Minnesota Pig Farmer Leads by Example on Water Quality
This blog was submitted by the National Pork Board in Celebration of National Ag Day.
Randy Spronk takes safeguarding the environment very
seriously on his family’s
Edgerton, Minnesota, pig farm. He has since the day
he started raising pigs almost
40 years ago.Spronk has decades of data and
information on his farm’s environmental
footprint — overall water quality, how
many gallons of manure his farm has yielded,
how many gallons have been applied
to his crop acres, how his crops have utilized
that manure and more.
He does it first and foremost
because it’s the right thing to do. He’s also been able to
make use of that
data in ways that improve his farm’s overall environmental footprint.
t’s
enabled him to put his attention to his natural surroundings into action by
taking
further steps to improve the performance of both his pigs and row crops.
Real Pig Farming sat down with Spronk to discuss his farm’s history and
how he
uses technology to sustainably raise pigs and crops in on his southwestern
Minnesota farm.
Real Pig Farming: Talk
about your history as a pig farmer and your farm today.
Randy Spronk: I
graduated from college in animal science in 1981, then moved
back home and
started with 100 sows. I bought the farm in 1988 and partnered with
my
brothers. We started together with a 300-sow farrow-to-finish farm, and we’ve
grown ever since then. Spronk Brothers is our livestock farm, and we have
around
10,000 sows now. We have our own on-farm feed mill and are vertically
integrated
backwards. We harvest 2,600 crop acres and we feed all of our own
pigs.
RPF: What
are your water quality goals?
RS: For
my entire farming career, I have made the environment a huge priority. It’s
a
lot of hard work, but it’s a labor of love. I know that if I don’t take care of
the
environment around me, it will take care of me. I obviously want to improve
our
water quality, and show society that we can improve overall water quality.
We want
to make it better, not just prevent it from eroding. I want to be part
of the solution,
not part of the problem. At the farm level, I work to ensure
that once that water is
on our farm and in our pig barns, the manure doesn’t go
anywhere until I am
ready to use it agronomically, and then I am going to use
it for an agronomic benefit.
I don’t waste any water.
RPF: Why
is water quality so important to you?
RS: Our
farm is on the Buffalo Ridge, which is sort of the “Continental Divide”
between
the Missouri and Mississippi River watersheds. It’s a critical area for
water
quality, and we’ve always wanted to be part of the solution, not part of the
problem. I’ve always felt that I’m a caretaker entrusted not just with the
pigs, but
the soil and water here. That’s my occupation, it’s what I do every
day, and it’s what
I was educated to do. It’s important to me to utilize these
resources — our soils and
water — to produce food and make decisions that
benefit both me and society.
We all coexist.
RPF: What makes your attention to water quality unique?
the same agronomy consultant to
conduct those verification's for 25 years, and
through my entire farming
career, I’ve always worked with a third-party to sample
manure pits, conduct
soil tests and give recommendations on how to manage our
manure so it’s best
for our soils and water. We have 25 years of data on a spreadsheet
showing
nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in our soils, and we use the latest
agronomic rates to produce our crops using our own manure. We don’t waste
anything. Our manure has a lot of value, and we use it that way.
RPF: What
role does technology play in your water quality efforts?
RS: We
grid-sample our fields in 2 ½-acre grids and we know exactly what our
crops and
soils need from a nutrient standpoint. And, I have all of that information
on
my smartphone, so it’s with me at all times. I can tie my manure applications
to crop yields in ways that show how beneficial they are to our water quality.
Since now we can sample our manure pits before we apply the manure, we
can
program rates in and apply exactly the amount of fertilizer at the optimal
rate.
In the 1990s, we were putting on 4,000 gallons per acre. On most of our
corn acres
today, it’s probably 2,500 to 3,000 gallons per acre because of
increased nutrient
content that justify those lower rates. We always know
exactly what we’re applying
before we even go to the field. Then, we can go
back and report that through a
third-party so we keep our records up-to-date.
RPF: What
do you see as important to the future of water quality on farms like yours?
RS: I
think we’re going to continue to innovate on the animal nutrition side. We’re going
to find ways to innovate, adapt and change so that we can
apply that manure more
effectively, and ultimately have the ability to do more
with less. A 100-bushel corn crop
was huge for my dad. If we’re not raising at
least a 200-bushel crop now, we’re doing
something wrong. We’re going to continue
to find ways to raise our pigs, utilize manure
and raise stronger crops, all
while improving our water quality. Animal nutrition and
manure application
technology will help us accomplish all of those goals.
