During Commodity Classic in San Antonio last week, I ran into my new friends Bill and Tim Couser. I met them last October during World Food Prize and Truth about Trade and Technology (TATT) Farmer Roundtable when we toured their operation near Nevada, Iowa. Last week they were sitting on a panel discussing soil health, partnership with the National Corn Growers Association, Monsanto and the Nature Conservancy. I had a chance to chat with the Cousers and discuss what types of plans they are making for their farm and the profitability of such an alliance.
The ultimate goal of the Soil Health Partnership (SHP) is to measure and communicate the economic and environmental benefits of different soil management strategies; and provide a set of regionally specific, data-driven recommendations that farmers can use to improve the productivity and sustainability of their farms. Over the next five years, SHP will work to aggregate regional data to catalyze a platform for knowledge-sharing from farmer to farmer to create a set of best practices to improve soil health.
You can listen to the Hick Chick Chat here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/podcast/hickchickchat-14-classic-couser.mp3″ text=”Hick Chick Chat with Bill and Tim Couser”]
You can listen to the full Soil Health Partnership press conference here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/commodity-classic/classic14-soil-health.mp3″ text=”Soil Health Partnership Press Conference”]
2014 Commodity Classic Photos