#AgCensus Gives Nebraska Plenty to Brag About

From the USDA:

Posted by Dean Groskurth, Northern Plains Regional Director, National Agricultural Statistics Service, on April 2, 2015 at 10:00 AM

Nebraskan farmers and ranchers sold more than $23 billion worth of agricultural products in 2012. Check back next Thursday for another state spotlight from the 2012 Census of Agriculture.

The Census of Agriculture is the most complete account of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Every Thursday USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service will highlight new Census data and the power of the information to shape the future of American agriculture.

Nebraska is an extremely important part of U.S. agriculture. As the 2012 Census of Agriculture showed, Nebraskan farmers and ranchers sold more than $23 billion worth of agricultural products. Our unique geography lets us combine the advantages of the Midwestern crop-friendly soil with the plains perfect for cattle grazing.

Beef cattle is the largest component of our agriculture. The 2012 Census counted nearly 6.4 million head of cattle and calves in Nebraska, second only to Texas with sales of almost $10.1 billion. And if that wasn’t enough, Nebraska pork producers had the sixth largest inventory of hogs and pigs in the United States with almost 3 million head in 2012.

Of course there are plenty of crop statistics we can brag about in Nebraska as well. Our corn growers harvested more than 9 million acres of corn, the third largest acreage in the United States in 2012, according to the Census.  Nebraska ranked #1 in the nation when it came to popcorn production in 2012 with almost 354 million pounds of popcorn.

Nebraska farmers are also focusing a lot on making sure they remain responsible stewards of our natural resources. In 2012, more than 8.3 million acres of farmland in our state were irrigated, more than in any other state. That year, the Census also counted 171 farms in Nebraska that sold organic products. Nebraska organic product sales nearly totaled $40 million in 2012.

With all of these achievements the 2012 Census results show we are an agricultural leader and that we are still growing. The number of farms, the value of agricultural sales, livestock inventories and farm acres all had significant increases in the five-year window since the previous Census. If these trends continue, the future will be very bright for Nebraska agriculture.

Luckily we don’t have to wait too long to see what future holds for our farms and ranches. National Agricultural Statistics Service is already laying out groundwork for 2017 Census of Agriculture. In the meantime, there is still plenty we can learn from the 2012 Census, so feel free to check it out atwww.agcensus.usda.gov.

    

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Tags: cattle, Census of Agriculture, Conservation, corn, Livestock, NASS, Nebraska, organic

Arkansas Conservation Partners Have a Big Impact in the St. Francis River Watershed

From the USDA:

Posted by Diane Schlenker, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Arkansas, on April 1, 2015 at 12:00 PM

Fred Stuckey, of Stuckey Farms Partnership, reviews his conservation plan with Chris Culver, the local NRCS district conservationist in Poinsett County. NRCS photo.

The St. Francis River in Missouri and Arkansas has suffered for years from turbidity, or cloudy water caused by runoff of sediment, but thanks to the dedication of government and non-government groups as well as farmers, the river’s water quality is improving.

Two segments in Arkansas were listed in 2006 as an impaired waterway under the Clean Water Act because of poor water quality. But in 2014, following years of focused conservation work, the two segments were removed from the impaired waterway list because water quality had greatly improved.

The St. Francis River begins in southeastern Missouri, flows across Arkansas, and empties into the Mississippi River near Helena, Arkansas. Soils eroding from farm fields have washed into waterways that flow to the river, contributing to water quality problems downstream.

Beginning in 2010, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) accelerated efforts with farmers and ranchers, as well as conservation partners in the watershed, to implement conservation systems on 479 farms and ranches in order to curb soil erosion, improve the quality of water coming off of fields, and enhance irrigation efficiency.

Water is pumped onto a rice field through an irrigation pipeline, a component of an irrigation water management system that helps improve water quality and quantity. NRCS photo.

This conservation work was through NRCS’ Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, which funded five projects in the St. Francis River watershed. These projects enabled farmers to implement NRCS conservation systems that avoid, control, and trap nutrients and sediment leaving their fields. NRCS invested more than $14 million through five projects in the watershed, putting conservation systems on more than 81,227 acres.

Through a targeted approach to implementing voluntary conservation systems, the partners identified areas of high conservation need and tailored practices, such as nutrient management, residue and tillage management, water control structures, and irrigation pipelines, to the uniqueness of small watersheds near the St. Francis River and specific environmental concerns, including the turbidity issue, and excess nutrients.

MRBI provided Fred Stuckey, of Stuckey Farms Partnership, the financial assistance to help establish a detailed nutrient management plan throughout his 8,000 acre operation. The financial incentives supported development of detailed soil maps, and combined with yield maps, provide even more data to better make nutrient management decisions.

“As a result, we have seen our overall input costs decrease,” Stuckey said. “We are also confident that increased management has led to improved water quality benefits not only on the farm but also throughout the watershed.”

This work builds on the work of conservation districts in the area, including the Cross County Conservation District and Poinsett County Conservation District. The districts have helped farmers install water control structures that trap sediment and have been leaders in promoting the use of no-till.

“By bringing all of the partners to the table to address the water quality concerns in the St. Francis, we were able to get results,” said Mike Sullivan, NRCS State Conservationist in Arkansas. “These MRBI projects have shown that targeted approaches in small watersheds can be very effective to improve water quality and maintain viable agricultural operations.”

MRBI is one of many landscape-level efforts to address water quality; similar efforts are ongoing in the Great Lakes region, Gulf of Mexico region, Chesapeake Bay watershed and California Bay Delta region.

More than 18,000 acres of cover crops have been planned in the five MRBI projects since 2010. Cover crops help improve water quality and soil health and control soil loss. NRCS photo.

    

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Tags: Arkansas, Clean Water Act, Conservation, Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative, Missouri, NRCS, watershed

Newly Launched AgResearch Magazine Showcases USDA Scientific Research in a New Way

From the USDA:

Posted by Chavonda Jacobs-Young, ARS Administrator, on April 1, 2015 at 11:00 AM

Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) new monthly digital magazine, AgResearch, launches today. Check it out!

Today, I am proud to announce the launch of the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS) new digital AgResearch magazine.  AgResearch is a monthly product designed to highlight short features on the scientific research discoveries occurring at the 90-plus ARS research laboratories across the Nation and abroad.

The new magazine replaces the previous print edition of the agency’s Agricultural Research magazine, which debuted in early 1953 and published its last print edition in 2013.  Back then, the bimonthly publication focused on agricultural research stories that addressed the growing food, fiber and agricultural needs of post-World War II America.  Today, we still have that same commitment to bring our readers the research discoveries that have an impact on their everyday lives.

How people seek and use information has changed, and technology has changed as well.  The new design and layout of the magazine is geared towards the digital/mobile user’s experience.  Simple, responsive designs, content layout and navigation can accommodate multiple mobile devices and helps users with optimal viewing and information access.

The new magazine offers consumers a way to access our information that is easy to use, easy to understand, and provides an informative, engaging and enhanced digital experience.  It includes new features like key facts so that readers can quickly scan for information, as well as additional resources—like related scientific publications and other valuable background information—for those interested in delving deeper into the science.

AgResearch magazine is written and produced by the agency’s communications staff, whose mission is to help disseminate the results of our research to the American public.  This is an enormous task—covering the work of nearly 2,000 research scientists with thousands of research projects underway.  So, we’re enlisting your help to share our research stories and images, which comprise one of the most widely accessed products on the agency’s Web site.  We’ve made it easier for you to do that with “share” tools.  See a story or a photo you like?  Share it with your friends and colleagues or send us a note and let us know what you think.

We may have a new look and layout, but we still have that same commitment to agricultural research reporting that started with this product more than 60 years ago!  We can’t wait to continue this tradition and bring you more stories about how our scientists are helping to develop solutions to the most perplexing agricultural problems that face our Nation’s farmers, ranchers and food producers.

We hope you enjoy the new AgResearch magazine!

Subscribe here to receive monthly email alerts when a new issue is posted:  http://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/subscribe.

    

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Going to Great Heights for Data and Atmospheric Monitoring

From the USDA:

Posted by Carita Chan, Research & Development, U.S. Forest Service, on March 31, 2015 at 3:00 PM

Carita Chan was excited to get to ride in a Sno-Cat for the first time. U.S. Forest Service photo.

What lengths would you go to for the pursuit of science?

That’s a question I asked myself when I had the opportunity to participate in data collection at the Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiments Site with John Frank and John Korfmacher, Electronics Engineer and Physical Scientist respectively, at the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station.

The Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiments Site, or GLEES, is located in the Snowy Range of the Medicine Bow Mountains, within the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. The remote site’s 600 hectares (1,480 acres) are composed of a watershed located in mountainous terrain at 3,200 to 3,500 m (10,500 to 11,500 ft.) elevation.

With its unique hydrological and topographical features and diversity of plant species, this site has been ideal for investigating the effects of atmospheric and climate changes on alpine and subalpine ecosystems. There has been a rich history of research at the site, and an extensive collection of information, spanning the fields of meteorology, hydrology, geology, and ecology, dating back to the 1930s. Currently, there are two major sites for meteorological and air quality monitoring, one located by the Glacier Lakes and the other by the Brooklyn Lake.

John Korfmacher (left) maintains a rain gauge. John Frank (right) repairs a snow depth sensor. Credit: U.S. Forest Service.

Each Tuesday, Frank and Korfmacher make the trek from the Rocky Mountain Research Station headquarters in Fort Collins, Colorado, to the site. They, sometimes joined by colleagues, have made this trek without fail each week for more than a decade regardless of weather conditions and holidays. On this particular excursion in early February, the deep snow drifts meant having to switch from the Forest Service rig to a Sno-Cat, a special tracked vehicle for heavy snow conditions, to reach the monitoring sites. But even the Sno-Cat can only get you so far in such remote, forested terrain.

The last portions of the journey to the monitoring towers required snowshoeing/cross-country skiing. Although this time the trek was only a few hundred feet, during early- and late-season conditions when there is more snow it could be up to two miles.

It is physically demanding work, and the passion and dedication that these men have for the land and their research blew me away. They are proud of their contributions to national and international monitoring networks. For example, precipitation is collected at the site as part of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network, which monitors the chemical composition of precipitation, such as rain or snow, to determine trends in air and water quality. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is also measured at the site, as part of the Long-term Flux Measurement Network of the Americas (AMERIFLUX) and global FLUXNET. This information contributes to global efforts to better understand atmospheric processes and movements of chemical compounds, and how they affect high-elevation ecosystems. Collecting the data is only a small portion of their jobs. Frank studies how ecosystems exchange carbon, water, and energy with the atmosphere, especially following a spruce beetle outbreak. Korfmacher investigates the deposition of pollutants from the atmosphere and how it impacts local hydrology.

My one day with Frank and Korfmacher was filled with firsts for me – riding a Sno-Cat, snowshoeing, and participating in data collection at one of the coldest, most remote sites I’ve ever been. But for these guys, it’s just another day at the office.

Apparatus for collecting precipitation samples, for analysis of atmospheric pollutants deposited in precipitation, located at West Glacier Lake in Montana. U.S. Forest Service photo.

    

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