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Local farmers take full advantage of conservation programs
Nebraska When people describe the Brandes & Sons farm in Merrick County, they use words like "innovators", "progressive", and "conservationists." When you ask brothers Roger and Evan how they'd describe their cattle and crop operation, they say they're just following in the footsteps of their father and grandfather. "Our family has been farming here since 1917. We're always working on ways to improve the way we do things," Evan said. Some of the improvements made to the Brandes farm have been installed with assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. EQIP is a voluntary conservation program available to private landowners and operators. Through EQIP, farmers and ranchers may receive financial and technical help with conservation practices on agricultural land. The Brandes brothers have used EQIP to make improvements to their cropland and rangeland and to establish wildlife habitat on their property. For them, it all comes down to a desire and a commitment to improving their land. "You have to want to be a steward of the land. EQIP can't totally pay for the improvements. But it does give you an incentive to start making changes," Roger said. The Brandes brothers have used EQIP to install pivot irrigation on several of their fields. EQIP offers an incentive payment and cost share assistance for irrigators to switch from gravity to pivot irrigation. Thanks to EQIP, the Brandes & Sons operation now has pivots on 80 percent of their irrigated acres. As part of their EQIP agreement, Roger and Evan will track rainfall amounts and crop water used during the irrigation season. They do not see this requirement as governmental red tape. The Brandes brothers see it as an opportunity to learn more about water management. "The challenge is to change your mindset from it being a hassle, or as it only benefiting the government, to it being a benefit to the landowner," Evan said. This change in mindset is part of the objective of EQIP, according to NRCS Resource Conservationist Tom Schleif. "The goal of EQIP is to provide incentives to farmers and ranchers to make improvements to their land. These improvements have a positive impact on natural resources, which then have a positive impact on the entire area. For instance, when a producer switches from gravity to pivot irrigation, it can reduce the amount of water applied by half. That adds up to huge water savings," Schleif said. Brandes & Sons also use EQIP on their pivot corners. EQIP and Pheasants Forever provide cost share assistance to plant pivot corners to wildlife habitat. EQIP is also providing an incentive payment to not irrigate the pivot corners, as an additional water saving measure. EQIP has provided technical assistance and incentive payments to improve the Brandes & Sons' rangeland as well. Schleif helped design a planned grazing system, which included grass seeding, pipeline, livestock tanks and cross fence. The planned grazing system divided existing pastures up into smaller paddocks. Cattle will graze intensively for a short period of time before they are rotated on to the next pasture. This system mimics the natural grazing cycle of the Great Plains and grasses positively respond to such a system, according to Schleif. "When the cattle are put on to a smaller paddock, they are less selective in what they graze. This results in more even grazing, which improves the grass stand and species diversity," Schleif said. Even though Roger had been practicing a rotational grazing, EQIP allowed him to improve the system. "EQIP provided us an incentive to move ahead with our grazing management practices. We can now rotationally graze much more intensively than before," Roger said. EQIP is designed to work with several types of farming operations. To find out all of the options available, Schleif advises landowners to visit their local Natural Resources Conservation Service office to find out what EQIP has to offer. NRCS is currently taking EQIP applications and producers are encouraged to apply soon--ideally before Dec. 14. For more information about EQIP and other conservation programs offered by NRCS visit www.ne.nrcs.usda.gov/programs. Date: 12/26/07
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