Conservation practices require a significant investment in time and money. There are often large implementation costs, learning curves, and labor required, all of which might prevent farmers and landowners from being able to adopt these practices. Additionally, when there are no tangible payments or products, the financial benefits may seem invisible. Yet, conservation practices provide many benefits to the cropping system, often by improving soil health, protecting water quality, and increasing yield stability. Because of this, farmers are often eligible for payments which can offset or even
On-farm conservation practices to build resilience: Notes from a virtual field day
Monica Jean, Educator with Michigan State University Extension (MSUE), shares details from the recent Cropping System Resilience Virtual Field Day, held July 2020. For the original article, see the MSUE website. MSUE teamed up with The Kellogg Biological Station Long-term Ecological Research (KBS LTER) program and farmers in the Central Southern region of Michigan to host a live Cropping System Resilience Virtual Field Day in July. The day included a farm tour and interactive questions from the audience. During the tour, topics discussed were relay cropping, interseeding covers, and
KBS LTER synthesis book published
As spring approaches, thousands of farmers across the Midwest are preparing for planting, knowing well the importance of their work in supplying society with food. They may be less aware of the potential for their row crops to provide a host of additional benefits, including clean water, habitat for beneficial insects such as pollinators, and even climate change mitigation. Agriculture’s role in providing such benefits has been the subject of over 25 years of research at the Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) in southwest Michigan. With long-term support from the National Science Foundation and