In just four years, America’s top conservationists have enrolled 50 million acres in USDA’s Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), a program that helps farmers, ranchers and forest landowners take conservation to the next level. CSP is aimed at producers who are already established conservation stewards, helping them to deliver multiple conservation benefits on working lands, including improved water and soil quality … Read More
Unlock the Secrets in the Soil
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced the start of a USDA effort meant to highlight the benefits of improving and maintaining America’s soil. “Unlock the Secrets in the Soil” is an awareness and education effort that features farmers from communities in numerous states — Ohio, Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Indiana, Utah, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Montana and Kansas … Read More
Expiration of the 2008 Farm Bill
The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) is one of 15 agricultural organizations issuing joint statement today on the expiration of the 2008 farm bill: The 2008 law governing many of our nation’s farm policies expired on Sunday, September 30th, and the 2012 Farm Bill needed to replace it is bottled up in Congress. While the Senate and the House … Read More
No Farm Bill Impacts Conservation Programs
Congress went home to hit the campaign trail last week without taking any action on a new farm bill and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says that means some programs will expire at the end of this month. “I’m concerned about the fact that some of the smaller conservation programs will not be authorized, nor will there be any money appropriated … Read More
USDA Looks at Reduced Tillage to Meet Climate Change Challenges
New studies from the USDA look at how reduced tillage could help conserve water and reduce losses caused by climate change. This article from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) says researcher Laj Ahuja is leading a team at the ARS’ unit in Fort Collins, CO, looking at the relationship between climate projections and 15 to 17 years of field data … Read More
Precision Ag Moving Beyond Tools and Technology to a “Mindset”
Precision agriculture is branching out with the introduction of conservation and horticulture into its realm. “This is an indication that precision agriculture goes beyond just tools and technology. It’s really a mindset,” said Steve Phillips with the International Plant Nutrition Institute and moderator of a session entitled, Precision A to Z for Practitioners III, at the recent International Conference on … Read More
GROWMARK Sees United Effort for Conservation as Refreshing
The recent Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour brought varied groups together for a common goal: conserving resources. During the tour, Chuck talked with one of our good friends from GROWMARK, Howard Brown, manager of agronomy services, who was glad to see those with different backgrounds coming together like this. “It’s not about selling one thing or promoting one idea. … Read More
Drought, CTIC Tour Open Up Learning Opportunities
If there’s anything positive about the drought this year (and I realize that’s a real stretch) it might be what producers and companies are learning from these extreme circumstances. In addition, events, such as the Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour, fittingly set when conservation is a hot topic of discussion gives even more opportunities to discuss how to overcome … Read More
New Water Quality Improvement Projects
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that $8.4 million in financial assistance is available to support 23 new partnership projects in several Mississippi River Basin states under USDA’s Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI). These projects will fund producer activities that will avoid, control and trap sediment and nutrient runoff from agricultural lands, improving water quality throughout their operations. On … Read More
AgNerds Love Precision Agriculture
We like new technology and we like our gadgets. We’re called AgNerds. And AgNerds are pretty open to precision agriculture. John McKee is one of us. John is a farmer of corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat. He was a civil engineer prior to farming so precision ag has come natural to him. He was also one of the speakers on … Read More