Geiger Farm: Using diverse topographies and soil types to adapt through drought

Introduction

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"The easiest way to understand my farm is that I farm like my grandfather farmed 100 years ago, except I use technology and modern mechanization and management to try and be even more efficient and scale-oriented, with more of a focus on the economics of it.”

Jack Geiger is a sixth-generation producer in Northeast Kansas running Geiger Farm, a vertically integrated farm of about 240 acres. He works on his NOP (National Organic Program) certified organic farm with his wife, Deborah, and family. He focuses on low-input, sustainable and systemic diversity. In German etymology, Geiger means “fiddle maker,” “dancer,” “musician,” or “artist,” and Jack Geiger displays his artistry in the management of his diverse operation, and his investment and connection to the health of the land, surrounding community and next generation of farming.

“Grandpa tells the story of cutting down trees to feed his cows, because the leaves and twigs were the only forage [during drought].”

Jack’s background and family history have greatly shaped his perspective on farming and contributed to his approach to drought management. He is the second-youngest son (out of six sons) in a German family. While he did not inherit the family farm, he chose to settle in the same county where his family moved and started farming before the Civil War. “We have a cross-generational genetic memory…or intergenerational knowledge transfer [of farming the land],” he said. Jack’s grandfather farmed during the Depression era, and lack of rain greatly affected his ability to grow crops. His grandfather’s dedication, resilience and adaptability were influential to Jack’s approach to working on the farm. He observes the land around him and adapts as needed.

Introduction (cont.)

Additionally, Jack has a bachelor’s degree in agronomy with a focus on soil genesis and natural resource development from Kansas State. He studied at a unique point in time when some of his professors had previously farmed and gone broke during the farm crisis of the 1980s. Jack’s focus on low-input sustainable agriculture was born from a model of how to economically survive the 80’s farm crisis.

Farm Inventory

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• On Geiger Farm, they raise hard red winter wheat, corn, soybeans and manage a cow-calf operation. The wheat goes directly to the mill or to seed channels. The corn goes to feed. The cow manure goes back to improve soil fertility. They sell directly to consumers in the surrounding area.
• Geiger Farm is roughly 240 acres and is made up of four topographies: bottom ground (flat ground next to a river), second or step bottom (next level up), side hill, and hill ground.
• Geiger Farm is roughly 240 acres and is made up of four topographies: bottom ground (flat ground next to a river), second or step bottom (next level up), side hill, and hill ground.
• The area has abundant surface water reserves with rivers running through the land but poor water reserves.
• At Geiger Farm, they invest in and connect with the surrounding community of producers, consumers and neighbors.

Lessons Learned during Flood and Drought

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A formative flood in 1984 and drought in 1989 greatly influenced Jack’s path to organic management and building resilience on the farm. The flood wiped his father’s fields clean, and inspired them to begin their path to organic, low-input farming. A few years later, extreme drought conditions resulted in limited crop yields¹; the low-input approach had helped them survive, but they needed to do more to build resiliency. “It was the punch that told you something was coming, and you better prepare,” he said. “I took from that, something's gotta change, and so that has been my life story and my journey.”

Strategies for Preparing for Drought

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Beyond their investment in building soil health and practicing rotational grazing, at Geiger Farm they focus on diversity, adaptation and knowledge of the land.

• Know your land and work with your land. Learn about the different soil types across your operation. Monitor how rainfall flows through different soils on your land.
• Utilize and plan differently for diverse topographies. Make decisions related to planting crops based on topography type and observation of weather patterns.
• Having a variety of topographies can be beneficial, because soil type, crop and water flow will affect each area differently. In wet years or drought years, different land levels will produce better or worse. Over time, keep learning about the complexity of your unique land.
• Adapt as needed. One of Jack’s priorities is to feed his cows with the crops he is raising. Because of this, he will make planting decisions to prioritize growing feed based on whether it is a wet or dry year. He shares that in a perceived dry year, he will plant more small grains toward the bottom ground, and in a wet year, he will plant more row crop and push them towards the hill ground.
  Ex. “If I think I'm in a dry cycle, I may put more cow feed in the bottoms. If I'm in a wet cycle, I may think that I want to put my cow feed on the hills.”
• Consider growing cover crops (ex. sudangrass [EC4.1]or cowpeas) as an option for late season drought grazing for livestock. Support soil health by also keeping a “living root” in the soil in winter.

Critical dates and target conditions

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• Pay attention to big-picture patterns, whether this is through journaling and record keeping, discussion with family or neighbors, looking into historical records or other tracking methods. Observe changes over time. Through his observation and experience, Jack has noticed the weather pattern shifting to extreme cold early in November or December, then warmer-than-average temperatures, and then an intense, brief cold snap. He describes the seasons “moving up a month,” which makes them feel like they are also “lengthening a month.”
• Adapt your practices as things change. At Geiger Farm, they noticed wheat developing faster over time, adjusted the wheat harvest date and moved it up almost an entire month compared to two decades ago. Jack noticed an increase in growing-degree days and adapted his practices.

What is monitored and how

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Jack uses the U.S. Drought Monitor (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/) to notice long-term patterns across the nation, observe what is going on in surrounding states that also raise and graze cattle, and connect this knowledge to his understandings of climate and market. The Drought Monitor and NOAA provide information that help him anticipate potential drought conditions over the coming seasons and years. He pays attention to the weather on a day-to-day basis, but on a broader scale, he is using weather data to build a climate model in his head.

General Recommendations

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“You can't follow the crowd. You have to do stuff a little bit differently if you want to survive.”

• Be open to trying new practices and making your own path
• Invest in personal connections. Build relationships with fellow producers and community members to learn from or mentor others, to discuss what is working and what is not, and to make sense of the complex relationships.

To contact Jack Geiger or learn more about his operation, go to https://geigerfarm.com/contact.

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¹ https://www.weather.gov/media/wrh/online_publications/TAs/ta8914.pdf, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/books/cropprod_gao_1989.pdf