Listening To Farmers Conservation Regulation Concerns

Chuck Zimmerman

Ann MillsThe Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, USDA, is Ann Mills. Ann oversees the Natural Resources Conservation Service. During lunch on the Conservation in Action Tour she spoke to us about several initiatives under her oversight. She talked about her goals of getting 100 percent participation from Chesapeake Bay area land owners to help with the watershed cleanup efforts. She acknowledged farmers work on this and told people during the tour how much she was learning about the practices they employ. I think this shows how important it is to invite government officials out to the farm. If they’re going to regulate you it would be nice if they actually knew what you do!

Ann says that USDA has been conducting a series of America’s Great Outdoors Initiative Public Listening Sessions around the country to hear what people have to say. She encourages farmers to go to the website and make their views known. She also knows farmers have concerns about the Chesapeake Bay TMDL and she says NRCS is ready to provide resources to “put conservation practices on the ground that work.” Ann Mills Presentation

Conservation In Action Tour 2010 Photo Album

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Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Environment, USDA

Finding A Win-Win Between Farmers and EPA

Chuck Zimmerman

Kelly ShenkThe Conservation in Action Tour provides an opportunity for farmers to see how other farmers are implementing good conservation practices but it also allows policy makers a chance to learn more about this area. One of our tour participants who spoke to us at our lunch stop was Kelly Shenk, EPA. She works in the Chesapeake Bay Program office.

Kelly told us that she believes we can have viable agriculture and a restored Chesapeake Bay. She says that what she has seen on the tour shows that farmers are doing what needs to be done to control things like nutrient loss. She acknowledges that urban development is a real concern for her agency. Kelly Shenk Presentation

Before the tour got back on the bus I spoke with Kelly and asked her about one of the key concerns I’ve heard expressed from farmers that their best management practices and conservation improvements aren’t being accounted for in the Chesapeake Bay Model. She says that state government and perhaps FSA should started collecting data on this to provide to policy makers. Kelly Shenk Interview

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Adapting and Diversifying Key To Long Term Success

Chuck Zimmerman

Charles CarterThe first plantation in Virginia was Shirley Plantation, established in 1613. This was the lunch stop for the Conservation in Action Tour. Tourism and education play a big part in the family business today.

Greeting us was Charles Carter who owns and serves as executive director for Shirley Plantation. He says they’ve been there for 11 generations! He says they’ve been able to do this through adaptation and diversification. Tobacco was produced on the farm from the beginning. Family members have been involved in everything from farming to government and they were even in the ice business. Recently he says they’ve built a marine terminal and they’re taking dredge material from the local rivers and placing it in old mines and on farmland to restore it. He says this has been working well. Charles Carter Presentation

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Conserving Soil and Nutrients

Chuck Zimmerman

J.N. MillsWhile the Conservation in Action Tour was parked under the trees in the shade at one stop, we heard from local farmer, J.N. Mills. Pictured behind him is Eric Randolph, another local farmer we also heard from.

A portion of the farm that J.N. operates was a grant from the king of England in the 1600’s. We were definitely seeing some historical places on this tour! One of the ways this farmer has worked to keep soil and nutrients in place is by installing waterways, stream buffers, stream fencing and wetlands. Besides row crop farming he also has a 165 unit cow/calf operation. J.N. says he hopes to have a family farm that he can pass along to the next generation. J.N. Mills Presentation

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Generations of Farming

Chuck Zimmerman

Archer RuffinDuring the Conservation in Action Tour we visited Evelynton Farm which is home to Archer Ruffin who told us about the rich history of this farm which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Our tour group sat in the shade of the largest magnolia tree I’ve ever seen.

You’ll be able to hear Archer describe the farm and some of the history. His family has been farming for about 8 generations. One of his ancestors is the “father of agronomy.” Archer Ruffin Presentation

Conservation In Action Tour 2010 Photo Album

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Agriculture Part of the Conservation Solution

Chuck Zimmerman

One of the sponsors of the Conservation in Action Tour and CTIC board member Pauley Bradley, John Deere Ag Management Solutions, gave us the welcome this week. I caught up to him during the tour and found out he works in the nutrient applications equipment area.

Pauley says they want the tour to position agriculture as part of the solution to water quality issues. Our tour stops are meant to showcase how farmers are using management practices and new technology to make it happen. He says precision ag technologies in particular are helping farmers accomplish this goal. Besides farmers attending the tour we also had people from industry and public policy makers. So it was really good for them to hear this message. Pauley Bradley Interview

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Precision Spraying Assists Conservation

Chuck Zimmerman

The Conservation in Action Tour provided some really good opportunities to learn about a part of the country I don’t normally get to see while hearing about some issues that are important to all farmers and that includes new regulatory efforts for watersheds like the Chesapeake Bay. I’ll be continuing my coverage of the tour today and over the weekend so travel along with me.

The second farm we visited was Renwood Farms in Charles City County, VA. Our host was David Hula. The farm actually covers 5,000 acres in four counties and has earned multiple National Corn Yield Contest awards. David gave our tour group an overview of how they utilize bmp’s to mitigate environmental impact while increasing yields. In this video clip you’ll hear him talk about spraying using precision equipment.

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Penton Ag Group Announces Newly Designed Websites

Chuck Zimmerman

It looks like agricultural publishing groups are all coming out with new website designs. The Penton Agricultural Group has just announced that they’ll be unveiling new websites for their Farm Press properties on September 1 and for Corn and Soybean Digest and Farm Industry News on September 15.

For months, our editors and Web developers have been laying the groundwork for a new content management system that will make those Web sites more graphically interesting and easier to use when they launch on September 1. They will be followed by other Penton Ag Group Web sites, including cornandsoybeandigest.com and farmindustrynews.com on September 15.

The sites are being built with a new open source content management platform that will enable editors to provide more relevant content that is easier to navigate. Features also include a more robust search function, based on a new keyword search list; related material that is instantly available; and a new and improved media player.

“We have made an extensive investment in our digital infrastructure to improve the user and marketer experience in all our digital properties. In the next few weeks, you will see a completely new look and format that’s better organized and more intuitive to our readers,” says Greg Frey, vice president of the Agricultural Group at Penton Media Inc.

Media

We Farm For iPad

Chuck Zimmerman

With all the success of Farmville on Facebook I was wondering when we’d see a game app. One that just caught my eye is We Farm which has versions for the iPhone and iPad. I’ve just downloaded it but haven’t tried it yet. If you do please feel free to let me know what you think.

Welcome to We Farm, the online social farm game designed specifically for the iPad!

BUILD YOUR BARNYARD

Moo? Quack? Oink? You choose! Raise farm animals, keep them happy and compete for a Blue Ribbon at the county fair.

GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY

Turn your farm into the perfect homestead for you and your animals:

– Dairy Barns and Animal Coops
– Horseshoe Pits and Outhouses
– Trees, Flowers, and Ponds
– Tractors and Grain Silos
– Beehives and Tree Houses

Choose from over a hundred buildings, items, and decorations to make your farm as unique as your Grandma’s apple pie!

You can grow crops also grow crops and play with friends. Follow ’em on Twitter. And don’t forget to get the AgWired App which you can use on your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Apps, Farming

AG CONNECT Connects at AMS

Cindy Zimmerman

The youngest agricultural education and trade show is growing up and will be bigger and better in 2011.

agconnect at amsAG CONNECT Expo representatives Rich Jefferson, with show organizers the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, and show director Sara Mooney were connecting with agricultural journalists recently at the Ag Media Summit to tell them what will be new and different about the second expo coming up January 8-10, 2011 in Atlanta.

For one, Sara says the show will be co-located with the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting. “They’re going to have a special Farm Bureau pavilion on the show floor and the Farm Bureau annual meeting attendees are welcome to come and visit the AG CONNECT exhibits,” she said. There will also be lots of new educational and innovation sessions at the expo as well as forums such as the Corn College for the South. She adds that as of the end of June, they already had 25 percent more exhibitors than the first show, held in Orlando in January.

AG CONNECT is an international event that is coordinated with partners AgriTechnica, the big European farm show that is held every other year.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Sara from AMS here: Sara Mooney Interview

Ag Media Summit, Audio