Paul and Karen Mugge Profile
Jenny Kendall, Earlham
Paul and Karen Mugge, Sutherland
- narrow strip intercropping of corn, beans, and oats
- specialty crops
- early-wean hog nursery and finishing hogs
In front of a strip of amaranth, Paul Mugge hands out field day information.
Meet the Mugge family - Karen and Paul, Charity (married and in college), Melissa (17), and Taylor (8). Don't bother to phone them on a night when one of the kids has a sporting event - Paul and Karen will be there cheering. At 6'5", Paul has the appearance of an athlete, himself. But it was his height that nearly kept him from his dream of flying. Ultimately, Paul decided instead of flying ‘em, he'd learned to make ‘em. After graduating from Iowa State University with a B.S. in aerospace engineering in 1974, he went to work for the Boeing Company, in Seattle, Washington.
It was in Seattle that Paul and Karen met and married, but when Paul's father decided to retire from farming, they took the opportunity to return to Iowa. "It was March 5, 1975, to be exact," says Karen. "Let me tell you, that first year was something." But she learned to drive the tractor and meet the other demands of farm life.
The health and well-being of the family play an integral role in the choice of farming practices for this farm. Along with these concerns, Paul's interest in engineering and in applying the scientific method is evident on this 320 acre farm. In one field, he's growing specialty soybeans with a cover crop of brassica. In another, he has narrow strips of corn, soybeans, and oats that is the hallmark of narrow strip intercropping. True to his science background and interest, Paul enjoys trying new things and keeping records.
Paul's objective is to obtain the most net profit from each acre and each hog. To that end, Paul and his family have a long term vision for the farm where profit is a part, but not the sole objective. " I want to end my farming career with the soil and it's inhabitants healthier than when I began. Implied in this vision, of course, is that I be profitable enough over the next 20 years that I am still the steward of my farm."
"Soil erosion control is paramount. I want my farm to contribute more than it's share to feeding the world while contributing much less that it's share to environmental degradation. I want my farm and my relationship with my farm to exemplify the same values to my children and grandchildren that I learned from my parents. An Indian proverb sums up my long-term vision - ‘We don't inherit the land from our fathers, we borrow it from our children.'"
Paul's corn, soybean, and grain amaranth strips.
To implement his vision, Paul's goals for his farm include: being profitable, being efficient in the terms of resources, understanding more about ecology and using that understanding. Underlying these goals is Paul's intent: "I want to be a good steward of the gifts God has given me and humanity in general."
Paul considers himself to be a newcomer to doing on-farm research. Even so, he's applying his scientific method to testing several practices that he anticipates will help him meet his goals of being profitable while being ecologically sound. He's active on the Practical Farmers of Iowa Board of Directors and considers that the greatest benefit he obtains from his involvement with PFI is interacting and learning from other PFI cooperators and the research scientists at Iowa State University and the Soil Tilth Lab.
On-farm Trials In 1996, Paul is conducting four trials that demonstrate his varying interests:
- deep-banded P&K and P&K with lime
- brassica cover crop for weed control in food-grade soybeans
- comparing narrow-strip intercropping to corn-bean rotation by whole field
- testing a new USDA soil inoculant for soybeans.
In past years, Paul and Karen have:
- compared liquid hog manure to purchased nitrogen for corn
- strip-intercropping
- investigated rootworm damage in strip-intercropping.
In addition, the Mugges cooperate with another local farmer on nurserying and finishing hogs.
Impact of Sustainable Farming If you ask Paul what sustainable farming means, he will tell you that sustainable farming is a term that means many different things to many people. He considers himself to be pragmatic about what sustainable farming means. To Paul, sustainable agriculture must include these elements - profitability, preserves the resource base (both on a farm scale and a worldwide scale), preserves the social fabric of rural culture, is safe and healthy for consumers of farm products as well as for farm workers and other rural inhabitants, preserves a diversity of species and a genetic diversity within species of flora and fauna on both a micro and macro scale.
Says Paul, "I think my farm enjoys very low soil erosion, a relatively low level of purchased inputs, better soil tilth, and high productivity."
If there is anything that Paul would like others to know about being involved with Practical Farmers of Iowa and about practicing sustainable methods of farming, it would be this: "Sustainable farming practices are not just the right thing to do, but are profitable in both the long and the short run. I would hope that people would think of PFI, not as a group of radical extremists, but as a group of dedicated and thoughtful farmers who care about the world and the society we leave to posterity."