A F150 4-wheel-drive truck... It was the first truck I owned. It ran like a top until the convulsions started; driving down the road it would shake violently. After that happened a few times, I knew I needed to seek professional help. When I told my mechanic about the convulsions he immediately concluded, “it’s your spark plugs”. Later that day when I picked up my truck he said, “I changed the spark plugs and that should take care of it”. I paid the bill. For the next week my truck drove great. He had fixed it, or did he? About a week …
Feeding The World: Where are we headed?
The world’s population will likely increase to nine billion people by 2050. That is a whole lot of mouths to feed. The combination of population growth and the world demand for richer diets will require us to approximately double the amount of crops grown over the next four to five decades. To make matters worse, the nine billion people will occupy more living space, require more infrastructure and use more recreation land, all leading to less land to farm. To feed the burgeoning population with fewer acres will require us to develop more …
Barriers to Private Sector Conservation Planning
Today’s blog is written by Joe Lally, Independent Ag Consultant from Denison, Iowa. Last year, Lally retired from working for more than 12 years at Iowa State University. Previously, he worked for nearly 30 years as an Environmental and Natural Resources Manager for Farmland Foods. In retirement, Lally continues to find ways to be involved with helping the field of agriculture.Yes, ag retailers must actively encourage and assist farmers with soil and water conservation issues. That is a must. And the conservation community must help ag …
Sediment – how far is too far?
How far is too far? As a grandpa, this is a subject of great concern. The distance an ornery grandson can travel in just a few seconds is amazing. Sometimes this distance really matters and sometimes it doesn’t. In a busy parking lot, yes, it really matters. In an empty field, it probably doesn’t much matter. But as a responsible Grandpa, I better know how far is too far for the different situations or I will have to deal with the consequences.Likewise, how far is too far for soil to move in the erosion process? Well I guess that depends …
Celebrate Soil and Water Stewardship Week
When the land does well for its owner, and the owner does well by his land—when both end up better by reason of their partnership—then we have conservation. - Aldo LeopoldIn 1955, the National Association of Conservation Districts began a national program to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship. Stewardship Week is officially celebrated from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in May. It is one of the world's largest conservation-related observances. The program relies on locally-led conservation districts sharing and promoting …
Soil Should Be the Foundation of Food, Water, and Energy Policy
This is a guest post by Lara Bryant (@larasbryant), Soil Health Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in Washington, D.C. "All roads lead back to soil," said Chef Dan Barber, keynote speaker at the Food-Energy-Water- Nexus Conference (FEW) I recently attended.Soil is foundational, literally and figuratively. In matters of food, energy, or water policy, soil should be a part of nearly every discussion, but it usually isn't.This was the theme of a FEW panel that NRDC co-organized along with the Center for Food Safety and …