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【Surviving a Drought: A Farmer's Old-Fashioned Lessons】
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
這里是美國之音慢速英語農業報道。
In recent days the remains of what had been Hurricane Isaac moved into the American Midwest. The storm brought rain to some of the areas suffering from the country's worst drought in half a century. But the rain might have come too late to save many farmers' corn and soybean crops.
最近幾天，颶風艾薩克的殘余轉移到美國中西部。該風暴給該一些遭受了美國半個世紀以來最嚴重旱災的地區帶來了雨水。但這場雨可能來得太晚了，無力挽救許多農民的玉米和大豆作物。
Crop insurance will help reduce financial losses for most of the farmers. Crop insurance is a tool that is not available to most growers in the developing world. The federal government helps pay the cost of the coverage against natural disasters.
農作物保險有助于減少大多數農民的經濟損失。農作物保險是一種發展中國家大多數種植者無法獲得的工具。美聯邦政府幫助支付抵御自然災害的保險金。
But not every farmer in the United States chooses to buy crop insurance. Dick Thompson of Boone, Iowa, says he operates his farm the way farmers did in the past.
但并不是每個美國農民都選擇購買農作物保險。愛荷華州布恩市的Dick Thompson說，他和過去的農民一樣經營著自己的農場。
DICK THOMPSON: "I'm old-fashioned, and I'm proud of it."
DICK THOMPSON：“我很過時，但我驕傲！”
He uses very little chemical fertilizer, weed killers or insecticides, and does not grow genetically modified crops. He says these practices will help him survive the drought. And he says they are already earning him more money per hectare than his neighbors who farm the modern way.
他很少使用化肥、除草劑和殺蟲劑，并且不種植轉基因作物。他說，這些做法有助于他在干旱中生存下來。他還說這些做法已經讓他每畝地的盈利超過了用現代方式種植的鄰居。
Scientists are trying to understand why his practices are working. Matt Liebman has copied many of them at his research fields at Iowa State University.
科學家試圖了解他的做法為何奏效。Matt Liebman在愛荷華州立大學在自己的研究方向上復制了很多這類做法。
MATT LIEBMAN: "The reason we're doing this is because of what he's doing. So he was doing it before we did this. He was a good teacher. And what we're doing here is trying to understand some of the scientific mechanisms that explain the patterns that he's observed on his own farm."
MATT LIEBMAN：“我們這樣做的原因是因為他所做的事情，他在我們之前就這樣做。他是一位好老師。我們這樣做是想了解能夠解釋他在自己的農場遵守的一些模式的科學機制。”
Many Iowa farms today grow only corn and soybeans. Payments from crop insurance keep farmers in business when their crops do poorly, like in this year's drought.
愛荷華州現在很多農場只種植玉米和大豆。來自農作物保險的賠償在農民收益不好時幫助他們繼續經營，就像今年這樣的干旱。
DICK THOMPSON: "Well, I have never bought crop insurance since we started to farm."
DICK THOMPSON：“好吧，從我開始種地起就沒買過農作物保險。”
Instead of crop insurance, he protects himself by growing other kinds of crops in addition to corn and soybeans. He raises hay and oats, along with cattle and pigs. He harvested his oat crop before the drought hit.
他種植玉米和大豆之外的其它作物來自保，而不農作物保險。他種植了干草和燕麥，養了牛和豬。他在干旱來襲前收獲了自己的燕麥作物。
DICK THOMPSON: "I think it's common sense. You've got diversity. And you've got some protection there. If one crop doesn't do well, maybe the other one will make up for the difference."
DICK THOMPSON：“我認識這是常識。你有多元化，你就得到了一些保護。如果一種作物收益不佳，或許其它作物會彌補這些差額。”
That common sense used to be common practice on farms in Iowa, the heart of America's corn, or maize, production. But farmers are growing hay on only half as much land as they did twenty years ago. And oat production has fallen by almost ninety-five percent.
這種常識在作為美國玉米生產核心地區的愛荷華州的農場曾經是一種常見的做法。但和20年前相比，農民只在以前一半的土地上種植干草。而燕麥產量已經下降了近95%。
Livestock production has also shrunk. Dick Thompson says he will sell some of his cows and hogs, but not all of them. They provide more than money. They also provide the manure that he uses to fertilize the soil, instead of chemical fertilizers. And the manure helps the soil hold water. Iowa State University researcher Rick Cruse says that is another kind of insurance.
畜牧業生產也萎縮了。Dick Thompson稱，他將出售一些牛和豬，但不是全部。這些牲畜能夠提供的不止是錢，還能提供糞便替代化學肥料用于土地施肥。同時糞便有助于土壤保持水分。愛荷華州立大學研究人員Rick Cruse稱，這是另一種保險。
RICK CRUSE: "It really adds to the condition of that soil that does favor crop growth, particularly under stress conditions. And that's the kind of conditions we're experiencing this year."
RICK CRUSE：“它確實改善了土壤的狀況，有利于作物生長，特別是在有壓力的狀況下。而這樣的情況，我們今年正在經歷。”
These are conditions that farmers everywhere might face more often with climate change. Matt Liebman says his research shows that all farmers can learn from Dick Thompson.
因為氣候變化，世界各地的農民可能會更經常地面臨各種狀況。Matt Liebman說他的研究顯示，所有農民都可以借鑒Dick Thompson的做法。
MATT LIEBMAN: "Looking towards diversity, crop-livestock integration, the careful stewardship of the soil, making the best use of every drop of rain that falls. I mean, those things are all lessons that we should know here. And they're even more important elsewhere."
MATT LIEBMAN：“展望多樣性，作物和牲畜的整合，細致土壤管理，最大化利用每滴雨水。我的意思是，那些都是我們應該知道的經驗教訓。而它們在其它地方甚至更重要。”
