Planning for a Sustainable Future: The Case of the North American Great Plains
(Home | Contents)

Agricultural Production Focus Group

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 1: What are the principal stressors affecting agricultural production in the North American Great Plains? Economic, policy, environmental, and social/cultural stressors should be considered. These stressors should be considered on various scales ranging from local to global.

The focus group classified stressors as economic, governmental, environmental, social and cultural, and education and research. A wide range of stressors was listed under each category.

Economic Stressors:

  • Servicing the substantial debt that most farmers face
  • Interjecting new crops into crop rotation (e.g., moving away from a wheat/fallow monoculture)
  • Dependence on income generated from off-farm sources
  • Lack of equity available for start-up
  • Personal vs. corporate risk
  • Poor vertical integration in the farm business
  • Lack of value-added activities on farm and in community
  • High property taxes
  • High transportation costs
  • Disintegration of local economies
  • Shift of political clout from rural to urban areas

Governmental Stressors:

  • Inconsistencies in rules pertaining to the application of chemicals between rural and urban areas
  • Environmental regulations
  • Transportation subsidies
  • Cheap food policy

Environmental Stressors:

  • Weather extremes and climate variability
  • Reduced soil productivity
  • Evapotranspiration deficit in cropped areas
  • Lack of reliable long-range climate outlooks
  • Depletion of ground water supplies (e.g., Ogallala Aquifer)
  • Reduced air, soil, and water quality
  • Insect pests (e.g., grasshoppers)

Sociocultural Stressors:

  • Resistance to change, both positive and negative
  • Corporate versus family farms; impacts on community
  • Limited possibilities for entry-level farmers
  • Stress associated with the uncertainties of farming
  • Unavailability of competent labor supply
  • Lack of awareness of agricultural/rural issues by urbanites
  • Food safety
  • Shift of political clout from rural to urban areas
  • Perception problems (e.g., odor)
  • Concentration of land ownership and impact on communities

Education and Research Stressors:

  • Lack of agreement among experts on many farm management issues
  • Information and its interpretation is often not site specific
  • Farm risks that could be reduced through improved use of long-range forecasts
  • Improved food system education
  • Public perception of the quality of food products
  • Need for alternative crops, improved markets, and value-added opportunities

Question 2: What are examples of successes (e.g., best practices, tools)? How do you know they work? Where are the gaps?

Focus group members discussed what they considered to be some success stories of sustainable agriculture in the region. Some of those mentioned included:

  • Production of exotic livestock, birds (successful in the short term, but concern was expressed about long-term markets)
  • Dairy quality hay (irrigated, high plains, fall harvested)
  • Niche markets for products like natural beef
  • Sun-cured alfalfa
  • Composting of manure and sludge
  • Organic gardening
  • Conservation tillage, although low tillage means the higher input of herbicides
  • Diversified crops (canola, turtle beans, certified weed-free straw, popcorn, fruits and jellies, native fruits, maple syrup, seed potatoes, woodlots)
  • Mixed farming
  • Direct sales (jams, jellies, u-pick fruit, sweet corn)
  • Tourism (hunting, tourist farms)
  • Low-input farming
  • High-tech farming (futuristic)
  • Education (e.g., agriculture in the classroom)
  • Community-supported agriculture

Question 3: Identify specific actions or programs that would lead to a more sustainable future for the region. Be specific by addressing the following questions: What can be done? How can it be done? Who will implement it? What can WE do?

The agricultural production focus group concluded that the following ideas are critical to a sustainable future for the North American Great Plains.

  • Increase the economic return to the individual farmer
  • Diversify the income source from the farm itself and from the local community
  • Improve soil productivity and soil health
  • Increase irrigation efficiency
  • Promote crop rotations, crop diversity, and mixed farm (crop and animal) systems
  • Base agricultural research on ecoregions
  • Conduct more systems research
  • Conduct more research on farmers' fields, reduce the number of research stations, and promote a "team" concept between the research and farming community
  • Build research and development support from local and national sources (food tax idea)
  • Promote local/federal planning to preserve prime farmland, including zoning bylaws and development rights
  • Build bridges and alliances to environmental groups, bankers, input suppliers, consumers, labor, food processors, grain dealers, and so forth
  • Communicate the importance of food and agriculture to the public
  • Develop an agricultural system based on non-extraction