How Conservation Saved a Cotton Farmer

Field Work

Documentary, Society & Culture

5 • 652 Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2021

⏱️ 82 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Field Work hosts Mitchell Hora and Zach Johnson talk to cotton farmer Adam Chappell about cotton and sharecropping. Chappell nearly lost his farm 10 years ago to a triple whammy of drought, pigweed and a customer who didn’t pay. He fought his way back to profitability by adopting regenerative practices. Now he uses much less seed, fertilizer, herbicide and irrigation than he used to. He has integrated livestock and figured out what cover crops work best for corn and soybeans, as well as cotton. Now he’s looking into chicken tractors, sheep and downsizing his acreage because his margin is so much better.

Read more: Changes Chappell made on his farm

Transcript

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0:00.0	And we're live coming at you from the Redneck Recording Studio.
0:09.0	Since we can't actually be together to record fieldwork this year, it's so sad.
0:14.0	But I'm Mitchell Hora. I'm in Iowa. I farm.
0:18.0	I'm Zach Johnson, and we want to give a special shout out to the Walton Family Foundation for their support this season.
0:23.6	And this redneck recording studio is actually more of just a place in your mind because I'm staring at you on my computer but you're not here with me.
0:30.6	It's like witchcraft.
0:31.6	It's a state of mind, yeah. The internet is on computers now. So it's pretty cool.
0:38.2	I got internet on my computer.
0:39.9	I think this whole internet thing is going to be here to stay for a while.
0:43.2	I don't see it going away.
0:44.5	It's definitely not a fad.
0:46.1	And you know what else is not a fad?
0:48.4	Sustainable ag.
0:49.8	Boom.
0:50.8	Right here on the fieldwork podcast.
0:53.2	Yes.
1:01.0	Today we're going to do a bold strategy cotton and we're going to talk about cotton, cotton, cotton farming, cotton, cotton, cotton farming.
1:04.0	I think our guest is actually Cotton Eye Joe.
1:07.0	Cotton I have Cotton Eye Joe to come on talk about cotton, which is a bold strategy cotton.
1:14.0	And I don't know other cotton jokes.
1:18.1	I don't know where he came from or where he goad.
1:23.1	Okay, fine.
	...

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