Lincoln, Neb. —Graham Christensen exudes energy and determination when speaking about why he came back after college to farm his family’s 800 acres near Oakland, Nebraska.
“It was the idea that we could be solutions for the world's biggest challenges that made me solidify that I wanted to be a part of that,” the 44-year-old said. “It's made farming really exciting for me, and it feels better, too, both healthwise but also, I think, mental healthwise, and that's challenging because farming's a tough, tough profession to be in.”
With pressures to compete with large, industrial farms, Christensen said his family, like other small and mid-size family farmers, had experienced the downfalls of trying to buy more land and “play in the high-debt game.” They ended up selling their cattle in the 1980s and focused on crops, mainly corn and soybeans, to maintain profits.
Over time, he said they saw erosion eat away at their soil and carry it off in waterways. They saw more people dealing with cancer and neurological issues and wondered if chemicals tolerated by genetically modified organisms might be causing such health problems. They saw legislative protections stripped away from family farmers.
The Christensen family had farmed near Oakland since 1867, but his parents saw the hardships facing family farms and encouraged Christensen and his brother, Max, to build other job skills. Christensen used communication skills learned at Midland Lutheran College to start GC ReVOLT, a solar and alternative energy company. His brother became an electrician. Both work at these jobs while continuing to farm.
Looking at modern-day farming with its thin profit margins and sometimes harmful effects on the environment, Christensen said he and his brother recognized they needed to make a profit yet not deplete resources for the next generation. He said they wanted to keep their farm in the family.
They have made their product decisions primarily around how they can better steward the soil while still clearing a profit, he said. Recently, they have been experimenting with agroforestry and hazelnuts, pecans and cherries.
“We're just trying to figure out ways we can diversify our farm and add income while meeting more of our environmental goals and halting that soil erosion problem,” he said.
He listed six principles of regenerative farming they try to follow.
They avoid tilling, usually only tilling areas compacted by trucks or tractors and for light maintenance. This helps keep soil in place instead of having it blow away in the wind or wash away with rain.
They keep roots in the ground, using cover crops between plantings. They have planted rye, triticale, wheat, vetch, clovers, turnips, radishes and various kinds of camelina.
The cover crops also help with the third regenerative farming principle of creating a soil armor to keep the topsoil layer cool for microorganisms and protect from erosion.
Christensen and his brother have increased biodiversity with what they plant, which gives pollinators like bees and other insects a place to live and ward off harmful pests. Biodiverse operations require more help and, so, also have the potential to create jobs and revitalize rural areas, he said.
The brothers are bringing animals back on their farm, allowing cattle to graze on the cover crops and fertilize the soil naturally. This fifth principle is the one their farm is weakest on, Christensen said.
In the sixth regenerative principle, they try to respect the context of their ecosystem by keeping livestock patterns and crops suitable to the local geography, weather and environment.
“Ecosystem context is not reengineering the ecosystem through new, unproven biotechnologies, using machines that replace all the humans or trying to plant corn in places where corn is not supposed to grow,” he said. “We need to be able to figure out what is the natural method, and then we need to tool up farmers.”
He said he and his brother avoid genetically modified organisms as much as they can and seeds coated with chemicals. They no longer use fungicides or insecticides. They still spray herbicides twice a year but are exploring weed-cutting robots for future use.
They are looking at how their ancestors and the indigenous people who preceded them took care of the land and what they did right or wrong. Christensen said they use natural biological products like seaweed, kelp or compost teas to feed the microbes in the soil but don’t want to use biotechnologies like gene-edited microbes. They are inching toward organic, he said, but aren’t there yet.
He said he would like the government to incentivize environmentally friendly practices rather than incentivizing farmers to buy biotech products. Christensen is trying technologies like using drones to sow cover crops, alternative energy like solar, probes to limit water use in irrigation, and robots to remove weeds.
He also said he would like state government to reenact legislation, like bans on meatpacker feeding, that allowed family farms to compete with industrial ones.
“We need young people, the next generation, on the farm, and our nation has no plan for this,” he said. “That presents national security issues as there are fewer of us with the ability to manage and watch over the land as more foreign multinational influence and investment come into it.”
The average Nebraska farmer is 57 years old, so many could leave farming in the next 20 years. With land prices beyond what most young people can afford, Christensen asks who these farmers will sell to.
“People are afraid to discuss it,” he said. “These discussions have to take place now, and we owe it to the next generation to allow them the chance to be the next generation of American farmers, not multinationals with ties from countries that we don’t have great diplomatic relations with.”
He finds other national discussions on farming more encouraging.
“I'm glad that farmers, to some extent, are starting to be looked at as the solution again to a lot of our biggest environmental issues and good nutrition,” he said. “I'm concerned that our perception has lagged, and that influences by the larger industry have put farmers in somewhat of a no-win game. But I'm seeing that through regenerative agriculture, there are more farmers on the ground informing more of industry partners, and it seems like there is some effort to really tackle the soil loss and these water issues through good agricultural practice.”
