This post is going to be a “virtual tour” of a near-future farm that is truly state-of-the-art in terms of sustainability.  If you have read some of my blog posts you know that I vigorously defend the “conventional” farmers who have kept us fed. That does not mean that I am content with the status quo of agriculture. A broad coalition of researchers, farmers and technology companies have been developing new farming methods that are more environmentally friendly, more energy efficient, more water use-efficient, more productive and more climate friendly. I’d like to see farming move increasingly towards these optimum approaches.  In this hypothetical “tour” I will use red font only to designate things that are not fully available today.  The rest of this description is about farming practices that are quite possible today and actually deployed on many real farms. 

Meeting Our Guide

Our tour is in a tractor moving over a field in Iowa in May.  Our guide is Sarah, a 22-year old intern on the Gordon family farm.  She had no farming background but was intrigued by the idea of becoming a sustainable farmer.  After graduating from college with an agronomy degree she came to study with Mark Gordon as part of a USDA program to encourage young people to become farmers.

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