{"id":5294,"date":"2015-07-30T09:42:51","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T13:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/?p=5294"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:52:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T16:52:57","slug":"sustainability-and-profitability-go-hand-in-hand-says-iowa-corn-farmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/2015\/07\/30\/sustainability-and-profitability-go-hand-in-hand-says-iowa-corn-farmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability and profitability go hand-in-hand, says Iowa corn farmer"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"TimRichter\"<\/a>
Tim Richter, owner of Saratoga Partnership<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Farming is a tough business. With constantly changing crop prices, difficult to predict and increasingly extreme weather variations, and changing consumer demands, growers don\u2019t have an easy time of it.<\/p>\n

Like any business, profitability is the number one priority. And it should be \u2013 if you are not profitable, it\u2019s very hard to stay in business.<\/p>\n

All the growers I\u2019ve worked with care deeply about their land. In a recent survey of a group of Midwestern farmers, \u201cland stewardship\u201d ranked as their top value. And sustainability is in a farmers\u2019 best interest since healthy lands plays a huge role in whether farms will be around \u2013 and productive \u2013 for the next generation. But making agriculture truly sustainable will require investment from farmers.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the good news: sustainability and profitability can go hand-in-hand. Efficiencies like fertilizer optimization can result in cost savings. And with those savings, growers can invest in new technologies and cover crops, which can help make farms more resilient and increase yields<\/a>, generating long term economic gain.<\/p>\n

I asked Tim Richter<\/a>, owner of a swine and corn farm operation spanning 9,000 acres in northern Iowa and Missouri, to tell me his profitability and sustainability story.<\/p>\n

What is your farming story? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I was raised on a farm, and I actually live in the same house that I grew up in \u2013 it\u2019s pretty great. I always had farming in my blood, but after three years in the Army, I realized I wanted to be my own boss and be independent. So I used the G.I. Bill to attend Iowa State and graduated with a degree in agronomy. I then went back to the farm and joined my late brother to establish Saratoga Partnership<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What about your sustainability story? <\/strong><\/p>\n

I heard a presentation on sustainability about five years ago and remember thinking \u201cI\u2019m in\u201d as soon as it was over. More than anything, I believe protecting our land is the right thing to do. But becoming more efficient through changes in on-farm practices also segments me from the competition. By changing some of my practices and measuring those adjustments, I\u2019m gaining a real business advantage.<\/p>\n

Soon after that presentation, I became involved with The Sustainability Consortium<\/a>, an organization that works to develop tools that make it easier for companies, governments, farmers and others to implement and track sustainability measures \u2013 and efficiencies.<\/p>\n

“[Smarter fertilizer management] has paid big dividends. If this is sustainability, I’m on board.”<\/p>\n

–Tim Richter, in a Farm Journal story <\/a>on farming green to get in the black<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I also know vegetable producers who\u2019ve had to change their practices due to market considerations over the years. By being able to adopt new technologies, they\u2019ve not only helped the environment but they\u2019ve stayed in business and stayed more profitable.<\/p>\n

Is sustainability becoming the new normal in agriculture? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Walmart wants to improve the sustainability of the products in its supply chain, including things like fertilizer optimization and soil conservation in commodity crops. This has big implications for farmers.<\/p>\n

\"Saratoga<\/a>
Photo Credit: Saratoga Partnership Video. Watch the video here<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If Walmart can make a difference in the sustainability of corn, it will affect the entire supply chain. And the demand for fertilizer-efficient corn will be rampant.<\/p>\n

That means farmers will need to invest in sustainability initiatives and technologies for their long-term viability. Putting profits into efficiency and conservation just makes good business sense.<\/p>\n

How is technology helping your efforts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

With tools like variable rate technologies I can now look at one plot of 160 acres as 160 one-acre fields. I can manage my crops by acre, to optimize individual parcels. It doesn\u2019t always mean I\u2019ll use less fertilizer, but I\u2019ll be putting it in places where it will result in better yields and less runoff. The more I track, the more I know why certain acres are more profitable than others.<\/p>\n

There are also new technologies coming to market every day to help farmers keep nutrients in their fields. They may require near-term investment for long-term gain, but profitability depends on these investments.<\/p>\n

Related Links<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

More reasons to embrace food sustainability >> <\/a><\/p>\n

SUSTAIN: navigating the boom in precision ag >>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Campbell\u2019s Soup expands its fertilizer optimization programs >><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farming is a tough business. With constantly changing crop prices, difficult to predict and increasingly extreme weather variations, and changing consumer demands, growers don\u2019t have an easy time of it. Like any business, profitability is the number one priority. And it should be \u2013 if you are not profitable, it\u2019s very hard to stay in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45788,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[120554],"tags":[75611,59,64885,57127,62659,75,71893,71738,75609,71889,40288,75610,75603,75602,75607,75614,75608,71910,75613,413,606,75604,75612,75605,71938],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture","tag-agronomy","tag-business","tag-commodity-crops","tag-corn","tag-cover-crops","tag-environment","tag-farm","tag-fertilizer-optimization","tag-g-i-bill","tag-growers","tag-iowa","tag-iowa-state","tag-land-stewardship","tag-midwestern-farmers","tag-missouri","tag-runoff","tag-saratoga-partnership","tag-soil","tag-soil-conservation","tag-sustainability","tag-sustainable","tag-swine","tag-the-sustainability-consortium","tag-tim-richter","tag-yields"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45788"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15570,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294\/revisions\/15570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5294"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/growingreturns\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}