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Dawn Pluribus Strip-Till System in the field planning corn in South Central Minnesota. Photo: Rodney Arthur

chickens and turkeys, are associated with the And that’s where farmers like Lillibridge come in.
feed that they eat.
Improving soil health though cover crops,
“What we have as far as animal feed and how it reduced tillage and other “regenerative” prac-
goes through the agriculture side of the busi- tices is seen as the key to both reducing green-
ness starts with the ground,” he said. house gas emissions, by sequestering carbon in
the soil, while also protecting water quality by
Few sectors of agriculture may be curbing soil runoff. In areas prone to drought,
able to escape the increased plant material in the soil can also

help retain water, protecting crop yields and
Belching cows get a lot of media attention when
it comes to greenhouse gas emissions from agri- reducing the need for irrigation.
culture, which accounts for about 9% of total U.S. The soil is “a living and breathing digestive sys-
emissions. But the biggest source of emissions from tem and it is important that we keep it healthy
U.S. agriculture is actually the production of row just like our own bodies,” said Lillibridge, who
crops, in part because of the use of nitrogen fertil- farms 1,450 acres in eastern Iowa northwest of
izer, which turns into nitrous oxide gas. Cedar Rapids.

One pound of nitrous oxide has nearly 300 In addition to planting the cover crops, which
times the impact on warming the atmosphere as were aerially seeded into his fields in September
a pound of carbon dioxide. so they would be growing when he harvested his

Emissions from row crops are so significant, in fact, cash crops, Lillibridge also uses a practice known
that they account for about 70% of the emissions as strip-tilling that leaves as much of the soil
from pork and poultry production, largely because unplowed each spring. He cuts a five-inch-wide
of the corn fed to the hogs, chickens and turkeys. strip in which to plant corn and soybean seeds.

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