Cunningham farm to be featured in Japanese documentary
Sirrina Martinez
Multimedia reporter
Recently, a Japanese film crew visited the rural Pipestone County farm of Ian and Richard Cunningham of Cunningham Family Farm LLC, as part of a documentary they are producing about soil health. The production is for NHK, a public television station in Japan. The crew arrived at sunrise on Monday, May 20 and left the evening of Wednesday, May 22. They plan to return again in the fall, Ian said.
The director for the documentary, Naoki Yonemoto of Tokoyo, said that the purpose of the project is to bring awareness to the importance of soil health and the impact that events such as the war in the Ukraine has on such an important natural resource.
"There is a great interest in soil health all over the world," Yonemoto said. "The initial start of the idea was the war in the Ukraine. Soil is uniquely important on earth. No other planets have soil and it's very important relationship to have living things on earth and it's a symbiotic relationship. It's also something that people don't think about. It's like the air and you never really think about them until you don't have them anymore."
The soil that they are focused on, known as black soil, is not as widely found as one might think.
"The unique soil that we are focused on, the easy name is black soil, but it's only available in parts of the Ukraine, part of Northern China and the prairies of the central U.S.," Yonemoto said.
The war in the Ukraine is having negative impacts on the soil, Yonemoto said.
"War in the Ukraine is very damaging to the soil and it's hard to reverse the damages created through bombing and those things," he said. "They are also known for wheat production and I think canola oil and wheat is what they are famous for."
The current war in the Ukraine is impacting food production, Ian said, and the soil, the black soil that is found there is similar to what has developed in this area.
"Ukraine has Mollisol/Chernozem soils like the soil that was developed in the tallgrass prairie where we farm," he said. "They were interested in the regenerative methods we use on our farm."
Ura Kondo, an independent field producer for the project and interpreter for the director and team said that she found the Cunningham farm through research.
"I was in charge of researching and finding a farm that was representative of good practices and through the Soil Health Institute's research, one of the farms that was featured with all the data was Cunningham farm," she said. "They were very responsive and we love being here. They are a great example."
The crew is also filming in the Ukraine and China. They expect the production to air in December or early 2025. Whether or not it will be available in the United States has not been determined.
"We do have an English channel here but that is limited," Kondo said. "If our program is suitable for that audience we might be able to do that but we will see."
The soil conservation practices that the Cunningham's use are what drew attention of the production crew, Ian said,
"In 2019 Richard and I participated in a Soil Health Economic case study for the Soil Health Institute and the National Association of Conservation Districts," Ian said. "When the producer was doing research for the story, she came across the case study. Further Cunningham farm to be featured in Japanese documentary online searching found that we are NACD Soil Health Champions and that I had testified before congress on Soil Health."
Ian, who has been a Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor for 25 1/2 years, said that having the ability to bring awareness to the importance of caring for natural resources is something that is important to his family.
"Many people are unaware of how farmers care for natural resources and how food is produced," he said. "We appreciate the opportunity to tell our story firsthand."
The Cunningham farm is Minnesota Ag Water Quality certified and was one of the first farms in Pipestone County to become certified. They are also National Association of Conservation District Soil Health Champions. Richard went to Houston this past winter to work at the Commodity Classic to talk to people about soil health, Ian said.
The farm has been with the Cunningham family since Ian's great-grandparents, Charles and Jennie, were the first people to farm the home place.
"The farm was purchased from the Milwaukee railroad in 1883, they began farming in 1885," he said. "In each of the generations the farmer inherited a portion and purchased the remaining interest from the other heirs. Additional land has been purchased throughout the years."
The family has always raised livestock, and they currently own a beef cow herd and feed out the calves. The Cunninghams have also had many different livestock enterprises throughout the years, Ian said. Currently they manage 800 acres and raise crops such as alfalfa, hybrid rye, corn, soybeans and a grazing mix that they use to rest their pasture in the mid to late August time frame when the pasture may need to recover before they bring their cattle back to it.
Richard, who is the majority member of the LLC, studied IT and Network security at South Dakota State University and was set to head to California for a job opportunity when he decided to return to the farm full time and work with his father in 2016.
"I had the opportunity to come back to the farm and it was the much better fit at the time," he said. "The work I was doing out here was making me happy and was making me feel fulfilled so that is the direction I decided to take."
His background in IT and network security has helped the family operation to dive deeper into the technological side of their work. The production crew interviewed Richard about more of the technology focused aspects of what they are doing including data collection and how they use that data to forward soil health and leverage that data to target specific areas.
"The data that we collect through harvest and planting help inform us but a lot of it is going out in the field with a shovel and looking at the soil itself," Richard said. "If it has the texture, color and smell that we want."
Having his father's seasoned experience to lean on has been helpful in making decisions and managing the operation, Richard said.
"It's been very helpful to have my father's experience to fall back on," he said. "If he's not overly concerned about something then maybe it just needs some time. It if doesn't concern him yet, it's probably going to be ok."
Working with his father has been a positive experience, Richard said, and he is thankful for the opportunity.
"It is enjoyable to be spending these years and time with my father," Richard said. "I know there are times he misses working with his father who passed in 1993. I'm very fortunate to have this opportunity and I'm fortunate that he wants to work with me as well."
Through their work and advocacy for soil health and natural resources, the Cunninghams have had the chance to develop strong relationships with experts in the field.
"We are very fortunate to be in Pipestone County with technicians at the Soil and Water Conservation District here that are passionate and knowledgeable about what they do. We are also fortunate to have made connections with people at the state level who also bring their own knowledge and passion to the soil health."
As for the future of the family business, Richard said he hopes to modernize their feeding facilities, and to eventually move to no till corn and expand their small grain production. Supporting his son while he takes the reigns of the business is something he is happy to do, Ian said.
"I hope to be able to support my son's farming operation the way my father helped me," he said. "I am very proud of my son's hard work and dedication to the farming operation. He has been called upon as a knowledgeable resource for other people about soil health and livestock production. He enables me to keep farming as I age. We have always felt a moral obligation to care for our animals and the land. It's always good to have some backup. Richard is also our technology guy. As labor becomes scarcer and more expensive farmers rely more on machines and technology to get the work done and at the same time work with Mother Nature."