Agricultural producer, Van Arkel Farms, Dresden, Ontario.
Discover why Laurent works for a sustainable future
Transcript
[Laughing] So, I am Laurent Van Arkel and I farm just outside of Dresden in southern Ontario. I grow corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar beets, sunflowers, sesame, and also work on sustainability, reduced tillage and soil itself. Sustainable agriculture, to me, is being able to produce food at a profit in a manner that maintains my farm, my soils, so that they're still there for my children to use. There's an upfront cost to more sustainability. I kind of equate it to changing the oil in your engine. There's no immediate economic return, but five years down the road when that engine is still running, that's when you get your payback. I, over a number of years, have developed three goals and that's to keep the soil covered with a crop residue or a cover crop, to do as little tillage as possible, and try to keep a living root system in my soil 365 days a year. A really good soil should look like a really nice, crumbly chocolate cake. What's the question again? [Laughing] So, I am Laurent Van Arkel and I farm just outside of Dresden in southern Ontario. I grow corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar beets, sunflowers, sesame, and also work on sustainability, reduced tillage and soil itself. Sustainable agriculture, to me, is being able to produce food at a profit in a manner that maintains my farm, my soils, so that they're still there for my children to use. There's an upfront cost to more sustainability. I kind of equate it to changing the oil in your engine. There's no immediate economic return, but five years down the road when that engine is still running, that's when you get your payback. I, over a number of years, have developed three goals and that's to keep the soil covered with a crop residue or a cover crop, to do as little tillage as possible, and try to keep a living root system in my soil 365 days a year. A really good soil should look like a really nice, crumbly chocolate cake.
[A colourful montage of a tractor harvesting a crop field, an aerial view of a farm with three barns surrounded by fields, a tractor driving down a field, a red farm house with a barn behind it, and an overhead view of a large solar panel next to a barn.]
Text on screen: Meet The People – Behind Your Food
Laurent Van Arkel: What's the question again?
[Laughs]
[Laurent Van Arkel talking to the camera while standing outside.]
Text on screen: Laurent Van Arkel – Agricultural Producer, Dresden, Ontario
So, I am Laurent Van Arkel and I farm just outside of Dresden in southern Ontario.
[An aerial view of Laurent's farm, with a view of a large red barn, farmhouse and corn field.]
I grow corn, soybeans, wheat, sugar beets, sunflowers, sesame, and also work on sustainability, reduced tillage and soil itself.
[Montage of some crops, including lettuce, sunflowers and corn, an overhead view of a large solar panel situated on the farm, and Laurent kneeling down next to some crops and inspecting the soil.]
Text on screen: What is sustainable agriculture?
[Laurent talking to the camera while standing outside.]
Sustainable agriculture, to me, is being able to produce food at a profit in a manner that maintains my farm, my soils, so that they're still there for my children to use.
[Montage of an overhead view of a wide crop field, Laurent holding a large uprooted sugar beet to the camera, an aerial view of the farm, and a tractor driving down another field.]
Text on screen: A challenge for sustainable agriculture?
There's an upfront cost to more sustainability. I kind of equate it to changing the oil in your engine.
[Laurent reaching into a toolbox organizer.]
There's no immediate economic return, but five years down the road when that engine is still running, that's when you get your payback.
[Montage of Laurent welding and drilling a piece of equipment to fix his tilling rig, climbing into his tractor, and driving it down a crop field.]
Text on screen: How do you care for your soil?
I, over a number of years, have developed three goals and that's to keep the soil covered with a crop residue or a cover crop, to do as little tillage as possible, and to try to keep a living root system in my soil 365 days a year.
[Montage of an aerial view of multiple fields, various rows of crops, and a tractor doing some tillage. A timelapse of a seed growing roots and popping out above the soil.]
A really good soil should look like a really nice crumbly chocolate cake.
[Shot of a hand picking up dark, rich soil from the ground and letting it fall through the fingers.]
Text on screen: Canadian farmers and agricultural businesses work to feed you and future generations. Discover how they are growing a better future. Canada.ca/Taste-the-Commitment
[Laurent smiling with his arms crossed against his chest while leaning against a post in front of a brick house.]
[Music ends.]
Text on screen: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada
[Government of Canada wordmark.]
[End.]
Learn how Laurent puts sustainability into practice
Transcript
Soil degradation and things like that happen slowly enough that we don't realize it's happening until it's almost too late. I was still helping my dad on the farm. He was ploughing the traditional... inverting the soil and just seeing old crop from the year before, coming back up black and charred. And we stopped and the two of us looked at that and said: “This isn't right”. We didn't know what to change, but we just knew we had to change. One of the biggest challenges is maintaining soil health, soil quality, not losing organic matter. So I have developed essentially three goals: I try to keep the soil covered, whether it's a crop, a crop residue or a cover crop as much as possible. A second goal is to do as little tillage as possible. And my third goal is to try to keep a living root system growing in my soil 365 days a year. And this all has to come under the umbrella of being economically feasible. There's an upfront cost to bringing a farm to a more sustainable system. There's a change in equipment. A lot of conventional farm equipment manufacturers don't exactly make equipment that's adaptable to what I'm trying to do on my farm. So I take an older piece of equipment, try to modify it so that I can use it in a reduced tillage system where I can use cover crops, where I can leave as much residue on the soil. I still do use fertilizer, but I'm trying to also use the cover crops to use the manure that my livestock operation produces to also take up some of that or most of that manure. So it's held in place in a biological system until it can be released into the following year. So I'm trying to keep my nitrogen, my phosphate from leaving the farm through the use of cover crops. I can replace between 60 and 70% of my commercial fertilizer with the use of that system. It's a slow process to bring soil back from traditional conventional agriculture. And this is probably year ten or twelve of being fairly intensive at doing that. And I’m just starting now to see some of the benefits. I'm trying this, and there is a lot of interest. AAFC Living Lab was interested in what I was trying to do. I do spend a lot of time networking with other farmers that do similar things just to see if we can figure this out. What I really find exciting is getting a better system to work. It is having that success of producing a crop as good or better as a conventional system in a more sustainable way.
Descriptive Transcript – Sustainable Agriculture in Action - Dresden
[Upbeat music begins]
[An aerial view of the Van Arkel farm and a crop field with a tractor in the distance.]
Soil degradation and things like that happen slowly enough that we don't realize it's happening until it's almost too late.
[Laurent Van Arkel talks to the camera.]
Text on screen: Laurent Van Arkel – Agricultural Producer, Dresden, Ontario
Text on screen: Sustainable Agriculture in Action
[A fork and shovel appear on each side of the title.]
[A wooden sign is on the lawn in front of the farmhouse with the words Van Arkel Farms Ltd, Est. 1998, Laurent Catherine Family.]
Text on screen: When was your aha moment?
[Laurent kneels to fix his tractor.]
I was still helping my dad on the farm.
[An aerial view of a tractor as it pulls a cultivator over a field to loosen but not till or plow the soil, a close-up of crops, a hand holds a clump of dry soil and Laurent inspects the soil in a crop field.]
He was ploughing the traditional, inverting the soil and just seeing old crop from the year before, coming back up black and charred. And we stopped and the two of us looked at that and said: this isn't right.
[Laurent examines a large piece of dry soil in his hands.]
We didn't know what to change, but we just knew we had to change.
Text on screen: What was your solution?
[An aerial view of a tractor with surface cultivator driving over a field.]
One of the biggest challenges is maintaining soil health, soil quality, not losing organic matter.
[Laurent walks through the field and pulls a sugar beet out of the ground. He detaches the plow from his tractor.]
So I developed essentially three goals: I try to keep the soil covered, whether it's a crop, a crop residue or a cover crop as much as possible. A second goal is to do as little tillage as possible.
[A montage of close ups of crops, crop fields, a time lapse of roots growing out of the ground and an aerial view of the Van Arkel farm.]
And my third goal is to try to keep a living root system growing in my soil 365 days a year. And this all has to come under the umbrella of being economically feasible.
Text on screen: What's the main challenge of your system?
[An aerial view of the farm.]
There's an upfront cost to bringing a farm to a more sustainable system. There's a change in equipment.
[Laurent works on equipment using various tools in his garage and outside.]
A lot of conventional farm equipment manufacturers don't exactly make equipment that's adaptable to what I'm trying to do on my farm. So I take an older piece of equipment, try to modify it so that I can use it in a reduced tillage system where I can use cover crops, where I can leave as much residue on the soil.
[Laurent backs up his tractor, an aerial view of the tractor moving across a field.]
Text on screen: How do you fertilize?
I still do use fertilizer...
[A row of corn plants, dark brown soil, an automated system and conveyor belt ejects manure from a pig barn, a close-up view of two pigs and a pig eating.]
... but I'm trying to also use the cover crops to use the manure that my livestock operation produces to also take up some of that or most of that manure.
[An aerial view of a crop field and a close-up view of rows of corn.]
So it's held in place in a biological system until it can be released into the following year.
[An overhead view of a tractor spreading manure in a field.]
So I'm trying to keep my nitrogen, my phosphate from leaving the farm through the use of cover crops.
[Close-up of plants growing in dark brown soil, an aerial view of a parked tractor next to a crop field, Laurent climbs into his tractor and a close-up view of crops.]
I can replace between 60 and 70% of my commercial fertilizer with the use of that system.
Text on screen: How long before you saw results?
[A close-up view of crop rows and an aerial view of a tractor cultivating a crop field.]
It's a slow process to bring soil back from traditional conventional agriculture.
[A close-up view of sunflowers and corn crops.]
And this is probably year ten or twelve of being fairly intensive at doing that. And I'm just starting now to see some of the benefits.
Text on screen: Are you alone in your research and experiments?
[Laurent in his garage, in a field he inspects a freshly harvested beet.]
I'm trying this, and there is a lot of interest.
[An aerial view of the Van Arkel farm, in his garage Laurent uses various tools on his equipment, in the yard, he drives his tractor.]
AAFC Living Lab was interested in what I was trying to do. I do spend a lot of time networking with other farmers that do similar things just to see if we can figure this out.
Text on screen: What's the best part of it all?
What I really find exciting is getting a better system to work.
[A view of the Van Arkel farm buildings and grain bins, a close-up view of Laurent welding, in his field he holds a freshly harvested beet to the camera, an aerial view of a solar panel array positioned in front of a barn and a tractor moving through a field.]
It is having that success of producing a crop as good or better as a conventional system in a more sustainable way.
Text on screen: Canadian farmers and agricultural businesses work to feed you and future generations. Discover how they are growing a better future. Canada.ca/Taste-the-Commitment
[Laurent leans against a signpost and smiles at the camera.]
[Upbeat music ends]
Text on screen: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada – Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada
[Government of Canada wordmark]
[End]
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