Phone: 712-830-7712 Email: Tom@PrecisionConservation.com Send me a message, I will reply promptly. …
Big challenges to cut nitrate loading
Efforts are needed beyond the 4R's, including no-till or strip till, controlled drainage, cover crops, wetlands, buffers and landowner help. Reprinted with permission of Corn+Soybean Digest. In a blog post this spring, Tom Buman laid out the huge challenge facing Iowa farmers to voluntarily meet nitrogen loading reduction goals (https://www.precisionconservation.com//nitrogen-problem-numbers/). Noting that models demonstrate agriculture is responsible for 70 percent of the nitrogen and phosphorus load delivered to the Gulf of Mexico, Buman, …
Voluntary Conservation Solutions
On May 17, I had the privilege of testifying, in Washington D.C., to the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry. Members heard from two panels of witnesses. The first panel examined the impact and cost of regulations on producers. The second panel focused on voluntary conservation solutions to natural resource concerns.As a member of the solutions panel, I was invited to talk about our innovative approach to increase technical assistance accessibility through the private sector (see video below). I was also …
Sustainability — the crop input of tomorrow
The business of farming is changing. Consumers are demanding sustainably produced food, the global population is exploding, issues such as hypoxia, algae blooms and climate change are dominating the news, and the threat of environmental regulation looms near. As the call for more conservation practices continues to rise, growers will increasingly turn to their trusted service providers (their ag retailer) for assistance. In my conversations with ag retail leadership, it is obvious they are becoming acutely aware of the need to implement …
About Tom Buman
My deep commitment to agriculture and concern for the environment stems from my early years, working alongside my father and four brothers on the family farm in southwest Iowa. Today I continue to build on that commitment by working to create innovative solutions for pressing problems that affect farmers and the environment. With over 30 years’ experience in conservation planning I am widely recognized as a passionate visionary and thought leader. For 22 years as CEO, I led the Agren team, producing innovative results for every client. …
What’s bugging Tom
I’m Tom Buman and this is what’s bugging me… Everybody wants to put their best foot forward. I get it. I realize it is important to report the good news, but when the good news is misleading, it bugs me. So here’s what’s bugging me. Yield vs. Profitability: For years, conservationists have criticized farmers who just look at yield and not profitability. But now, the headlines are espousing cover crops because they increase yield. Conservationists are on the cover crop bandwagon. I realize that cover crops are good conservation practices, but …