2018 Farm Outlook

Page 40 2018 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Oct. 25, 2018 to everybody in the Ag industry. We are learning more everyday,” said Derek. Both men emphasized that it’s been a process developed over the last three to four years and it’s continually been tweaked and gotten better as the Ag industry as a whole learns more about it. Farming has come a long way over the past 100 years as farmers relied heavily on Mother Nature in the beginning and as new farming methods were introduced, farmers were allowed to control some of the elements even more. The Martin family was constantly taking notes. “Kind of the basis behind this for years is farmers have focused on N, P and K ~ nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium,” Derek went on to explain. “On the nutrient ladder there are nine nutrients in order of importance from one to nine. N, P and K are 5, 7 and 9. So farmers were focusing almost all of their time and resources on numbers 5, 7 and 9. “So by using things like biologicals and cover crops we’re are unlocking those things as well but we are also shifting some focus and dollars away from N, P and K and in other things like sulfur.” Sulfur is the number one nutrient on the nutrient ladder and Derek said their farm has been sulfur deficient the last couple years. Derek reiterated that there are also other things besides N, P and K that a farmer must pay attention to. “In the beginning you may be taking money away from things like N, P and K and focusing it more on biologicals or sulfur or boron, and then as your soil gets healthier, you see that yield boost,” said Derek, who is a graduate of the University of Illinois. “Actually for three years in a row we’ve been able to reduce our total nitrogen applied and our yields have stayed the same or been better. We’ve been in this process a while and we’re now starting to see that all come full circle.” “We started it on a small scale four or five years ago and verified it to ourselves before we’ve taken this step,” said Doug, who is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. “We started with a 40 acre plot here and we watched how that evolved. It’s really proven to us that we can go this next step.” Martin Family Farms has now been 100 percent for two years using microbes and cover crops, according to Doug and Derek. Doug and Derek have also devoted a lot of time going to meetings with an agronomist and doing research year round. “Our goal is for our farms to be profitable and our soil to be healthy and we want everybody else’s to be that way too,” said Derek, noting that they are willing to educate and work with local fertilizer companies in order to use this as a tool to enhance their customer’s production.” This all goes hand in hand with the character and family history of the Martins. They are a family that cares about the land, they have a passion for farming and they are always on the cutting edge of the latest farming technology.