Six State Life Cycle Analysis for Corn and Soy Production

Advancing Agricultural Performance® and Environmental Stewardship

February 19, 2015 Ames, Iowa

Seeing STAARS: Six State Life Cycle Analysis for Corn and Soy Production Chris Jones Iowa Soybean Association [email protected]

Funded in part by the soybean checkoff

Life Cycle Analysis: ADAPT

Strategies Targeting American Agricultural Resources and Sustainability

Process: • Enroll approximately 500 participants across 6 states • Partner with government agencies, land grant institutions and state soybean commodity groups • Develop tools and processes • Document and analyze management practices and energy use over 3 years • Address on-farm resource management and sustainability through performance evaluation and planning

Service Providers • Independent crop consultants and CCA’s – SD, KY, IA

• Technical Service Providers who primarily provide MMP and CNMP planning services – IL, IN, OH

• Seed dealer / agronomic supplier – KY

• Cooperative – OH

Service Provider Activities • Enroll participants in STAARS • Conduct field testing (stalk sampling) • Gather management data and enter into ADAPT • Provide reports (testing and energy) back to participants • Develop resource management system plans

Iowa Soybean Association Activities Source the service providers Train SP’s on data entry into ADAPT Coordinate field testing (2-3 years) In some cases provide training on the planning activities • Provide energy usage reports from ADAPT • Perform quality control review on data in ADAPT • • • •

Conversion to BTU/bu

GDFE/Acre x Acres = Gallons of Diesel Yield (bu/ac) x total acres = total bushels Total bushels/gallons of diesel = bu/gal ~130,000 BTU/gal diesel* BTU per bushel

Total Acres in Aggregate Analysis

Total Bushels in Aggregate Analysis

Location of Fields

Iowa % of Bushels in STAARS

Weather

Weather

Crop Yields

Fertilization Rates

Fertilizer Types

Corn N Form Anhydrous Ammonia UAN 32% Swine UAN 28% Poultry Manure Other Urea Monoammonium phosphate

Predominant Forms of N and P Fertilizer on Iowa STAARS Fields, 2010-2012 Corn P Soybean N Fields Fields Form Fields Form 112 Diammonium Phosphate 7 221 Monoammonium phosphate 111 Monoammonium Phosphate 6 104 Diammonium phosphate 6 35 Poultry Manure 45 Poultry Manure 1 14 Swine 35 Swine Manure 1 9 Other 23 Ammonium sulfate 4 Beef Manure 5 2 2 Triple superphosphate 1

Soybean P Form Monoammonium Phosphate Poultry Manure Diammonium Phosphate Swine Manure Other

Fields 6 6 5 1 1

Tillage

Tillage vs Yield

Iowa Tillage Practices: Soybean

Iowa Tillage Practices: Corn

Chemicals

Per Bushel Energy Requirements: Soybean

Comparison to Field-to-Market? Source: Field to Market (2012 V2). Environmental and Socioeconomic Indicators for Measuring Outcomes of On-Farm Agricultural Production in the United States: Second Report, (Version 2), December 2012. Available at: www.fieldtomarket.org. See full report here: http://www.fieldtomar ket.org/report/national 2/PNT_NatReport_A26. pdf

Corn Per Bushel Energy Requirements

Per Acre Energy Use: Soybean

Per Acre Energy Use: Corn

Field-to-Field Comparisons: Soybean

Field-to-Field Comparisons: Corn

BTU per bushel vs Yield

Iowa Histograms

Challenges 1a. Getting Good Data 1b. Getting Good Data 1c. Getting Good Data 2. Verifying data (i.e. documentation) 3. Data Management 4. Ask the Right Questions

Take Homes

Next Steps New Multi- project with support from USB 2014/15 Title: Multistate Soy Sustainability Initiative for Continuous Improvement - use the experiences and data gained through the STAARS - Multi-State Education Coordinator - Engage past STAARS participants, both crop consultants and farmers - Engage QSSB staff from the six STAARS states (SD, IA, IL, IN, OH, KY). - Provide state specific data mining and analysis of STAARS data for planning and alignment of future programming

Questions?