It’s about time! Everyone knows that increased regulation always solves the problem. ~ quote penned by Tim Eshleman, sarcastic brother-in-law.Recently I wrote a post that encouraged ag retailers to assist farmers with future regulations. Since then, I have been asked for my opinion several times on regulating agricultural pollution. As I ponder this question, I find the answer is complicated. First, let me go on record by saying that I absolutely believe farmers need to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality. The science is crystal …
Join Me in Colorado?
I will be attending the 2018 Sustainable Agriculture Summit, will you? The Sustainable Agriculture Summit is the premier annual gathering for major food companies, conservation groups, and farmers. The summit is committed to advancing a comprehensive approach to driving change in agriculture sustainability. Join me! If you are motivated to impact large-scale changes in agricultural sustainability, your focus must include Precision Conservation. I would like to spend a few minutes with you talking about what motivates farmers and ways to …
A new data layer for precision agriculture… that is publicly available
In the summer of 2013, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF) launched the Floodplain Outreach Program. This program develops flood plain maps that show areas that are prone to flooding and scour erosion. With these maps, farmers and ag retailers can identify those flood plain acres that are expected to flood one half, one fifth, and one tenth of the years farmed. According to the Iowa DNR, flood plain mapping is the creation of new, comprehensive, accurate flood plain maps for Iowa cities and counties. The program has the potential to let …
We Need Soil Saviors
“If we had just controlled the soil erosion in past years,” Dr. Jerry Hatfield, ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, says “we would not be trying to figure out how to obtain 300 bushels/acre of corn.” Farmers would already be producing 300 bushels/acre with current technology.Obviously, agronomists need a new set of tools to communicate with farmers. Since soil erosion is not distributed evenly across the field, the farmer will want to evaluate those areas of the field where erosion is the worst and therefore costing …
When is the cavalry going to respond?
Do you remember the old westerns of the good guy and the bad guys? Invariably the fight would start with a few good guys doing battle with a lot of bad guys. After the few good guys put up a valiant fight, the cavalry would be sent to rescue the valiant foot soldiers. I am waiting for the same thing to happen in conservation. If the foot soldiers are the conservation planning agencies and the bad guy is soil erosion, then who is the cavalry? I believe the cavalry is agri-business. If agri-business can figure out how to “make conservation …
50 million acres pledged in sustainability initiative
"Too many people have lost sight of the fact that productive soil is essential to the production of food.” by: Hugh Hammond BennettOn Monday, December 5th, the Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture announced their goal of advancing the sustainability of U.S. agriculture. To achieve this goal, Field to Market seeks to engage 20% of productive acres of U.S. commodity crop production in its supply chain sustainability program by 2020. This is equivalent to 50 million acres.At the time, two significant things about this announcement jumped out at …