A new report identifies challenges to agricultural diversification in the Corn Belt and policy changes that could make it easier to grow different crops or integrate livestock and trees.
The findings build on previous focus groups, interviews and surveys with farmers across Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, where 94% of crop production is dedicated to corn and soybeans.
“Farmers across the region are frustrated with their lack of cropping options,” said J. Arbuckle, a rural sociologist at Iowa State University during an Iowa Farmers Union webinar Thursday.
Arbuckle is part of the Diverse Corn Belt Project, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and involves 10 universities, Practical Farmers of Iowa and The Nature Conservancy.
“Almost all the farmers we talked to understand that diversified systems can have major economic and agroecological benefits, such as soil health, reduced reliance on purchased inputs, smoother incomes, more stable yields and profits over time,” Arbuckle said. “But [almost everyone said,] ‘I don’t see a way to get there given the way the system is set up.’”
Arbuckle said that led to meetings in each state over three years with farmers, landowners, agriculture retailers, crop advisors, nonprofits, bankers, agency staff, processors and policymakers.
Their ideas were boiled down into "Diversifying the Corn Belt: Policy Pathways for a Resilient Agricultural Future."
One of the focus areas is crop insurance, said Paige Frautschy, the agriculture program director for the Iowa chapter of The Nature Conservancy.
“Our current crop insurance system is set up to support corn and soybeans,” Frautschy said. “So that was a major barrier but also an opportunity where policy could actually make a difference in terms of moving the needle on creating some enabling conditions for some more diverse crops.”
Changes to conservation programs under the federal Farm Bill could also directly incentivize production diversity, according to the report. This includes piloting a “diversified rotation initiative” under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program to encourage multi-year crop rotations that incorporate small grains, legumes and perennial forages.
Two other areas of focus in the report are post-harvest infrastructure and markets. Examples include tax credits to support small- and mid-scale facilities for processing fruits or specialty grains and expansion for programs that help schools purchase local food.
Additional constraints raised by participants were a lack of researchers who focus on forages and small grains, Arbuckle said.
“Most of our research is going into corn and soybeans, and the dominant livestock breeds,” Arbuckle said. “From a lot of people's perspectives, that's a problem because ... we don't have elite germplasm for oats and other small grains.”
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Investing research dollars in this area could help farmers produce high-quality, food-grade oats in Iowa, he said.
