Note from Tom: A couple of weeks ago, I eluded in the post entitled “Looking at Both Sides of the Equation” that Nitrogen Index tool was the only nitrogen tools that provided information on the amount of nitrogen that is lost for a crop system by leaching, surface transport, and denitrification. Shortly after posting this article, I received an email from Dr. Harold van Es of Cornell University correcting this statement. The following is a guest blog by Dr. van Es.Guest post written by Dr. Harold M. van Es, Cornell UniversityThese days, …
As simple as one, two, three
Sometimes it is the simple things that can make a big difference. Take contouring, for example. It’s easy; so easy in fact that we often overlook it when we consider it in the context of conservation technology. I staked a lot of contour lines for farmers when I was a NRCS Soil Conservationist in the 1980’s. It was easy; just me, my hand level, and a fist full of flags. But it was also time consuming. It took hours to stake 160 acres of cropland, especially when I tried to minimize point rows. Today, my local conservation district no longer …
So what is this thing they call Precision Conservation?
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." - Albert EinsteinIn 2003, Berry et al. defined precision conservation as "a set of spatial technologies and procedures linked to mapped variables, which is used to implement conservation management practices that take into account spatial and temporal variability across natural and agricultural systems.” After reading this I thought to myself, wow, precision agriculture seems pretty complicated.Not that I disagree with Berry’s definition, but I think a more useful definition for …
Precision Conservation: Why we must engage the private sector
Fifty years! Yes, that’s right. At the current rate it will take 50 years to design and install all the grassed waterways needed in Iowa. And this timetable is being generous. The 50 years doesn’t even account for maintenance, repair, and replacement of these grassed waterways after their normal 10-15 year lifespan.This is not acceptable, especially when you consider all conservation practices like ponds, wetlands, water & sediment control basins, terraces, no-till, and cover crops are on this same timetable. Please note, this is not a …
Targeting Critical Resource Areas
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 …
Saturated Buffers
For the past few years, Dr. Dan Jaynes, USDA-Agriculture Research Service, and Dr. Tom Isenhart, Iowa State University, have been researching ways to remove nitrogen from tile water. Their research culminated in the development of saturated buffers, a new water protection practice. Saturated buffers rely on denitrifying bacteria to convert nitrates within the tile water to nitrogen gas, before the water is discharged into a water body. Jaynes and Isenhart have developed a method to intercept tile water that would otherwise flow directly into a …