GROWMARK and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently signed a national Memorandum of Understanding to further sound agronomic and conservation practices.

Ryan White, Dir. of Agronomy Marketing and Agronomy Information Services for GROWMARK, says the MOU is about the GROWMARK system commitment to working with farmers in a profitable and sustainable way. “We both have the same customer and that is the farmer so we look at it as an opportunity to learn from each other using good agronomic principles and conservation practices,” he said.

Under the national agreement, GROWMARK and its FS companies in Iowa are initially working with the Iowa NRCS on these activities through a state contribution agreement that will provide an opportunity to pilot the effort before replicating in other states. The effort will build on initiatives started by Bill Northey when he was Iowa Agriculture Secretary, and will continue under his leadership now at USDA where NRCS falls under his mission area as Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Service, soon to be renamed Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation.

“We’re very excited with Bill’s confirmation and a lot this comes back to Bill’s vision of seeing more private and public partnerships in the space of agronomics and conservation coming together,” said White.

Learn more about the effort in this interview: Interview with Ryan White, GROWMARK Agronomy Information Services