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Success Story

Growers in Yellowstone County Implement Practices for More Sustainable Agriculture

Kuntz Farm, Yellowstone County, Montana

The Michael and Kuntz farms participated in the Yellowstone Regional Agriculture Sustainability RCPP Project to address irrigation water efficiency, begin transitioning to reduced tillage farming, and implement other soil health practices.

Watch their story in Conservation for the Future: Yellowstone Region Ag Sustainability Project, Billings and Custer, MT

High resolution photos of the Michael Farm. High resolution photos of the Kuntz Farm.


Fields of sugar beets and barley are a common site throughout the river valleys of Yellowstone County. One of these is the family farm of Bill Michael, celebrating its 100th year in 2020.

When a sugar processing factory opened in Billings in 1906, it began leasing out farms to grow its sugar beets. Over a century later, the factory is now farm-owned Western Sugar Co-Op of which the Michael farm is a member. “We raise sugar beets, malt barley and corn for silage and recently my daughter and son-in-law started a cattle backgrounding operation,” states fourth generation farmer Bill Michael. “But there have always been sugar beets on our land.”

Until recently the farm operated under a flood irrigation system with gated pipe to water its fields. “Water is always quite short in this area and due to land use changes, we don’t have water available for all of our ground,” states Bill. “We still have some areas that we don’t have sufficient water for, so we have to use a private irrigation canal and it’s always been limited.”

The family started investigating a center pivot more than a dozen years ago and for various reasons decided against it. “We have odd-shaped fields, different lengths and short runs,” states Bill. “Irrigating the corners is hard anyway.” When Bill’s grandson Ryan came back to farm, they took on more land but were short on both water and labor and looked again into pivot irrigation. But cost was a factor.

After working for many years with NRCS on various other projects, the family turned to the agency for help. “We couldn’t have done this without NRCS because of the cost share on the original purchase price,” states Bill. “Commodity prices what they are now, we couldn’t have done it. It’s a struggle even with it, but we could have folded up shop or put in some pivots and keep doing this. The status quo was not going to cut it anymore.”

Along with cost share, NRCS helped with the design, oversaw the installation, and worked with the family on water management, installing moisture sensors. “With this system now, we are using about the same amount of water to irrigate 140 acres at ¾ of an inch that we were using to irrigate 22 acres one time with gated pipe,” Bill says. Grandson Ryan is also excited about the pivot, “A hundred thirty-five acres were irrigated in 24 hours with the pivot vs. how long it took for flood irrigation that took half a day just to set three booster pumps getting them ready to go. It’s just efficient, you can save a crop with it. It’s the only way to do it.”

Bill agrees, “I never would have believed it! I was just amazed and the crop we had last year under the pivot was just as good as our other crops and we definitely saved water. It’s doing what we wanted the pivot to do; it’s definitely lived up to more than what my original expectations were. There isn’t any runoff water with the pivot, and that is just next to impossible to do with flood irrigation. It has just done a fantastic job for us.”

This year the family has no-tilled their barley fields under the center pivot and is confident this too will prove to be successful. “No-till under flood irrigation doesn’t work but under the pivot it works,” concludes Bill.

Molson Coors corporate initiatives help growers integrate water and soil conservation practices.

The Kuntz farm is one of roughly 115 growers in south central Montana that agronomist Michael Killen of Molson Coors works with to obtain its barley. “About six years ago we started meeting with NRCS along with growers and partners in the area,” states Killen. “We shared a common goal to help area growers with malt barley and sugar beet sustainability. Molson Coors got involved and submitted an application for the partnership program, Yellowstone Regional Agriculture Sustainability Project.” The goal was to combine resources across organizations and help growers put water conservation irrigation systems in place while implementing a combination of water and soil conservation practices.

Molson Coors has established corporate initiatives to conserve water and soil resources as they produce their crops. The company’s goal is to reduce water use along its supply chain by 10% by the year 2025. “Helping growers put in projects like this pivot will help us achieve those goals,” states Killen.

“We know that as we convert an area from flood irrigation to center pivots it changes the ground water system a little bit, the aquifer,” Killen continues. “We wanted to collect data so we can make informed decisions when we change over from flood irrigation or gravity to center pivots. We know flood irrigation is important in aquifer recharge on some of the shallow wells in the area, so sometimes it might not be in everyone’s best interest to put pivots in.”

Killen continues, “We have adopted practices with minimal tillage and crop rotation that save water. All of those things combined impact the amount water that we use. NCRS has been a great help in getting this program underway, working with the growers to implement these projects.”

Kuntz Family Farm implement conservation practices.

NRCS became involved with growers Chad, Holly and Cody Kuntz when they applied for the EQIP program. “They were interested in converting some of their flood irrigated ground to center pivot irrigation,” states NRCS District Conservationist Shalaine Watson. “Conversion allowed them to greatly reduce their tillage and implement other practices like precision agriculture and cover crops they have been wanting to do for a while.”

“I’ve been on this farm all of my life but my wife and I started farming it in 1972,” states fourth generation grower Cody Kuntz. In the mid to late 70’s the family secured a contract with Molson Coors, then known as Coors. The company develops the barley varieties that their growers raise. Cody continues, “It’s a good rotation for our sugar beets and corn. Most of our crops are on a three-year rotation – sugar beets then corn then barley.”

Cody’s son Chad took on more land roughly 17 miles from the main Kuntz farm, “This used to be four different fields with a lot of different soil structures,” Cody says. “We used to irrigate it with flood irrigation, tubes and dams. We are on one end of the ditch and water can be short. This acreage was irrigated four different ways in the past which meant a lot of labor.” The family converted to center pivot in 2019 and is pleased with the reduced labor costs. “One guy can run the pivot and run everything from a phone. A lot of labor saved; and ultimately in the end, you save a lot of water.”

Precision agriculture was another project NRCS worked on with the Kuntz family. Working with Simplot and NRCS, all of the Kuntz fields were zoned by passing an electromagnetic sled across each acre to identify different soil structures. From there zones were created, in some cases, three to six zones per field. Each year, soil samples are taken from the same GPS locations to facilitate precise application of fertilizer with variable distribution rates. Chad further explains, “We then spread the entire field with each zone getting exactly what it needs, not anymore, not any less. So, we are not wasting or putting too much on.”

Conservation is important to all participants.

“We need the land, it’s in our best interest to conserve the land and water, and resources,” states Chad. “With flood irrigation all your wastewater takes fertilizer and nutrients and runs it back in the river and that’s not profitable for anybody.”

Killen of Molson Coors agrees, “The success of the company is based on the success of the growers. We can’t produce the great beer that we do without growers that produce the barley used as the main ingredient. Any practices that help produce quality barley using less resources in a sustainable fashion is good for both us and the grower.”

“The benefit to the general public is a safe and abundant food supply but also clean water with less sediment leaving the fields, lower inputs to produce the quality crops that people enjoy, and it helps families like the Kuntz’s stay in business. The more sustainable they can be, helps them keep producing food and fiber,” concludes NRCS’s Watson.

More about the Yellowstone Region Agricultural Sustainability Project -Regional Conservation Partnership Program

The Regional Conservation Partnership Program led by Molson Coors is a coalition of federal and state agencies, conservation districts and private industry all working together through NRCS. This three-county project is based around defining a path towards agricultural sustainability through progressive conservation practices and planning. Over a projected five-year timeline, the project teams work to lower the consumption of natural resources through the use of added incentives that helps producers mitigate financial risks while transitioning to adopt sound conservation practices.

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