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CEMSA | its future in Iowa's agriculture
CEMSA is an ongoing opportunity for every farm, because the 'perfectly-performing'
farm does not exist. Improvements in knowledge, implements, inputs,
research capabilities and many other factors are dynamic and ongoing.
As we move into the future, constant evaluation within the farming
environment will be required to compete.
Farmers are being called on to improve efficiency on the
farm – whether it is the use of nutrients, energy, or increasing
production. Multiple stakeholders are asking farmers to respond
to multiple priorities. Individual producers, who are running
dissimilar operations across a diverse landscape, are asking
for management tools that will allow them to address these issues.
Complicating matters is the fact that, while the
world marketplace is growing, technology is giving
buyers and other stakeholders increased ability
to gather information and manage data. Along the
way, we can expect standards for aspects beyond
production — such as
environmental performance — to continue to evolve.
To those farmers who choose to reside 'outside the certification
loop,' the marketplace will likely take on an increasingly unreliable
complexion. The reality is that customers, whether direct (such
as COOPs and processors), or indirect (such as government and the
taxpaying public), will demand performance in whatever facets of
agricultural production that are personal to them. Emphasizing the
well-being of natural resources is good citizenship as well as
good business and good community relations. |
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Farmers
who can position their operation as 'certified' will be the ones
who can extract maximum value from their operation. That's because
they will be continually minimizing production costs through evaluation
and an adaptive management cycle. And it could happen that those
farmers who are not constantly evaluating their operations are
going to fall further and further behind those who do. |
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