The best farming system in the world means little if it isn’t resilient enough to bounce back from all the nastiness nature can toss its way. That’s become painfully clear… Read more »
Posts Tagged: soil erosion
Teaming With Soil Microbes (part 2)
Talking about the importance of feeding soil microbes is fine. Speaking with your feet is even better. “Take a closer look—anything you tramp down is just carbon in the soil,”… Read more »
Teaming with Soil Microbes (part 1)
On a crisp morning in September, North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown held two handfuls of soil and searched for signs of life—theoretically not a difficult task considering one teaspoon of… Read more »
Dust-to-Dust: Don’t Blame the Drought
I recently phoned members of my geographically far-flung family to give them Thanksgiving greetings and was struck by a common element of our ensuing conversations. From Iowa and Nebraska to… Read more »
Senate Listens to Public & Makes Crop Insurance More Accountable to the Environment
The U.S. Senate passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill this week. While it’s far from perfect, specific amendments related to conservation and accountability that were passed during the… Read more »
Rolling Our Land To Death
I sat in a farmhouse one afternoon last month as a hot wind lifted rich topsoil from surrounding fields. On the drive in, I’d noticed a surprising amount of rill… Read more »
Crop Insurance: A Safety Net Becomes a Threat
When it comes to the crop insurance sweepstakes, southwest Minnesota farmer Darwyn Bach is a winner. But he concedes that his good fortune presents a quandary, since the way the… Read more »
Denying the Science, Derailing the Solutions
I talked to a Todd County farmer yesterday who uses 100 percent no-till and other conservation measures to raise his crops. Conserving soil is important to him, and so he’s… Read more »
Let’s Stop Treating Soil Conservation Like Dirt
Here’s the bad news: it turns out the USDA’s estimates that soil erosion rates are under control across the Corn Belt—something we reported in this blog last June—are probably overly… Read more »
USDA Secretary: You Can Make Conservation History
An April 1 letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack from LSP Associate Director Mark Schultz: Congress and the Obama Administration are currently evaluating measures aimed at reducing federal spending for… Read more »