Crop insurance provides an important risk management tool for farmers, especially in the short term. Conservation practices look to the long term to reduce farmers’ risks. Our friends at Farm Foundation will hold another one of their free forums on Thursday, Oct. 8, to examine how the relationship of crop insurance and conservation practices has evolved over the years, and …
70th Anniversary Celebration for Noble Foundation
Lloyd Noble has changed the world– twice. Today he is still contributing to the good of agriculture. His story began in the 1920s and 30s when Noble helped revolutionize the oil and gas industry. His success allowed him to focus energy and resources on strengthening land management and solid conservation in the Southern Great Plains where the Dust Bowl had …
CTIC Cover Crop Survey Results
Cover crops are continuing to prove very beneficial to yields according to the results of a survey conducted by the Conservation Information Technology Center. A survey of more than 1,200 farmers across the country revealed that cover crops boosted corn yields last year by a mean of 3.66 bushels per acre (2.1%) and increased soybeans by an average of 2.19 …
Farm Bureau Joins Group’s Lawsuit to Ditch ‘WOTUS’
The American Farm Bureau Federation is part of a coalition of 14 agricultural and industry groups, including the National Pork Producers Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, that have filed a lawsuit to vacate the controversial new rule redefining the scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. This news release from the group says the rule, known …
NACD Names New CEO
The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) is pleased to announce that former Chief Operations Officer (COO) Jeremy Peters has been named as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to manage the association and lead advocacy efforts on behalf of the nation’s 3,000 conservation districts. “NACD is extremely fortunate to have an ‘in-house’ candidate that understands the needs of our …
Ag Conservation Easement Funding Available
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Natural Resources Conservation Service chief Jason Weller have announced the availability of $332 million in financial and technical assistance through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). “Conservation easements are an important tool to help these landowners and partners voluntarily provide long-term protection of our nation’s farmland, ranchland, wetlands and grasslands for future generations,” said Vilsack. …
CTIC Announces New Board of Directors
The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) announced its new board of directors. Alan Ayers of Bayer CropScience will serve as chair. Lara Moody of The Fertilizer Institute is vice-chair, and Terry Tindall of the J.R. Simplot Company was named treasurer. “It’s exciting to work with such a dedicated board to continue building CTIC as a preferred source of information on …
CTIC Celebrates Soil at #Classic15
The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) was celebrating the International Year of Soils this year’s Commodity Classic in Phoenix. CTIC executive director Karen Scanlon was handing out gummy worms and recipes at Commodity Classic so families can have a fun way to learn about soils. “[CTIC] has always supported soil health by promoting conservation systems as a great combination of …
Soil Health Partners Work Together
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) was launched just shy of a year ago with seed funding in part from Monsanto and technical support from The Nature Conservancy (TNC). That may seem like a case of strange bedfellows, but everyone has the same goal of healthier soils. At the first Soil Health Summit last week in St. Louis, Monsanto Sustainability Business …
Soil Health Partnership Scientific Advisers
The Soil Health Partnership includes an impressive and distinguished panel of scientific advisers who are happy to be involved in an effort they consider to be critical to the future of the world. Most of those advisers attended the first Soil Health Summit held this week in St. Louis. Dr. Wayne Honeycutt, deputy chief for science and technology with USDA’s …