Terry Breyfogle, NRCS district conservationist serving
Platte County, says the erosion problems were inherited by the City of Kansas
City, which owns the 6,500 acres surrounding the airport. He says the previous
owners of the tracts had little interest in conservation.
"The conservation ethic was just terrible," Breyfogle
says. "The site was one of the most eroded in the county."
Judi O’Donnell, properties specialist with the city’s Aviation Department,
explains that after the airport opened in 1972, the city acquired surrounding
farmland in pieces – as money was available – to serve as a noise buffer and to
ensure room for future runway expansion. When the land was purchased by the
city, O’Donnell says, the city leased it to the previous owners and allowed them
to continue farming it.
"We worked very hard for several years to get the airport – Platte County’s
largest landowner – to adopt some much needed conservation work," Breyfogle
says.
There was just one problem: the original landowners were no more willing to
care for the land in their new roles as renters. Things began to change a couple
of years ago when the city’s Aviation Department decided to hire a farm
management company to oversee the agricultural land.
"Part of our federal obligation is to raise funds," says Zoe Holmes,
assistant director of the aviation department’s Commercial Development section.
"That land was not bringing in revenue, and part of the reason was because it
had not been taken care of."
It didn’t take long for Bill Davis, president of Farm Management Associates,
Inc., (FMA) and Doug Kemp, the company’s farm manager, to make changes.
"Farm Management divided the land up into larger units that made renting the
land more lucrative for farmers," O’Donnell says. "Then they solicited bids from
farmers. Another thing they did was go to each bidder’s own farm to see how they
were caring for their own land."
Nine farmers were selected based upon their bids and their willingness to
care for the land. Davis says 60 percent of the acreage is under cash rent, and
the other 40 percent is crop shared. He says the 6,500 acres that surround the
4,000-acre airport contain 3,500 acres of cropland, 2,000 acres of pasture and
1,000 acres of timber.
"In the first year, FMA doubled the farm income," O’Donnell says.
Farm Management Associates’ involvement also opened a door for Breyfogle, who
had helped Davis plan and install conservation practices on Davis’ own farm.
"He saw what we did on his farm, and he liked it," Breyfogle says. "So when I
talked to him about the airport site, he was eager to get some conservation on
that land."
Kemp says a few of the original farms had some terraces, but overall there
had been very little conservation work done on the site.
"It was farmed pretty hard," Breyfogle says, adding that "today, almost all
of the cropland is no-tilled." No-till is a planting technique that keeps most
of the residue from previous crops on the surface to keep soil from washing
away, as opposed to conventional planting methods that work residue into the
soil.
Breyfogle says more than 26,000 feet of terraces, which slow the erosive flow
of water off fields, also have been constructed on 180 acres. More than 8,700
feet of plastic, underground drainpipes help carry the water from those terrace
systems in a non-erosive manner.
Because the land is next to an airport, it must be managed differently than
most agricultural land, primarily because wildlife – especially species that fly
– are not welcome there. From a conservation standpoint, that means there can be
no ponds that would attract ducks, and no warm-season grasses, which attract
birds. The land nearest the airport is pastureland because it is less likely
than cropland to attract deer and other animals that could threaten aircraft
safety. Double fencing keeps cattle off the aviation operations acreage.
Because the land is publicly owned, no federal or state cost-share funds are
available to install the conservation measures. However, Breyfogle is able to
provide the free, professional technical assistance for which NRCS is known.
Thus far, Kemp says, the city has spent about $100,000 for terraces. The
money comes from farming operation profits.
"I would like to install $60,000 worth of terraces (covering about 80 acres)
each year if the budget will support it," Kemp says.
O’Donnell says that if the money is available, the city also is anxious to do
what it can to protect the environment.
"We have to be profitable, but at the same time, we are a big part of the
community, and we want to be good neighbors," O’Donnell says.
"The city realizes that stewardship is a big issue," Breyfogle says. "People
used to come to my office and complain about the erosion around the airport
because they could see massive gullies when they drove up the highway. I’ve had
a lot of positive comments since they started doing this conservation work."
Breyfogle says there was a conservation learning curve for the city, but once
the necessary pieces were put into place to begin conservation work at the site,
the airport managers showed that they were quick learners, and willing
participants.
"We were in the farming business, but unfortunately, it wasn’t very
productive before in terms of profitability or conservation," Holmes says. "We
told the city council that this would be a five-year program to turn the farming
operation around. But this is our third year, and we’re already starting to see
profits."
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