his other high-precision technologies paid for themselves within a year.

Squires grows spring wheat, barley, safflower and yellow peas – and he tried Round-Up Ready canola for the last couple of years -- in a 100 percent continuous cropping system. One of his favorite inputs is a biological growth stimulant that he applies as he seeds his crop.

“GroZyme is not snake oil. Roots on my plants will be five or six times bigger than plants that haven’t had GroZyme. And root mass is directly related to yield,” he says. “Using enzymes to control crop growth is a whole new science.”

Squires noticed a significant increase in the root matter of his small grains after he applied this biological growth stimulant. He says his yields are higher than his neighbors who do not apply it, too.

Another favorite is Indicate 5, a chemical that measures the pH of water.

“Insecticides break down faster in basic water so a good farmer needs to neutralize his water before he mixes it. It’s crucial to know the efficacy of the pesticides you use or you might be wasting all that time and money and fuel,” Squires says. Well water at Squires’ farm tests at a pH of 8.2 to 8.6, which can break down pesticides within a couple of hours. Squires hauls his spray water more than 30 miles from Glendive, where the pH tests at 7 to 7.2.

“I mix it at the farm. I spray about 6,000 gallons a day when I’m spraying wild oats,” he says.

CSP and the Future

Squires, a grandfather to six, hopes CSP will prop up agriculture during Montana’s extended drought and provide a more stable future.

“None of the dryland farms in dry areas are surviving financially right now based on crop production alone. Those who have normal moisture and favorable growing conditions are getting by with outside jobs, oil leases and such. Crop insurance does not provide enough to survive from year to year and provide food and some health insurance,” he says. “(R-Mont. Senator) Conrad Burns realizes this and said that funding through conservation programs is how he is approaching this dire situation with high risk farming and ranching. CSP will help keep better managers around for a while longer. Sustained drought will break all of us.”

“CSP is a worthwhile program. It pays back good producers who are doing a good job even if they haven’t used our programs,” says Linda Peterson-Lohse, the NRCS district conservationist who approved Squires’ CSP application.

Program Details

Besides protecting the soil, CSP also offers financial payments for conserving or improving water, air, energy, plant and animal life, and other conservation purposes on tribal and private working lands -- including both dryland and irrigated cropland, pasture, rangeland, and incidental forested areas. The program is available in all 50 states, the Caribbean Area and the Pacific Basin area. CSP participants must share in the risk of producing crops or livestock on the operation and have control of the land for the life of the CSP contract.

NRCS administers CSP by watershed because watersheds provide natural boundaries. Over the course of eight years the plan is that every watershed will become eligible once.

Last year, the first for CSP, the NRCS awarded contracts to 2,188 of an estimated 27,300 eligible farms and ranches in the 18 priority watersheds across the United States – approximately 1.9 million acres. In 2005, 202 watersheds nationwide -- including 12 in Montana -- will be eligible. For more information about watersheds that are eligible for 2005 CSP sign-up, visit the 2005 Conservation Security Program webpage.

CSP participants are eligible for four different payment types: a base payment, maintenance payment, new practice payment, and an enhancement payment. The base payment is calculated on an average county rental rate by land use. Maintenance payments compensate operators for practices previously installed. New practices can be cost-shared at 50 percent and are used to increase conservation on the property. Enhancement payments are for specific designated activities that demonstrate the highest levels of conservation.

Upon eligibility determination, an applicant will be placed in Tier I, II, or III based on the proportion of the offer and number of activities performed.

Among good land stewards, one common theme stands out: the love of learning. Jim Squires reads in every spare moment. He has pared his long list of books that contributed to his success down to the 12 most significant. They include the following:

1. The Bible - New International Version
2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven Covey
3. Soar With Your Strengths - Donal Clifton and Paula Nelson
4. Good to Great - Jim Collins
5. The 8th Habit - Steven Covey.
6. All types of audio tapes that I bought through Nightingale Conant on time management, goal setting, prioritizing and developing entrepreneurial skills.
7. Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do - Robert Schuller
8. Megatrends - John Naisbitt
9. The Peter Prescription - Laurence Peter
10. The Greatest Salesman in the World - Og Mandino
11. Principle Centered Leadership - Steven Covey
12. The Drifters - James Michner

Last Modified: 03/22/2005