Iowa Learning Farms farmer partner Mike Paustian has to remind himself to “trust in the process” when he goes to plant green in the spring. Mike is a sixth generation farmer and a scientist from Walcott, Iowa. He spent his early career obtaining a PhD and then working at the National Animal Disease Center before moving back to his family farm to operate the farm with his parents, wife, and kids. The farm consists of corn, soybeans, and farrow-to-finish hogs.
Mike enjoys the challenge of farming. He likes to see what adjustments the farm can make to maintain current productivity and increase that long-term. Most of the farm’s conservation practices started as trials and then grew. For the last seven years, Mike has used cover crops and no-till on every acre. He trusts in the process, though he still admittedly gets nervous every spring planting green. Planting green means planting corn and soybeans in the field while the cover crop is still alive and green. The cover crop is terminated after planting using herbicide. This year Mike tried a roller out in front of the planter on 50 acres to terminate the cover crop to reduce the amount of times herbicide is being applied. With any new practice or management approach, he likes to start small to give time to adjust to the learning curve.
Mike stated they are not just doing conservation practices for the sake of doing them. They are constantly asking, “Is this better than what we did before?” He is routinely experimenting and making changes based on results to maintain or increase productivity. Currently, their seedbed is the best they’ve ever had and the yields are better now than before cover crops. “We don’t mind making an investment for the future, but it’s nice if we can make it pay on a year-to-year basis, too,” said Mike.
It makes Mike proud to be an Iowa farmer, and to be a part of a globally recognized group of great producers. According to Mike, “People in Iowa have been working hard for many years and have a commitment to an excellence of row crop production. He added, “The job is also stressful. Farmers have to navigate the volatility, weather, and prices to figure out how to survive another year. That makes it hard to try new ideas or practices because they could affect the survival of the family farm.”
Mike emphasized the need of a support network when trying new ideas. Because of that, he is willing to connect with other farmers to help shorten their learning curve and benefit from his mistakes. Producers in Iowa and across the Midwest have options to choose what will work best with their conservation goals and landscapes. He emphasized, “Not everyone needs to learn lessons the hard way. I hope producers have enough foresight to take advantage of the time we have now to start trying to figure things out. We all need to have a sense of urgency.”
Mike is doing his part. He plans to continue to try new things on his farm to increase sustainable productivity as well as help guide other farmers to do likewise and above all else “trust the process.”
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