Farming weird

August 29, 2023
By Art Cullen | Storm Lake Times Pilot



We had the pleasure of attending a Practical Farmers of Iowa field day at the Zack Smith farm just east of Buffalo Center in Winnebago County. The heat dome lifted for a glorious Saturday morning as Smith and friends toured us through test plots of corn next to forage pasture — and down the pasture lanes creep autonomous, solar-powered livestock pens with chickens, goats, hogs and calves feeding on the succotash.

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Costs are down, earthworms are abundant, the soil is soft and full of life, and yields are up — over 300 bushels per acre on the corn, year after year in severe drought, with minimal chemical costs.

We have been following Smith through the years to see how his experiment is standing up. People thought he was cracked to give up a lucrative Pioneer dealership a few years ago to pursue his passion of “farming weird” full-time. His dad, Raymond, is terribly proud of the results although he can barely believe the numbers.

Over the field, the skeptics will say, Smith is only yielding 150 bushels per acre. He points out that they fail to factor those hogs munching on last year’s corn stalks. He told the crowd of 115 farmers (twice the size of his field day two years ago) that if you can fetch the prevailing premium price for pasture-raised meat those forage strips could be yielding $10,000-15,000 per acre.

more...https://www.stormlake.com/articles/farming-weird/