DAY ONE: Schmidt Farms and Chesapeake Bay

Our first farm visit was paid to Tim and Jennie Schmidt at Schmidt Farms, Sudlersville, Maryland where they started no-till farming in 1971. GMO crops in the US accelerated this across the country since late 1990s.

The farm is a Certified Agricultural Conservation Steward. Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) identified a need for action and its verification of mandated nutrient management plans, spot checked by site government and CBF. Soil and water conservation is checked by government soil conservation office, for gullies, erosion, residue on surface and tilled fields are protected. The conservation plan is 10 years and involves cropping, nutrient and manure planning. It isn’t enforcement - they help farmer get it right, success rate is 98%, and failures are usually paperwork issues, so they can be rectified. Second offence is a fine and is rare, very few breach three times and stay in farming.

On Schmidt Farms, 120 acres out of 2,000 acres farmed is in conservation area and uncropped. They have 120 acres irrigated processing tomatoes; they pay reasonably well one in four rotation and not part of no-till.

The farm formerly kept pigs and beef, but environment pressure on livestock production is high, so they switched to arable, vegetables and grapes. However, a large poultry sector remains in Maryland and corn is imported into the state to feed them.

On Schmidt Farms, cover crops have been established in stubble of previous crop or by aerial application and killed off in spring before new crop planted. Late planted soy, like this year, does not have cover crop undersown. Additionally, tillage radish is used to absorb nitrogen in the soil with deep roots, and as they decompose in the spring, the nitrogen is released when the soil needs it. Annual ryegrass roots are used to improve soil structure and minimise nitrogen.

Cover crops, no-till, buffers by streams precision application liquid nitrogen count as credit within US Department of Agriculture’s natural resource programmes, but farmers are also doing the work voluntarily. Some capital support programmes are available and the local soil conservation office combines all national state and local regulators objectives. Up to 87.5% of costs of changing practice (temporary payments) are covered by the state of Maryland, but capital costs aren’t. Practices have to be documented and receipts, including nutrient management mandate, plan soil test, application records and invoices have to be lodged with soil conservation office.

Advice on buffer grass, riparian tree buffer is provided by the local soil conservation office; they advise on use of trees and aims for water quality.

This farm grows some food use non-GM soy, and this has no issues on farm, careful to ‎use a well-designed herbicide programme. Bt (insect resistant) corn has 20% refuge of non-gm plants to address resistance building up refuge, not used for Roundup ready. Also harvested 200 acres of Plenish High Oleic Soy (HOS) varieties this year. Not approved in EU, so four local elevators take it, checked for oil, protein and oil quality at intake. The region is a grain deficit area so any rejected would go to local feed mill for domestic chicken, HOS has 5 per cent premium on price. Some tillage is used to reduce fusarium and mycotoxins in wheat after maize.