“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 …
5 Things We Must Do to Accelerate Soil and Water Conservation
It is abundantly clear that we need to utilize all aspects of Precision Conservation. However, the following are my top five conservation priorities we need to do to make a significant change in how we deliver soil and water conservation.5. Reduce the time, cost, and hassle for farmers implementing structural conservation practicesMachine control technology will fundamentally change how conservation structures are designed, staked, and constructed. The software is already available to utilize LiDAR data and develop a grassed waterway design …
Cost Containment
As a conservation community, we spend very little effort on controlling the cost of soil and water conservation. Let’s face it, most of our efforts are spent on marketing conservation, working to increase funding, or fighting for or against regulations. When was the last time you heard anyone discuss effective ways to reduce the cost of conservation? Any company knows that reducing cost, while maintaining the same quality, leads to more sales. Conservation is no different. If we expect farmers to install more conservation practices, we …
Blockchain: The New Tool for Sustainability
As a child, I remember watching documentaries where wildlife biologists would track grizzly bears through the wilds of Montana. It always astonished me that scientists would risk their lives to tranquilize and collar a bear to track its whereabouts. Since those days, much has changed in our ability to tag and track locations. Today we have geotags, data loggers, advanced mapping systems and even solar powered GPS ear tags to track animal habits. Technology has advanced to the point where we can monitor the movement of cattle within in herd, …
Will Herbicide Resistance Cripple No-till?
This week I am pleased to have as my guest writer, Dr. Gordon Vail with Syngenta. Dr. Vail and I have had a long history of working together, dating back to our early days when we worked with Dr. Vail on herbicide efficacy. Recently I talked to Dr. Vail about herbicide resistance and I found his comments unsettling, especially for the future of weed control as it relates to no-till. Good to the Last Drop? Will Herbicide Resistance Cripple No-till? No-till is considered a key practice for controlling soil erosion, but it is …
Are Sustainability Commitments Achievable?
As a young NRCS Conservationist I was required, every couple of years, to develop a workload analysis for my Soil and Water Conservation District. This exercise required me to evaluate my District’s resource needs and formulate a strategy for how my staff would work with farmers to meet these workload demands. Every single time I did the analysis, I always turned out the same results. In order to accomplish the workload, I invariably needed to quadruple the staff, make a significant improvement in technology, and hope for a miracle that one …