More in Conservation

USDA's National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently announced that the deadline for producer applications for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) will be Jan. 13, 2012....More

  Wind + water + air = nitrogen (N) fertilizer. It’s a formula that could bring farmers a local, renewable supply of ammonia, more stable N prices and vast new markets for Midwest wind power – markets that would not depend on building costly new transmission lines....More

  “It’s tough to convince someone in Minnesota that they need to do something to improve the water quality in the Gulf of Mexico.” That profound statement from Bill Honker, from the Dallas EPA regional office, illustrates the critical need for multi-state cooperation in attempts to manage nutrient runoff that can cause hypoxia – or the dead zone....More

Richards Farms planted a month early in Circleville, OH, at a time when local rainfall was 90% above normal this spring. Thanks to controlled traffic farming (CTF), the family has 30-year-old established traffic lanes in its corn and bean fields. They provided improved traction and drainage, while neighboring growers sat on their hands as a soggy April and May turned to June. Richards Farms was among only 1% of Ohio farms with corn planted by the first week in May, according to USDA statistics....More

Ohio farmer Dave Brandt’s most important crop this year is one he won’t harvest. Brandt plants radishes and other cover crops as part of the ECO (see http://bit.ly/rspLDN and http://bit.ly/ok3Y1J) farming system to keep his soil healthy and his farm profitable. “ECO farming stands for Ecological farming, Continuous living cover and Other best management practices," says Jim Hoorman....More

Soybean checkoff-funded research shows U.S. soybean farmers remain committed to sustainably increasing production in order to meet growing global demand for food. The United Soybean Board (USB) and soybean checkoff will co-sponsor the American Soybean Association’s (ASA’s) Conservation Legacy Awards as a way of recognizing U.S. soybean farmers who demonstrate outstanding environmental and conservation achievements....More

On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson met with Iowa farmers and visited a biofuel facility. While continuing the Obama administration’s push for alternative energy sources, both claimed to have been enlightened and insisted the EPA is not the enemy of agriculture....More

While much of the world will celebrate Earth Day on Friday, farmers will continue doing their part to preserve the soil, grass and water every day before and after April 22. That’s because crop and livestock producers pioneered the act of protecting our natural resources....More

According to the United Nations, the global popu-lation will increase by more than 2 billion people in the next 40 years, and many reports have indi-cated that food production needs to double by 2050. Industry experts agree that increased food production will be achieved by intensified crop production, more so than by an expanded arable land base....More