re: How many years until we have multi-level farming?

quote:

---

As far as no till goes, it definitely has places that it’s the way to go, but it’s not in LA Rice Country and the ArkLaMiss Delta. I think we could make some improvements in the way some of the tillage is done and incorporate some cover crops, but I don’t believe in widespread, full blown, no till in the Delta.

---

It's really hard to do cotton no-till unless you're planting on the side of a hill, IMO. You need at least a hint of a row to give the seeds enough drainage so they'll sprout and come up. Furrow irrigation also doesn't play too nicely with complete no-till. You'll need to at least run a watering plow down the middles each year.

Of the actual government money spent in the farm bill I believe only ~13% actually goes towards farmers and farm programs, or around $25 billion dollars. $25 billion spent on a $1 trillion GDP sector of the economy. That's a pretty great ROI, if you ask me.

IMO a cotton farmer really needs to be averaging at least a thousand pounds per acre (lint, not seed cotton) most years to justify growing the crop. Vertical integration helps, such as buying stock in a cotton gin.

Couldn't have said it any better, myself. It's why furrow irrigation is so much more popular than pivots to us. We needed the improved drainage more than we did the actual irrigation. Especially in the clay soils.

I'll be honest, I know historically people always planted cotton on the lightest, best dirt due to better drainage and an earlier maturing crop, but with the advent of land leveling and furrow irrigation, as well as the boll weevil eradication, I like a mixed to heavy soil better. You don't have to stand on its head to keep the growth in check.

quote:

---

quote:

---

Wouldn't the plants on the lower levels not get enough sunlight without lamps? Wouldn't the costs of powering all of those lamps negate the gains in acreage?

---

---

quote:

---

Things that would need to be overcome with great ideas.

---

Mirrors

Why is this needed? There is too much farmland in production right now.

The government is literally paying farmers to take land out of production.