Acres Of Green

INTRO

I want to welcome you to the Acres of Green website. I have been in the farm and ranching business for most of my life. Of course I have tried other businesses with little success, most often because ranching is a way of life that does something to the mind or simply gets in the blood. I guess you could call me a survivor. Enough about me here is what I have learned and more important- how you can help!

Cause and Effect

EFFECT

Having stated the above, I have noticed over the last few years something I find hard to believe. Besides the wild weather our nation and other countries seem to be experiencing I have noticed two things. First corn is growing much slower than in the past, seems it takes more and more fertilizer to maintain growth, and much of our wheat is being subject to late frosts, hence the highest grain prices in recorded history. Second the weather is reaching extremes. It seems to me that wet areas are getting wetter and dry areas are getting drier! Or we may have a slamming effect where long periods of drought are met with tremendous down-pours of rain. This fast rain does little to help plant growth because water has little time to soak into the ground. For further reading and future articles or more information be sure to read our news page on a regular basis.

CAUSE

As a farmer I use several large mostly older machines to aid me in my daily routine. Tractors, trucks, pickup trucks are all a part of what I do. Recently I bought a new smaller tractor to do my haying (cattle feed) field work with. I know old diesels are not as efficient as the newer engines and a tax maybe placed on older engines at anytime. For the first time this year I used composted manure in-place of commercial fertilizer for part of my corns needs. In the sales package I read a short article on carbon credits. In the future farmers maybe able to use there land to help rid the atmosphere of harmful greenhouse gasses. Rangeland that has been well managed is an established 'sponge', for absorbing carbon dioxied. Well guess what? The future is now! It's a small step but we need to start managing our atmosphere before any more bad weather and other surprises occur.

Solution=What Can I DO?

SOLUTION

Just before I read the article,-then I took a look at the newly developed 'Climate Exchange', based in Chicago I was out mowing some rangeland (pasture), to remove the old grass, sage and yucca plants. Of course the plants will be back in three years or so but I need the land cleared for some extra hay. Keep in mind this 'hay' is already planted and has been there for years, however there was a lot of old growth the cattle did not consume. I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched this mowed land turn into an oasis in the middle of a nasty looking pasture. If I read the chart at the climate exchange right this fast growing rangeland maybe soaking up a ton or more carbon dioxide per season, and on my 1600 acres thats a lot of carbon gone from the atmosphere. But we can and need to do more!

YOUR TURN

There is no way I can afford to manage this property at that extent with-out aid. I would like to mow this property every three years, that should be enough to keep absorbtion rates up. Some will be grazed and grass harvested. New grass can be fed to cattle and old grass be used for energy- yes we want to be 'green' and develope green machines. We are including other land owners in our mission and would like to see thousands of acres added to the Acres Of Green concept every year. R&D - SERVICES