“Hey, what are you going to do differently to help improve water quality?”
Some discussions about conservation are naturally hard to start. Educated as an agronomist, I did not have formal training in conservation. I remember, as a young NRCS employee, being fearful that I would start out on the wrong foot or offend a farmer – long before I could get to the main point of my visit. On the other hand, sometimes the situation lent itself to an easy conversation. And those times were golden – when the problem was obvious and the approach was straightforward. Back then, as a newbie to conservation, rather than struggle with an uncomfortable approach, I found it easiest to start with an obvious problem.
This spring, I saw hundreds of opportunities for easy conversation starters with farmers. There were so many failed grassed waterways. When it rained, these “so called” grassed waterways had water running along the edge, instead of down the center (see video).
ARVE Error: Mode: lazyload not available (ARVE Pro not active?), switching to normal modeZeroing in on these “easy to spot” failures can be an effective approach. An easy conversation starter might be, “how would you like to save you topsoil without taking land out of production?” What farmer wouldn’t respond to that!
Choose Variety for Conservation
For nitrogen management, it is simple. Measure soil nitrate levels in the root zone at multiple points in a field before any (each) nitrogen application and base the application rate upon soil levels and crop needs up to the next application. Evaluate performance via stalk nitrate measurement in the fall and by analysis of yield response in field check strips. We also monitor nitrate levels in tile line water (in open intakes where a tile line crosses a public road and in in-field open intakes. The savings in nitrogen can be substantial and the data will make you think about environmental stewardship.
The waterway you describe was successful in catching silt but needs to be reshaped with the proper shape and the valuable topsoil spread back on the field. The new parabolic waterway should be wider and shallower so as to allow all machinery to easily cross and direct waterflow to the waterway instead of down end rows along each side
Carl,
Great observation. I agree it needs a newly shaped and seeded waterway. It is hard to tell if it was never shaped correctly or if it silted in over time. I would guess a little of both. As you know, controlling this ephemeral erosion needs to be a significant focus in protecting soil health and water quality.