The Back 40

Ken Burns’ new documentary, The Dust Bowl, focuses on a period of the 1930s that consisted of severe dust storms that caused agricultural and ecological damage to prairie lands in the United States and Canada. The often cited reason for the dust storms is the lack of conservation practices in use at the time. More specifically, land [...]

An innovative new partnership between Dane County and farm families that will keep fields full of crops and area lakes and streams cleaner kicked off early this morning. Dane County Executive Joe Parisi joined Town of Springfield farmer Jeff Endres and other officials this morning to survey some of the 280 acres of farmland that [...]

By Ryan Stockwell, National Wildlife Federation Driving home one evening earlier this summer, I noticed a lot of water in roadside ditches after a sizable storm rolled through the area.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to see if there were any visible differences from the farming practices I am implementing on my [...]

Although manure is an effective fertilizer, farmers find that it is too easy to add too much phosphorous to the soil. So, they are faced with reducing their manure use, keeping within phosphorous level limits, and supplementing the soil with nitrogen and potassium. However, increasing commercial nitrogen costs are driving farmers to alternative options such [...]

Kathleen Masterson writes about how farmers in California are concerned that climate change will adversely affect the state’s agricultural industry, even more so than other regions, due to its crop diversity, but a more immediate issue is the recent enactment of climate change regulations, which tax greenhouse gas emissions. California farmers worry about climate regulations [...]

By: Joseph Britt Edith Munro had a fine, accessible summary of nitrate reduction practices, recently published in Corn and Soybean Digest, that deserves comment. The Digest piece has good descriptions of five nitrate control practices:  cover crops, controlled (or managed) subsurface drainage, shallow drainage, subsurface bioreactors, and constructed wetlands.  Sand County Foundation, through its Agricultural [...]