Throughout many watersheds in the Corn Belt, entire farms and fields are managed uniformly to simplify farming operations. However, land conditions such as soil type and topography vary substantially at smaller scales. This in-field variability influences the need for and effectiveness of conservation best management practices for erosion control. In order to reduce soil loss and improve water quality, it is imperative that conservation practices be applied to these critical resource areas on the landscape. Defining critical areas at the …
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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 …
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 …
Exciting possibilities ahead using 3D Machine Control
What good is Precision Conservation if it doesn’t help us apply conservation better and faster? We should expect that a part of Precision Conservation should simplify and automate the routine and the mundane, so the professional conservationists can engage in meaningful conservation planning. My new favorite Precision Conservation topic is fully automated 3D machine control. This will be one of the game changers we have been looking for, if private businesses and government entities can work together. Recently, I worked with Ryan Murguia of …