Soil Health

By Katrina Vaitkus [caption id="attachment_32276" align="alignleft" width="317"] Blaine Hitchens shows photos of his fields and techniques to interested onlookers.[/caption] On Tuesday, Aug. 20, Delaware’s Sussex Conservation District held its annual Soil Health Field Day. This year, the theme was ‘Planting Green’. Hosted at NACD Soil Health Champion Chip Baker’s farm, approximately 100 people gathered to…… Continue reading →

By Teresa DeMars Minnesota's Rice County farmers have been experimenting with planting cover crops out in the field and have been seeing the benefits. Producers reported improved soil health, including erosion control, increased infiltration, weed suppression and higher organic matter. Farmers also reported spending less on fuel and chemicals while in some cases, their yields…… Continue reading →

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in January 2019 in the winter edition of National Woodlands magazine and is the first of a series of articles in partnership with The National Woodland Owners Association (NWOA). By David Daigle Longleaf pine forests and coastal prairies are among the most imperiled ecosystems in the nation, and…… Continue reading →

By Melina Sempill Watts [caption id="attachment_31422" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo by Kandi Manhart[/caption] In Colusa, Calif., Daniel Unruh owns and operates a walnut orchard, where his ongoing use of cover crops on Columbia silty clay loam has given his orchard floor a soil organic matter that varies from 3-4 percent. Unruh started at a lesion nematode…… Continue reading →

By Melina Watts, Glenn County RCD When 95 people stand around under grey skies and looming storm clouds to look at plant varietals while picking apart shovels of saturated soil, exploring root types and soil pore structure, you know there’s a compelling idea at play – cover crops. From increasing soil porosity, improving soil organic…… Continue reading →

By NACD Government Affairs Manager Eric Hansen The USDA Census of Agriculture is conducted every five years. As a complete count of every farm in America, it is unique from other USDA data sets, which are based on sampling and statistical modeling. The Ag Census started in 1840 and has been conducted by USDA’s National…… Continue reading →

Now that President Donald Trump has signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law, NACD’s Government Affairs Team will be releasing a series of blog posts to break down the bill in more detail with the expected changes folks can expect on the ground as USDA works to implement the new law.  Changes Coming to CSP…… Continue reading →

By Melina Sempill Watts, Glenn County Resource Conservation District Sitting at the Glenn County Farm Bureau annual dinner last year as a new hire at the Glenn County Resource Conservation District (RCD), I started estimating decades of experience, per farmer in the room, and multiplying it by the numbers of people in chairs. Then I…… Continue reading →

By Jessica Espenshade, agricultural program coordinator, National Wildlife Federation District program coordinators across the country have noticed a trend - agricultural outreach is relying on traditional field days to bridge the knowledge and action gap in the farming community, and attendance is increasingly a challenge. Outreach specialists need to think outside of the box to…… Continue reading →

[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS] By NACD Intern Katrina Vaitkus In Oklahoma, a state deeply affected during the Dust Bowl, erosion is a major concern. Since the region's soil is highly erodible, farmers must consider soil health practices that will reduce erosion and preserve water quality. Sarah Blaney, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD), has…… Continue reading →