Kent Vlieger, the State Soil Health Specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Huron, South Dakota, answers a few questions about the benefits of using a no-till and cover crop system to improve soil health and water quality while reducing erosion.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service has completed and published updates to its set of National Conservation Practice Standards, which include 58 standards that have been updated or revised since August. The 2018 farm bill required NRCS to review all 169 …

Michael Thompson didn’t like cattle when he grew up on his family’s farm. In fact, he couldn’t stand them. But he’s changed his tune in recent years as they’ve become an integral part of improving his soil health.Thompson spoke at High Plains Journal’s Soil Health U in January 2020 at Salina…

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is awarding more than $14.6 million in grants to support the development of innovative systems, tools, and technologies for production and conservation on agricultural lands. Funds are provided through the Conservation Innovation Grants program, …

USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Materials Centers have a long and successful history of selecting and releasing conservation plants to support soil stabilization, improve pollinator and wildlife habitat, provide livestock forage, and increase the diversity in plantings.

If knowledge is king, then data is the key advisor. Mitchell Hora spoke at High Plains Journal’s Soil Health U event, held Jan. 22 to 23 in Salina, Kansas, about using soil health data to guide every decision on the farm from fertility to water use.

South Dakota is known for its variety, and Don Nickelson’s operation in Frederick is no exception.

Ancient farmers began domesticating wild annual plants approximately 10,000 years ago. Eventually, farmers became dependent upon annual grain crops, and according to Brandon Schlautman of The Land Institute, diverse natural ecosystems were inadvertently converted to monoculture annual agro-e…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the final rule for its Conservation Stewardship Program. The rule makes updates to the popular conservation program as directed by the 2018 farm bill and integrates feedback from agricultural producers and others.

American Farmland Trust announces it has received a $2.6 million grant through the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials, a component of the Conservation Innovation Grants program to fund its “Conquering Cover Crop Challenges Coast to Coast” project.

When Barber County, Kansas, rancher Brian Alexander was a kid, he never thought he wanted to be a rancher. All these years later he is, although it took him a few years to get there.

The topics of carbon and the environment have not always been met with positive responses from the agriculture community. However, there is no dispute carbon plays a major role in soil health, and finding ways to add more carbon should be a nonpartisan issue.Dale Strickler, agronomist at Gre…

In part two of a two-part series about setting up farm trials, cover crop consultant David Kleinschmidt discusses useful data points and considerations.

The use of on-farm trials helps optimize cover crop performance and ensure successful integration into broad practice.

As Iowa farmers and landowners look for ways to continue building soil health and protecting the state’s watersheds, many are using cover crops.

An Online Cover Crop Boot Camp will be held in July, provided by Iowa Learning Farms and Practical Farmers of Iowa.

Dirt is what you sweep under the cabin rug, but soil is a living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. Soils just don’t happen. Soil is formed from the physical and chemical weathering of rocks.  It is made up mainly of mineral particles, organic materials, air, water, and liv…

Farmer Ray Flickner grows corn, soybeans and wheat on his primarily irrigated operation located near Moundridge, Kansas, northwest of Wichita in McPherson County. Several years ago, the family farm partnered with a Kansas State University researcher on some planting population studies with c…

You can now manage your conservation activities and request assistance from USDA through a new feature on farmers.gov. These conservation features join several others already available through the farmers.gov portal, including the ability to view farm loan information.

Iowa Learning Farms, in partnership with the Iowa Nutrient Research Center and Conservation Learning Group, is hosting a free virtual soil health field day on June 18 at 1 p.m.Participants will dig into soil health with Marshall McDaniel, assistant professor in soil-plant interactions at Iow…

Incorporating cover crops with tillage reportedly results in increased cover crop decomposition rates and increased mineralization of nutrients from cover crop biomass. Multiple studies have reported mixed results for corn-soybean grain yields when planted after cover crops.

As interest and integration of cover crops accelerate, the industry has been challenged in its ability to provide easy to access, comprehensive information. Recently, cover crop application company GO SEED developed the Cover Crop Information Map to provide a free, centralized platform for k…

In the wettest year on record for South Dakota, half the cropland in the state that was planted used a cropping system without tillage. That system, no-till farming, has been the predominant cropping system on South Dakota cropland in recent years, but this is the first year the practice was…

While it’s not a new concept, an increasingly popular practice is to plant cash crops directly into living cover crops. The science behind it is sound—allowing producers to push the benefits of their cover crops to the max and take advantage of things like added organic matter and nutrient release.

Included in her experience as a professor of agronomy for Kansas State University, DeAnn Presley lists work in soil science, cover crops and crop production.

Adam Chappell knows cotton like only a farmer who lives and farms near a town called Cotton Plant, Arkansas, possibly could.For four generations the Chappell family has raised cotton, just like their neighbors have since before the Civil War. Conventional wisdom and generations of cotton far…

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced April 28 a $15 million investment to help support the adoption of innovative conservation approaches on agricultural lands. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is accepting proposals through June 29 for national Conservation Innovation G…

Ed and Leta Olson of Craig have been selected for the 2020 Nebraska Leopold Conservation Award.

USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced it will extend deadlines for project proposal submissions to May 29 for On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials and the Regional Conservation Partnership Program Alternative Funding Arrangements. Originally deadlines were mid-May, but NR…

A soil health webinar series launched as part of the Soil Health Institute’s Healthy Soils for Sustainable Cotton project. New episodes will be offered weekly until mid-May on the Institute’s YouTube Channel and Soil Health Training webpage.

The southern High Plains of the United States have low annual rainfall. When it does rain, though, intense storms can cause severe soil erosion. Strong winds also strip away valuable topsoil.

Knopf Farms is one of three new sites in the Soil Health Partnership network, through a partnership with the National Wheat Foundation, that is evaluating the impacts of diversified crop rotation and how wheat can benefit the soil and other environmental indicators.

Cover crops continue to grow in popularity in Iowa due to their many benefits, reduced soil erosion, weed suppression potential, reduced nitrogen and phosphorus loads entering water bodies, and increased soil organic matter. Iowa Learning Farms and the United States Department of Agriculture…

A wholesale shift to regenerative agriculture is soon to become the primary choice for survival, Tom Cannon told audiences at Soil Health U, Jan. 22 and 23, in Salina, Kansas. The farmer and manager of Goodson Ranch, near Blackwell, in north-central Oklahoma, warned of a potential extinction…

It’s been said that America has the most plentiful, safe and nutritious food supply in the world. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service reported that 89.9% of U.S. households were food secure throughout the year, with 11.1% of households reporting some food …

Shifting to farming with nature, rather than against it, is on a global campaign, and the proof is in the testaments of international visitors to the U.S. Tom and Cassi Robinson, of Hoyleton, Australia, and Laurent Lorre, who farms near Janville, some 50 miles south of Paris, France, attende…

Deciding to work with nature instead of against it has made a huge difference to Darin Williams. The farmer and his wife, Nancy, from Coffey County in southeast Kansas embraced a return to natural systems agriculture in 2010. The couple cut their workload, time on the tractor, input costs, f…

Officials at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids partnered with USDA to improve soil health and protect water quality on the airport’s 2,000 cropland acres. 

Soil Health U, held Jan. 22 to 23 in Salina, Kansas, did not disappoint when it came to panels aimed at explaining techniques, personal experiences and advice pertaining to regenerative agriculture. The event, in its third year and sponsored by High Plains Journal, held three separate panels…

There’s no teacher like experience, and like any profession, farmers learn from their own experiences plus those of fellow growers and researchers.