Biological Farming: An Introduction

If you're hesitant to commit to "bio-logical" farming, we at Midwestern Bio-Ag understand. We're talking about your life here, your family's future. Perhaps a "Century Farm". Making a fundamental shift from "conventional" farming to "biological" farming is a serious decision.

We can help by introducing you to the fundamentals of biological farming. After all, input costs trend steadily upward in "conventional" agriculture. Commodity prices continue to fluctuate wildly, diminishing predictable returns. Problems can seem out of control. This business of farming is complex and confusing. You're asking: Who can I trust? What methods will work on my farm? What products should I buy and can I afford to .... afford not to? What spending level is profitable? I'm already a mechanic, a crops specialist, an animal specialist, a nutritionist, a veterinarian -- plus I do all the work! How can I be an expert in biological farming, too.

First, you don't have to be expert in this new, but old, way of farming. Remember, we're not reinventing the wheel with biological farming. Generations of farmers have successfully used this method. They knew how to work with the land. That's how they survived and thrived. However, your grandfather and great-grandfather didn't have access to modern technology to help them. They had no way to use lab testing to their advantage. Their "research" was confined to trial and error. They had no access to far-off materials. They didn't have no-till drills, electric fencing, and other modern conveniences that make biological farming more profitable and environmentally friendly. And, they didn't have access to Midwestern Bio-Ag consultants to help them every step of the way.

Are Profits Possible?

You ask: Is profitable biological farming possible? Sure, if you take a common-sense, basic approach to farming. You can reduce your input costs and increase your profits, while improving your soil and livestock productivity at the same time. That's what "bio-logical farming" is. It harnesses science and nature to create a superior FARMING SYSTEM. It works WITH natural laws, not against them. Common-sense says that's the way things were meant to work. If you need evidence that trying to overpower Nature doesn't work long-term, look at all the serious manmade ecological damage and destruction: foul or poison air, water, and food. Biological farming is the win-win way to produce food.

Successful Biological Farming Traits

Skilled biological farmers learn how to grow and make a lot of their own fertilizers, using animal and green manures. They learn what fertilizers work best for their farm and which are environmentally-safe. They use farming practices that encourage beneficial organisms living in the soil. Your success will largely depend upon your ability to feed and increase these soil organisms. They make the soil alive and fertile, which also feeds your crops and forages.

Two important parts of your soil are: (1) the organic particles that are a plant food reservoir, and (2) the living micro-organisms like bacteria, fungi, algae and the larger ones like earthworms. These organisms process and decompose the inert mineral and organic materials, thereby feeding your plants. To thrive and multiply, they need air, water, organic matter (food) and safety. Work with them successfully and your farm's natural fertility and productivity will escalate.

On a biological farm, you strive for BALANCE. It's the economic and ecological key to success. It provides all the elements to your crops in proper balance. The productivity of your soil can never be greater than the plant food element in least supply. You make these nutrients easily absorbable by the plant's roots. You manage your soil and crops to produce large root systems that recover nutrients, create an optimum home for soil organisms, and hold the soil in place.

When you achieve balance on your farm, farming becomes profitable, sustainable, and FUN!

N-P-K Shortcomings

Conventional synthetic N-P-K fertilizers have few or no secondary and trace elements, yet plants need at least 16 elements to grow and reproduce. Continued crop removal while using high N-P-K levels can result in secondary- and micronutrient deficiencies and other inbalances.

Healthy Livestock Needs

Everything on your farm is related to the way you treat Mother Nature's soil. Just as it is with crops, balance is the key to superior livestock nutrition and health. Farm animals need the highly mineralized grains and forages produced on healthy balanced soils.

In fact, livestock nutrition starts with high quality homegrown feeds that result from proper crop fertilization, handling, and storage. Feed supplements can't replace what poor feeds lack. When judging feedstuffs' quality, a balance of energy, digestibility, protein (not just nitrogen) and minerals is the key. Minerals include calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, sulfur, zinc, manganese, copper, iron, and selenium. Feeding any feedstuff beyond an ideal minimum or maximum balance is inviting trouble that manifests itself in poor health, poor performance, poor productivity and poor profits. Balanced rations, fed often and in correct proportions, yield optimal livestock efficiency.

Besides basic ration balance and feeding management, you can provide your livestock with some "extras." These include natural vitamins, digestive aids, yeast, kelp, chelated trace elements, beneficial micro-organisms (probiotics), and enzymes. Do the extras pay? Quite often -- and we help you determine when.

A Total Consulting Package

We at Midwestern Bio-Ag help you with ALL aspects of your farm's management: from tillage and fertilizer to feeds, minerals and vitamins, milking systems and stray voltage. We are always trying to find and correct your "limiting factors to success." We don't wear blinders. We look at the "big picture" first and refine our advice only after the big picture is clearly in focus.

Farming profitability is not doing one thing right. It's doing many things right and always looking to correct the next limiting factor. Remember, your farm is a complex natural system. That's why taking a system approach to farming leads to incremental progress to success.