Situated among the hills of northeast Iowa, Iowa Learning Farm farmer partner Craig Embretson takes pride in doing all he can to prevent soil loss on his land. While Craig focuses on his 960 acres of corn and soybean production, he also owns 325 acres of timber as well as 270 acres in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Over his lifetime, Craig is happy to have seen changes being made in Iowa. He not only sees more people implementing practices across the state, but the many benefits on his land from nearly 30 years of no-tillage.
Craig comes from a long line of farmers that got their start in Clayton County nearly 150 years ago. As a child in a farm family, he became an important part of the operation. After graduating from high school, he returned to the farm and took over fully in 1972. In addition to row crops, Craig milked cows for 20 years and had a farrow to finish hog operation until 1998. Along with his brother, Lee, Craig began practicing no-tillage in the mid 1990s. With challenges finding labor at the time, the pair saw this as a great option to reduce the added time commitment required to till. In addition to time savings, Craig has also seen the benefits of fuel and equipment savings.
Although Craig has had great success with no-tillage, he has faced challenges. Starting out, he faced issues with weeds like dandelions and winter annuals. Luckily, Craig was able to overcome this issue with timely herbicide application. By killing weeds before they go to seed, he has been able to cut down the seed bank and no longer struggles to keep most weeds down, aside from water hemp. Craig also noted having issues with sidewall compaction. By replacing the conventional closing wheels with spiked closing wheels on his planter, he was able to reduce the sidewall compaction. With these challenges addressed, Craig is now able to produce yields that closely compare to those prior to switching to no-till. In addition to no-till, Craig has also tried utilizing cover crops and planted 38 acres this year. While he likes the soil holding abilities, he sees a challenge in trying to terminate the cover crop in a timely manner and continues to experiment with the practice.
Despite the challenges faced when trying to implement a new practice, Craig feels that today’s farmers are more conservation minded than they used to be. “Things are much better than they were when folks were moldboard plowing and chiseling”. After large rainstorms especially, Craig is happy to see his soil staying in place and knowing that the moisture is moving into his soil. Even with the improvements he has seen over his farming career, Craig hopes to see change continue. One practice Craig would like to see more of is the addition of farm retention ponds to help reduce sediment from entering rivers. He hopes these would not only help with water quality but would provide a place of recreation. As a lifelong farmer, Craig finds great joy in seeing the crops grow as well as the benefits that his actions have had on the land and water around him.
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