About 130 farmers, agency staffers, soil and water conservation district personnel, environmental and agribusiness leaders, and others gathered on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay for CTIC’s “Bringing Back the Bay” Conservation in Action Tour July 10 and 11.

 

The Chesapeake Bay has become the proving ground for a wide range of best management practices (BMPs) designed to protect the fragile system from excess nutrients and sediments flowing in from a 64,000-square-mile watershed that reaches all the way into New York State. Area farmers have become experts in managing nutrients at every level, from applying manure and commercial fertilizer to minimizing runoff from their fields.

 

In addition to perspectives on innovative practices from a range of crop, dairy and poultry producers, Conservation in Action Tour participants heard from Hoopers Island Oyster Company co-founder Johnny Shockley and Oyster Recovery Partnership fisheries scientist Julie Reichert-Nguyen. The shellfish experts described not only how agricultural practices impact oyster fisheries in the Bay, but also how oysters play a role in reducing nutrient levels in the system and could be managed in conjunction with other water-protecting BMPs. Agricultural advisor Kelly Shenk of U.S. EPA tied together the broad spectrum of stakeholders in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

 

Chip and Jason Councell—the 10th and 11th generation on their family farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore—shared their conservation ethic as well as their consumer-focused marketing program, while Bobby and Kyle Hutchison demonstrated how they live up to the sign in their office that reads, “Maryland Farmers Protect the Bay Every Day” on their diversified grain and vegetable operation.

 

Even the relatively new site of the tour dinner, the 2015-vintage Triple Creek Winery, is rooted in five generations of local farming by the Spies family. With deep roots in the community and the eyes of Washington—and the world—focused on the Bay’s recovery, the farmers and fishermen of Maryland’s Eastern Shore are pushing conservation into a new era. Next year’s Conservation in Action Tour—CTIC’s 12th annual—will be held in the Des Moines area. Watch www.ctic.org/CIATours for details so you can mark your calendar and join us!

 

 

Conservation in Action Tour participants fill the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Center.

Conservation in Action Tours provide a close-up look at BMPs.

Alex Echols of Ecosystem Services Exchange describes controlled drainage management systems.

For decades, CTIC distributed the CRM Survey, data on conservation practices that had been gathered by hundreds of conservationists in painstaking transect surveys. Today, CTIC, Applied GeoSolutions (AGS) and The Nature Conservancy are collaborating on a new effort to take crop residue and cover crop surveys into the space age, using data gathered by multiple satellites and processed through AGS's validated calculations. 

 

The Operational Tillage Informational System (OpTIS) produces accurate, timely maps of crop emergence, crop residue and winter cover crops using publicly available satellite data. Data are aggregated to county or watershed resolution to protect the privacy of individual farmers. 

 

OpTIS data can be helpful to many users, including: 

 

"We know that improving soil health on America's farmland can significantly improve our water quality, store more carbon, and help farmers sustainably produce more food," said Pipa Elias, soil health strategy lead for The Nature Conservancy. "OpTIS is an important, innovative technology that will empower an array of stakeholders, including conservation organizations, with the information they need to efficiently provide farmers with the tools they need to adopt proven soil health practices."

 

AGS and CTIC conducted a pilot project to test, ground-truth and document the capabilities of OpTIS using remote sensing data and archived land use information across the state of Indiana. These Indiana data, covering 2005 through 2015, will be available on CTIC's new website, which is due to launch soon. 

 

Phase 1 data, covering the entire U.S. Corn Belt from 2005 to 2017, will be available through a simple, flexible interface on the CTIC website by April 2019. Phase 2, covering all U.S. counties with more than 5,000 acres of row crops, is targeted for release in 2021. 

 

Watch www.ctic.org for the release of OpTIS data. For more information, contact Dave Gustafson at CTIC.

CTIC's ongoing sustainable supply chain project in Iowa has shifted to engage local retail agronomists, certified crop advisors (CCAs) and individual farmers to advise and advocate for the adoption of critical conservation systems identified in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. 

 

The first four years of the project, which included agronomic consultation and cost-share funding for farmers, helped producers in six critical watersheds plant nearly 40,000 acres of cover crops. A three-year extension funded by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) allows the effort to now shift to building capacity among trusted crop advisors in the Skunk River watershed. 

 

Technical assistance is key to success with cover crops, notes CTIC project director Mike Smith. 

 

"Those relationships will be enhanced by a training and incentive program," Smith adds. CTIC is working with Practical Farmers of Iowa and The Nature Conservancy to deliver technical assistance to advisors and retailers. 

 

Understanding advisor awareness, attitudes and behaviors will be vital to ensuring that farmers get the support they need in adopting such important conservation practices. For more information, contact Mike Smith at CTIC. 

 

CTIC's far-reaching Economic, Agronomic and Environmental Benefits of Cover Crops project - commonly called "Let's Do The Math on Cover Crops" - is in the final stage of pulling together data on the impact of cover crops on honey bee habitat. With data from The Ohio State University, CTIC will soon provide insight into cost-effective opportunities to provide pollinator forage on agricultural landscapes. 

 

In the meantime, the project's outreach effort got a huge boost this season from long-time CTIC partners at Penton/Farm Progress. Kurt Lawson, editor in chief of Corn and Soybean Digest, worked with our team to source several articles on cooperators in the program. Among the CTIC-penned articles that ran in this top publication were: This April cover story on cover croppers John and Dean Werries of Chapin, Illinois.  Insight from Purdue's Eileen Kladivko on nitrogen cycling in cover crops.  Reflections from Adam Perry of northwest Ohio on cutting costs by adopting cover crops.  Thoughts from farmers and their landlords on cover crops on rented land.    The "Let's Do The Math" project has also provided valuable insight into researching multi-variate topics, notes project manager Mike Smith at CTIC.

Data from the “Let’s Do The Math On Cover Crops” project is providing insight into providing pollinator forage on agricultural landscapes.

 

"What we learned through this project has already been put to use," Smith says. "Purdue's Ag Economics Department developed an improved data collection framework intended to increase the accuracy of ongoing research into cover crop economics. The experience also enabled CTIC to serve as a consultant for the design and management of the Honey Bee Health Coalition's Bee Integrated Demonstration Project."

 

Dave is leading the CTIC Board in a search for a full-time executive director. Contact him with leads or ideas. 

 

 

• Access to research and information on conservation agriculture
• National recognition for supporting agricultural conservation
• Networking opportunities unparalleled in agriculture or conservation
• Opportunities to participate in research and demonstrations of conservation practices
• Interaction with technical professionals and policymakers