Decades of Research Show Increased Sustainability for American Agriculture

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Darryl Earnest, AMS Deputy Administrator, Cotton and Tobacco Program, on April 22, 2014 at 1:00 PM

The Pioneers of Progress booklet illustrates how U.S. cotton has increased sustainability over the last 4 decades. The original cover art was inspired by vintage almanacs, acknowledging the heritage of the U.S. cotton industry. Image courtesy Cotton Inc.

U.S. agricultural producers have been engaged in sustainable farming practices for many years as an inherent part of their work.  They need the environment to flourish and thrive in order to continue producing the foods we eat and the materials we use.  Agricultural research and promotion groups, with oversight from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), allow producers and businesses across a commodity industry to pool their expertise and resources in order to help create new markets and invest in research.  The research they conduct helps improve production, discover new uses, and plays an important part in helping their industry identify and adopt sustainable practices.

Cotton: Pioneers of Progress
Cotton Incorporated, a research and marketing company used by the Cotton Board, recently produced a chronicle of its historic and ongoing commitment to sustainability. Called Pioneers of Progress, the booklet illustrates how the cotton industry has used research to identify more sustainable production practices and significant environmental gains over the last forty years.

And that commitment continues. From the module builder and boll weevil eradication program, to chronicling advances made in water, energy and chemical usage, and the creation of the first ever Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of cotton garments, industry decisions and practices continue to be shaped by a desire to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact.

America’s Egg Farmers: Lifecycle Analysis
Researchers conducted a lifecycle analysis of U.S. egg production from 1960 to 2010 to evaluate environmental performance measures.  The study, funded by the American Egg Board, the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, the United Egg Association-Allied and the Egg Industry Center, looked at the complete lifecycle from crops to hens to the farm gate.

The findings indicate that over time, significant environmental efficiencies have resulted from a wide range of factors, including the reduction of natural resource use, improved hen feed, better disease control and advancements in hen housing systems.

Key results from the study found that compared to 1960:

• The egg production process releases significantly less polluting emissions, including 71 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions.
• Hens now use 32 percent less water per dozen eggs produced.
• Today’s hens use a little over half the amount of feed to produce a dozen eggs.
• At the same time, today’s hens produce 27 percent more eggs per day and are living longer lives.

With the growing U.S. population and egg demand on the rise, egg farmers play an important role in providing an abundant and affordable source of high-quality protein. Efforts to further improve feed efficiency, hen housing facilities and manure management will result in even greater reduction of the industry’s environmental footprint.

These are a just a couple of examples of how American agriculture is striving to be more sustainable.  For more insight into how research and promotion programs are investing in health of our planet, follow @USDA_AMS on Twitter, where we’re celebrating Earth Day by showcasing projects from across the commodity spectrum.

An infographic detailing how today’s egg production is more efficient than previous decades and leaves a smaller environmental footprint. Click to view a larger version. Image courtesy www.IncredibleEgg.org.

Fieldprint Calculator Uses a USDA Tool to Help Farmer Track Water Quality Improvement

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Spencer Miller, Natural Resources Conservation Service, on April 16, 2014 at 3:00 PM

A stalk-puller attachment is drawn through this cotton test field near Weslaco, Texas, by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) field technician Victor Valladares. USDA photo by Jack Dykinga.

A nonprofit for sustainable agriculture recently launched a new metric in its calculator that relies on a popular tool from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Field to Market, the Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, recently updated its Fieldprint Calculator that measures outcomes in the field to include a metric to measure water quality. This metric relies on NRCS’ Water Quality Index for Agricultural Runoff, or WQIag, which enables farmers to input variables about their field, such as slope, soil characteristics, nutrient and pest management, tillage practices and conservation practices to calculate impact on water quality.

“The WQIag takes the complex scientific information of these variables and synthesizes them into a single number,” said Shaun McKinney, team leader for NRCS’ National Water Quality and Quantity. “Water quality is complex,” McKinney said. “Experts have usually focused on one aspect of water quality – such as temperature, nutrients or pesticide content – instead of thinking about a more complete picture.”

On the WQIag website, producers input information about their land, and the tool outputs a single rating on a 10-point scale with zero being very poor and 10 being excellent. Water quality measurements help farmers keep soil and nutrients on their field and out of the water supply.

“Agriculture is increasingly turning its attention to how to improve impacts on water quality,” said Rod Snyder, president of Farm to Market. “The calculator provides the most convenient and all-inclusive way to look at overall sustainability on the farm, and the addition of the WQIag expands the tool’s capability to water quality and helps farmers explore opportunities for continuous improvement.”

The Field to Market Fieldprint Calculator enables farmers to assess corn, cotton, wheat, soybean, rice and potato operations in terms of land use, soil conservation, soil carbon, water use, energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, and now, water quality.

The metric’s inclusion in the tool will help farmers track continuous water quality improvement on their farms. When experts do talk about the complete picture, their common vocabulary is math and science. It’s not always easy to get producers on board with improving water quality, in part because conversations on this topic often quickly become highly technical, leaving most non-scientists behind.

WQIag addresses this problem with two features that set it apart from previous measures of water quality: simplicity and accessibility. First, the WQIag simplifies the result into a 10-point rating everyone can understand; second, it’s available to anyone with an internet connection.

Before the WQIag, there was no simple way to rate water quality. Experts installed monitoring stations that tested water as it flowed off fields. These stations provide actual measurements, but they’re expensive and interpreting the measurements requires a scientific background.

“Our solution was inspired by the Dow Jones Index,” said NRCS environmental engineer Harbans Lal, referring to the well-known system that tracks investments like mutual funds and stocks. “We wanted to represent something very complex with a single, easy-to-understand number.”

The calculator is a continuous project with additions of crop data and indicators. Current projects in process include a biodiversity metric and inclusion of alfalfa. The addition of WQIag builds upon the innovative private-public relationship between Field to Market and NRCS, which also partnered, along with technology consultant ZedX, Inc., to build soil erosion tools into the calculator.

Better Quality Beef Starts with Improving the Quality of the Land

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Christy Morgan, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Kentucky, on April 15, 2014 at 1:00 PM

Jake and Jondra Shadowen and family use conservation programs to improve their Benton, Ky. ranch. (NRCS photo)

When Jake and Jondra Shadowen from Benton, Ky. got married 14 years ago, they decided to buy a 26-acre ranch with a goal of raising a healthy herd of cattle. Today, thanks to hard work and conservation, they maintain a strong herd of 26 cattle, up from 11 when they first began.

They worked with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to implement a rotational grazing system, which breaks up large pastures into smaller ones. A rotational grazing system allows for grass to grow faster and quicker and prevents soil from becoming prone to erosion.

Healthier grass means healthier forage, or food for the cattle. Jake Shadowen aims to constantly improve the quality of his cattle by improving forage. Through the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and other Farm Bill conservation programs, he received technical and financial assistance to put in cross fencing and to implement other conservation activities, or enhancements.

CSP helps agricultural producers maintain and improve their existing conservation systems and adopt additional conservation enhancements to address priority resources concerns. Participants earn CSP payments for conservation performance – the higher the performance, the higher the payment.

As part of a CSP, Shadowen sends fecal samples for lab analysis six times a year to determine cattle health – and see how the cattle are responding to better forage. Shadowen plants a mix of cool-season grasses such as tall fescue, orchardgrass and red clover.

Also, as part of the program, he has added wildlife friendly fences, escape routes in water troughs and pollinator habitat to the farm. He marked fences with flags in locations that are the main thoroughfares for deer, which help prevent deer from getting snagged or injured. He also added the escape ladders to water troughs to keep birds and small animals from getting trapped. Additionally, he plants pollinator-friendly flowers and grasses on the land to help improve the health of bees, butterflies and other crucial pollinators.

CSP is the perfect program for landowners like the Shadowens, who want to make improvements to their existing conservation system and address resource concerns like soil health and water quality. The conservation work benefits his cattle herd as well as the surrounding environment.

Their farm is a model for the community as it has been used for soil health demonstrations to help other landowners see the benefit of rotational grazing and other conservation practices.

In addition to ranching, Jake is a full-time electrician and Jondra works part-time as a dental hygienist. They have three sons.

“My wife and I were both raised on a farm and even though you don’t think the farm work means much at the time, you appreciate it later in life,” Jake Shandowen said of raising his children on the land.

To get started with NRCS, visit your local USDA Service Center or www.nrcs.usda.gov/GetStarted.

Secretary's Column: A New Report Shows the Critical Benefits of Farm Bill Conservation

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, on December 6, 2013 at 12:00 PM

America’s farmers, ranchers and landowners have led the way in recent years to conserve and protect our soil, water and wildlife habitat.

With the help of Farm Bill programs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has worked with a record number of producers since 2009 – more than 500,000 of them – to get this important work done.

Ever since the Dust Bowl, we’ve known that investments in conservation on working lands and other wild areas is important. And this week, a new report amplified our understanding for the critical importance of the Farm Bill in protecting natural resources in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The report showed that over the past seven years, conservation efforts have reduced the amount of nitrogen leaving fields by 48.6 million pounds each year – about 26 percent – and reducing phosphorus by 7.1 million pounds, or 46 percent.

These conservation practices are also preventing soil erosion, helping to ensure that our farm fields across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed remain vibrant and productive in the years to come. Conservation practices have lowered the estimated amount of eroded soil by about 15.1 million tons every year, or 60 percent. Put another way, that’s enough soil to fill about 150,000 railcars.

In addition to ensuring healthy cropland and clean water, these programs strengthen wildlife habitat that boosts outdoor recreation. From hunting and fishing, to camping and hiking, outdoor recreation adds more than $640 billion in benefits to our economy each year.

The Chesapeake Bay watershed initiative is just one of many landscape-scale initiatives undertaken by USDA in recent years. From the Mississippi River Basin to the Ogallala Aquifer, USDA has worked with producers to enroll millions of acres in targeted landscape initiatives – and today’s report once again highlights the positive impact this work can have across the nation.

From clean soil to healthier water, the benefits of conservation impact every American – and they’re one reason why USDA is pressing Congress this fall to provide a comprehensive, multiyear Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that continues our record conservation efforts.

A new Farm Bill would continue targeted conservation efforts on working lands that ensure soil quality, water quality, erosion control, forest restoration, and wildlife habitat.  It would continue major working land programs such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program, through which USDA has provided more than 190,000 landowner contracts since 2009, as well as the Conservation Reserve Program under which we have held a signup each year during this Administration.

A new Farm Bill would also ensure that tens of millions of acres remain in conservation practices by linking crop insurance compliance to conservation program participation.

Across the nation, our farmers, ranchers and landowners are stepping up to protect our natural resources. They deserve our support – and the most important thing that can happen today is for Congress to achieve passage of a new Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that stands by producers and continues our long legacy of conservation.

Mimic Nature to Harvest Benefits of Healthy Soil, Expert Says

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Michelle Banks, Natural Resources Conservation Service, on December 3, 2013 at 2:00 PM

NRCS joins others to celebrate World Soil Day on Dec. 5.

In the minds of many, a freshly tilled field is picturesque – clean and ready for the next planting. But according to a soil health expert, what looks good to the eye, isn’t always good for the soil – or a farmer’s bottom line.

Thursday, on World Soil Day, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is celebrating the importance of healthy soils and sharing how farmers and ranchers can help care for it through conservation practices like no-till.

When soil is heavily tilled, the stalks from the previous crop are chopped, and the top several inches of soil structure are disturbed. Conventional thought suggests this fluffing action allows for better seed placement, but Ray Archuleta, NRCS conservation agronomist, said that no-till systems, especially when combined with cover crops, are better – and lead to healthier, more drought-resistant soil.

Archuleta, who works at the agency’s East National Technology Center in Greensboro, N.C., said no-till has significant financial benefits for producers, too.

“No-tillage can save thousands of dollars every year in fuel, labor and equipment maintenance,” Archuleta said.  “The key is to let the soil organisms do the work.”

Tennessee grain farmer Bartt McCormack has refrained from tilling — instead using no-till planting — for more than 35 years.  He knows first-hand why no-till with cover crops has created a favorable soil ecosystem. They’ve had a positive impact on his bottom line, he said.

“We’re a 90-95 percent no-till operation,” he said. “When you start pulling iron over 6,000 acres, it takes a lot of labor and a lot of fuel.”

McCormack grew up using tillage on the family farm, but after enrolling in NRCS programs, the farm began implementing no-till on more and more acres.

But McCormack cautions there is a process in transitioning to a no-till operation. He advises that farmers have to re-tool and change management practices on herbicides and rotations, but most importantly, they need to have an open mind at the possibilities that no-till with cover crops can bring.

“It’s not like changing a pair of pants,” he said.

McCormack has seen a boost in yields since he made the transition to no-till. “I’ve seen a 60 bushel difference in yield,” he said. “That’s a tremendous amount.”

On fields where he also planted cover crops, McCormack said his yields were event better. “Looking back, plowing up my fields was reducing my yields.”

Like a growing number of farmers across the nation, McCormack is sold on the benefits of improving soil health. He plans to continue experimenting with different varieties and combinations of cover crops, including planting multiple species on nearly all of his 6,000 no-till acres this fall.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has designated Thursday, Dec. 5 as World Soil Day.  To find out more about soil health click here.

Bartt McCormack uses cover crops and no-till to improve yields on his Tennessee farm.

Risk Management Tools Help Farmers Create a More Environmentally Sustainable Future

USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Brandon C. Willis, Administrator, USDA Risk Management Agency, on December 3, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Good risk management tools aid in conservation efforts and help protect beautiful views like this for the next generation. USDA photo.

American producers know that crop insurance is a proven tool for managing the risks of farming.  But many folks may not be aware that it also promotes sound practices that encourage environmental sustainability.

One of the primary reasons the Federal crop insurance program is good for conservation is that it requires producers to exercise good farming practices in order to be eligible for coverage.  Good farming practices vary from crop to crop and from region to region, but follow the principle that the farming practices carried out are considered prudent and responsible by local extension agents and certified crop consultants. And this means planning for the long-term future, not just the current crop year.

One area where crop insurance encourages both maximum productivity as well as beneficial soil health is through requiring crop rotation when appropriate. Based upon the opinion of local experts, producers are often required to rotate crops in order to remain eligible for crop insurance coverage.

Another way that crop insurance maximizes productivity while improving the soil is by ensuring that crop insurance policies are consistent with the latest science based research on soil health. Cover crops for conservation have been around for a long time but are now being embraced by more farmers due to the increased understanding of the benefits of soil quality, nutrient cycles, erosion control, weed management, and soil water availability.  RMA and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently worked together to clarify guidance for producers who want to ensure good soil health and retain crop insurance.  For crop insurance, producers can determine the recommended termination time for a cover crop by referring to the NRCS Cover Crop Termination Guidelines. This benefits both farmers with their planning option, as well as the land itself.

Good risk management tools aid in conservation efforts and help protect beautiful views like this for the next generation. USDA photo.

Finally crop insurance protects the soil through prevented planting coverage. Prevented planting coverage offers producers the guarantee they need so they do not take unnecessary risks with soil health by forcing a crop on land that is too wet or too dry.  Because of prevented planting provisions farmers who may otherwise be forced to make risky farming decisions that can harm the soil are able to instead plant cover crops and protect one of our most valuable resources – our soil.

Risk management is about making sure farmers can put seed in the ground the year after a drought or a flood, but it’s also about making sure the soil health is maintained to produce a good crop year after year. It is difficult for a grower to consider investing in new (and more sustainable) production methods or equipment if they are uncertain whether they will make it through the next year.  Crop insurance gives growers a degree of security that helps them to take a more long-term view of how they farm and the sustainability of their methods.

Good risk management tools aid in conservation efforts and help protect beautiful views like this for the next generation. USDA photo.

COMET-Farm™: Conservation Calculation

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USDA Blog Post:

Posted by Spencer Miller, NRCS, on August 21, 2013 at 11:35 AM

Healthy soil captures and stores carbon. Photo by Ron Nichols, NRCS

USDA’s new online carbon-capture calculator, COMET-Farm™, has nothing to do with comets. This tool is all about farms and their potential to help planet Earth. Since its recent release more than 4,200 visitors have already explored the new online COMET-Farm™ tool to learn how they can become part of the climate change solution.

Record-breaking concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are accelerating climate change. Agriculture has the unique opportunity to help contribute to a solution, as demonstrated by COMET-Farm™.

“When farmers use conservation practices, they improve soil health,” NRCS air quality scientist Dr. Adam Chambers says. “Healthy soil captures and stores carbon, effectively removing it from the atmosphere.”

Chambers, a lead developer of COMET-Farm™, has spent the past three years improving this tool, which calculates the environmental benefits of conservation.

Here’s how it works: producers enter information about their land and management—including location, soil characteristics, land uses, tillage practices and nutrient use—into the online tool. The tool then estimates the environmental benefits associated with conservation practices for cropland, pasture, rangeland, livestock operations and energy.

NRCS scientists released the first version of CarbOn Management & Emissions Tool (COMET) in 2005. Developed in partnership with Colorado State University, the first version calculated only how much carbon soil could capture. Later versions expanded the scope of the tool to include agroforestry components, energy and livestock.

“As scientists, our greatest challenge in developing COMET-Farm has been knowing when good is good enough,” says Chambers. “We wanted the tool to be as accurate as possible, but we had to find that balance between scientific accuracy and simplicity.”

With environmental markets emerging around the country, COMET-Farm™ will help producers estimate the value of carbon credits they could earn from various conservation practices. Conservation will not only pay indirectly through improved yields, lower energy costs, soil resiliency and other production-related benefits,– but could also be profitable in the environmental marketplace.

COMET-Farm™ is applicable to all agricultural lands in the lower 48 states. The tool is available for use at www.comet-farm.com. Future model releases are planned by NRCS as new methods for calculating greenhouse gas emissions become available.

Since its inception in 1935, the NRCS conservation delivery system has advanced a unique partnership with state and local governments and agricultural producers delivering conservation based on specific, local conservation needs, while accommodating state and national interests.

Follow NRCS on Twitter.

Check out other conservation-related stories on the USDA blog.