Buffet: Conservation works, regulation doesn't

Howard G. Buffett, an Illinois farmer and son of billionaire Warren Buffett, is passionate about conservation farming — using cover crops, no-till planting and other practices to improve soil health and water quality and help offset the impact of climate change.

It's an issue that's taken center stage in Iowa: Des Moines Water Works has filed a lawsuit that seeks federal oversight of drainage districts in three northern Iowa counties to reduce the amount of nitrates that make their way into the Raccoon River, a source of drinking water for 500,000 residents.

But farm groups say regulation is not the path to improved water quality. They're asking growers to adopt conservation practices such as cover crops, saturated buffers, bioreactors to reduce the loss of nitrogen and phosphorus into Iowa waterways.

Like most farmers, 60-year-old Buffett isn't a fan of regulation.

"Regulations never works well. You automatically believe you have to fight it, and most the time you do. Regulators are not farmers," said the CEO of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, a private charitable group that's focused on global food security. "A few years ago, EPA was talking about dust-free combines, and I thought, OK, we’ll all starve."

Buffett's foundation is trying to show farmers that conservation works. He thinks it can cut costly inputs such as nitrogen.

"What we’re trying to do at the foundation is say: 'Look, there are all these benefits; you don’t need regulations,'" said Buffett, whose foundation owns 20,000 acres, where it's testing conservation farm practices. He personally farms about 1,500 acres.

Here are some more thoughts from the outspoken Buffett, a panelist at the World Food Prize symposium in downtown Des Moines last week:

Soil needs 'political capital': Soil is a farmer's greatest asset, Buffett said. Yet most groups representing farmers fail to list soil health or conservation among their top 10 priorities.

"There are people in those groups who care a lot about conservation, but it just isn’t at the forefront," he said. "If you ask them this: Where will you spend your money, time and resources and political capital? It won’t be on this. But that's what it will take" to see greater conservation adoption.

Next level conservation? Buffett describes conservation as minimal soil disturbance — no-till or strip-till; continual cover on fields; and crop rotation.

"What we have to think about to get this right is how we can farm in systems. We farm in pieces today. That's why we do the research we do. What are the best symbiotic relationships — yeah, we can rotate corn and soybeans, because soybeans create some nitrogen for corn. But that's just the beginning."

For example, Buffett's foundation is experimenting growing corn that matures faster — such as 80-90 days — so it can be harvested earlier and a cover crop planted.

"If you go to a university today, they'll tell you for every bushel of corn, you need one unit (or pound) of nitrogen or 1.2 units. We just produced 220-bushel corn with half a unit of nitrogen" because of conservation farming. Other groups have used even less nitrogen, he said.

What's at risk: Soil health is critical in Iowa and other farm states, with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, hanging on the crop that comes from it. But Buffett said in developing countries conservation can mean the difference between life and death.

"When you see children die because they can't be fed, you think there has to be a better way," Buffett said.

No-till like marriage: Buffett said he and his crew have worked so long with conservation crops, they've got it down to a science. But it takes some time to get it right.

"I have a farmer next to me in Illinois. He's a great guy. And he says to me: 'I tried no-till one year, and it didn't work.' To me, it's like saying I tried marriage one year, and it didn't work. OK, maybe some people do that. … But you have to keep trying."

"What in agriculture can you try for just one year and it works? Nothing. Nothing."

Omaha Oracle a field hand? Does Buffett ever get his father, Warren Buffett, the CEO of the Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway, in his combine this time of year.

Not yet, Buffett said.

Business commitment on climate change

Fred Buie, CEO of Keystone Electrical Manufacturing Co., was one of 10 business leaders who met with President Barack Obama at the White House Monday about their pledge to reduce their impact on climate change.

Buie said small companies such as Keystone can reduce their energy consumption and cut their carbon footprint. For example, the Des Moines maker of electric control panels and other products used energy audits to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent since 2011. The company replaced inefficient lighting and fixtures, and significantly cut heat and cooling losses, among other actions.

It also asked its suppliers to use greener materials and to cut energy use as well.

"You think this is just for the big guys, but everyone needs to do what they can to reduce greenhouse emissions," said Buie, former chairman of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry board of directors.

Eighty-one large companies have pledged to cut their carbon footprint, including Des Moines-based Berkshire Hathaway, parent of MidAmerican Energy; Poet, the South Dakota maker of ethanol, with seven plants in Iowa; and food giant Cargill Inc., with a feed mill, pork processing and other plants in Iowa.

Obama is trying to drum up support for a key piece of his climate change action plan — cutting carbon emissions from power plants. The U.S. is among the countries meeting at the United Nations climate conference in Paris this year.

Birthdays

Those celebrating today include Stacy Timperley, export operations manager at Forbs Export Services, 29; Richard Stanley, former chairman of Stanley Consultants and chairman of Stanley Foundation, 83; Peter Pashler, lawyer at Ahlers & Cooney, 68.

State Rep. John Forbes, owner of the Urbandale Medicap Pharmacy, turns 59 on Wednesday. Also celebrating that day are Jacqueline Easley, 58, Regional Workforce Investment Board chairwoman; Kent Kramer, 54, chief investment officer at the Foster Group; and Todd Millang, 41, senior vice president at CBRE/Hubbell Commercial.

Joe Quinn of Nyemaster Goode law firm will be 54 Thursday, Urbandale City Manager A.J. Johnson will be 59 and Jim Nervig of Brick Gentry PC will be 65.

Friday's birthdays include retired Des Moines Partnership chief executive Martha Willits, 69, and Broadhorn Capital CEO Brian Patrick Donaghy, 47. 10-23-68 Iowa Cubs owner and Cityview columnist Michael Gartner will be 77 on Sunday, and American Dream Machines owner Doug Klein will be 54.

Monday's birthdays include lawyer/businessman/political operative Jerry Crawford, 66; Story County United Way chief Jean Kresse, 56; and Mike Reilly, co-founder of Variety — the Children's Charity, 71.