A conservation easement is a legal agreement recorded as part of a property title, with the usual goal of protecting conservation land use into perpetuity, regardless of land transfer. Conservation easements have been used by government entities and land trusts, like local conservation boards and The Nature Conservancy, for over 100 years. Back in May 2021, I received a call from Liz Garst, the Family Business Manager of Garst Farms in Coon Rapids, Iowa. Liz shared that the Garst family had made the difficult decision to sell their family …
Maximizing Conservation Investments
Imagine being on the TV reality show Shark Tank. You are there asking for $5,000,000 of venture capital. Immediately after you make the request, Mark Cuban asks, "How are you going to spend the money?” You respond, “I really don’t know. I will probably keep doing what I have been doing, but only work harder; do more of the same.” It is at that point Mark Cuban’s head explodes and in unison with every other Shark Tank investor, he says “I’m out!” And who could blame them. I don’t know anyone that would invest their money into a business …
Poking the Sacred Cow
Peggy and I took our annual vacation to the Northeast region of the United States (as I mentioned in my last post) and one of our stops was a tour of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, Vermont. Wow, a tour of an ice cream factory! How could this possibly be a disappointment? I have long admired Ben & Jerry’s business, with its strong commitment to social responsibility—to their employees, the community, and the world at large. To my knowledge, Ben & Jerry’s is one of the first companies to identify Corporate Social …
Exciting possibilities ahead using 3D Machine Control – Part 2
I asked the question in my last post, “What good is Precision Conservation if it doesn’t help us apply conservation better and faster?” One of the major limiting factors in getting more structural practices on the land is the short construction season. What conservation field office staffer or contractor wouldn’t love to get twice as many structures built in the same amount of time? I do believe that fully automated 3D machine control will be one of the game changers that conservationists have been looking for; that is, if private businesses …
It’s January…do you know where your nitrogen is?
It’s January 25th, do you know where your nitrogen is? What about your soil? Given the changes we have seen in our weather patterns, these are appropriate questions for farmers at any time of the year. Even though this is not the time of year when we typically think about losing nitrogen and soil, we saw a 5+ inch rainfall event in central Iowa in mid-December and an even larger rainfall event in Missouri two days after Christmas with historic flooding at the beginning of the new year! I did a quick internet search for extreme weather …
More Regulations
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 …