Conservation Blogger

Biofuels and Climate Change are Hot Topics

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Pohl) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:29:00 +0000

Two articles in the Des Moines Register over the weekend demonstrate the fact that conservation is currently a hot topic and include comments from SWCS members.

Biofuels:
Caution urged in new ethanol work
By PHILIP BRASHER
Cellulosic ethanol can avoid some problems encountered with corn, but poses different environmental risks as well.

Washington, D.C. — Scientists urge caution in the way new versions of fuel ethanol are developed from crop residue, wood chips and other sources of plant cellulose.

Cellulosic ethanol is being billed as a way to replace imported oil without the use of food crops.

Click here for the full story.

Climate Change:
Climate change threatens to raise the stakes for Iowa farms
By PHILIP BRASHER
Washington, D.C. - The world already counts on Iowa to meet food production needs. A warmer world will count on Iowa even more.

If the Earth heats up as climate forecasts suggest, agricultural production is likely to fall in many parts of the world, especially in poor countries near the equator and in Australia, a key producer of grain.

Click here for the full story.

USDA Announces Public Access CRP Incentive

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:31:00 +0000

The USDA Farm Service Agency announced today that "USDA would fully implement President George W. Bush's directive to offer incentives to farmers and ranchers for opening up their land in the Conservation Reserve Program [CRP] to the public for hunting, fishing, bird watching and other recreational activities."

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer stated that the goal of this incentive is to double public access by providing up to 7 million acres of CRP land for public access in the next 5 years in participating states.

According to a USDA Farm Service Agency news release, "The CRP public access incentive permits partnerships with existing state public access programs to identify and mark tracts of land as publicly accessible and publish maps for hunters and recreation enthusiasts. The incentive is consistent with current state public access incentives and will enhance the ability of state game departments to use hunting seasons as a wildlife management tool."

Fore more information, go to:
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/10/0256.xml

Online Launch of the JSWC

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Pohl) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:02:00 +0000

The Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (JSWC) is now online! You can check it out here:

http://www.jswconline.org/

To ask questions or to gain access to online pdfs, contact Robin Hockaday, SWCS member services, at memberservices@swcs.org or 515-289-2331 ext. 118.

New Features are Available!

Electronic Tables of Contents
Be the first to know! Sign up for electronic table of contents (eTOC) alerts. You will be notified whenever new JSWC content is available online. To sign up for eTOC alerts, go here:
http://www.jswconline.org/cgi/alerts

Search Capabilities
In the advanced search form, you can search by year, doi, authors, or keyword. Once an article is selected, you can choose to pull up “Similar articles in this journal.”

Browse Archive Back to 1981
You can browse the journal archive by year or by cover image.

Rollover Abstracts
Get a preview! In the table of contents and search results pages, the article abstract (when available) will pop up in an overlay when you mouse over the article citation. (This feature currently works only for abstracts of Research Section articles; at some point in the future, it will also work for excerpts of A Section articles). Try it here:
http://www.jswconline.org/content/63/1.toc

Special Features
Once you have selected an article, you will find valuable options in the panel to the right:

Email this article to a friend
Alert me if this article is cited
Alert me if a correction is posted
Similar articles in this journal
Download to citation manager
Get permissions
Citing articles

View example:
http://www.jswconline.org/content/63/2/70.abstract

HTML Hyperlinked References
Reference lists are free for issues of 2008 and after. View example:
http://www.jswconline.org/content/63/5/273.refs

HighWire Platform
The online JSWC is hosted by HighWire Press at Stanford University, which also hosts Science, PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), SSSA Journal, Journal of Environmental Quality, Agronomy Journal, and thousands of other peer-reviewed science journals. The JSWC is one of the first journals to launch on the new HighWire H20 platform with new tools and features.

Contact Robin Hockaday, SWCS member services, at memberservices@swcs.org or 515-289-2331 ext. 118 for more information.

WEPPCAT: The Water Erosion Prediction Project Climate Assessment Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Pohl) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:04:00 +0000

Guest Post by Timothy Bayley
The WEPPCAT is a web-based extension of the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP). WEPPCAT allows users to model the effect that climate changes could have on soil erosion rates given user defined climate scenarios. Users are able to change rainfall intensity, total precipitation, number of wet days, and temperature highs and lows. WEPPCAT is the first model to allow easy manipulation of the intensity or volume of rain falling in individual storm events. In addition, WEPPCAT allows people to identify the optimal filter strip width for modified climate conditions using the filter strip assessment tool. The WEPPCAT model is recommended for use by land managers, farmers, planners, conservationists and teachers. The model is available in a web-based format accessible for free at http://www.weppcat.net/. Tutorials and scientific references are also available on the Web site.

Living Soil and Its Function

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Pohl) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:12:00 +0000

Guest Post By Jon Stika

Soil quality (the ability of the soil to function) should be the number one concern of all conservationists. The reason I believe this is that restoring and improving soil function is the solution to our natural resource problem and all the symptoms of that disease.
For many years, most conservationists have regarded soil erosion as a problem. Soil erosion is not a problem; it is a symptom of soil not functioning. For many years conservationists have prescribed conservation programs and best management practices as solutions. Conservation programs and best management practices are not the solution to natural resource concerns, they are tools.
First, we must understand that the problem is the fact that our soils are not functioning. Soil is supposed to regulate water, cycle nutrients, support plant and animal life, as well as filter, buffer, degrade, immobilize, etc. what ever is thrown at it.
Second, we must examine why our soils are not functioning. Our soils are not functioning because very few farmers, ranchers, researchers or conservationists understand what makes soil "tick" and so do not know how to manage soil so it can function to the best of its ability. What makes soil tick is the diversity of life (mostly microscopic) that is supposed to be living in it. Once we understand that the key to restoring soil function is to create and maintain suitable habitat for the microscopic life (aka the soil food web) in the soil, we will solve the natural resource problem of non-functioning soil, and the symptoms of soil erosion, water quality impairment, etc. will disappear. Soil aggregation, water infiltration, creation of organic matter, nutrient cycling, etc. are all at the mercy of the soil food web.
I have seen the results of managing for soil quality on several farms and ranches here North Dakota and am convinced that once folks understand that improving soil quality is the solution, they can intelligently apply tools to build it.

Farm Progress Show Roundtable Calls for Sustainability

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Pohl) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:45:00 +0000

Agriculture and sustainability was the topic of the press-only meeting at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.

Panelists discussed how to define sustainability and how to achieve it. Michael Doane, Monsanto director of the sustainable yield initiative, has a concise definition for sustainability: Produce more, conserve more.

Peggie James, the Natural Resources Conservation Services liaison to the Nature Conservancy and current SWCS president, observed that public sentiment is more supportive of conservation planning than it has been in the past.

"The public is now willing to donate more funding to conservation planning on private lands," James said.

Other panels agreed and noted that agricultural companies and retailers are making sustainability a priority.

Fred Lucky, executive vice president at Bunge North America, said, "We're engaged on both sides of the supply chain, so we have a unique ear - we can hear what's going on. What we hear is, consumers are very interested in this subject… It's a loud signal we have to pay attention to."

To learn more about what Peggie James shared at the Farm Progress Show or to listen to her speech, visit http://agwired.com/2008/08/28/the-art-and-science-of-soil-conservation/.

National Geographic Publishes Story “Our Good Earth – The Future Rests on the Soil beneath Our Feet”

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:34:00 +0000

Guest Post by Steve Chick, Nebraska State Conservationist

When National Geographic publishes a story on the value of soil quality then I begin to have hope that soil may finally begin to get its due respect. The story is really about the dire situation of abuse of soil around the world, but it certainly does not exempt the United States. It credited our transition to heavier and heavier equipment as a key culprit for soil compaction. It describes harvesters weighing 15 tons on tires as tall as men that use satellites to navigate themselves. It said, “Midwestern topsoil, some of the finest cropland in the world, is made up of loose, heterogeneous clumps with plenty of air pockets between them. Big, heavy harvesters mash wet soil into an undifferentiated slab—a process called compaction.”

The story cited Ohio State University soil scientist Rattan Lal and other “researchers and ordinary farmers around the world are finding that even devastated soils can be restored. “Political stability, environmental quality, hunger, and poverty all have the same root,” Lal says. “In the long run, the solution to each is restoring the most basic of all resources, the soil.”

We are all familiar with the statement that the best offense is a strong defense. I think Lal would agree with my argument that the foundation of strong country begins with a commitment to a healthy soil.

Reprinted with permission by Steve Chick.

Edward Faulkner’s Plowman’s Folly Still a Masterpiece on Soil Quality

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:28:00 +0000

Guest Post by Steve Chick, Nebraska State Conservationist

Congressman Smith’s Field Representative Barb Cooksley recently loaned me a copy of the book Plowman’s Folly. I can honestly say it is a must read for any one interested in understanding and appreciating the value of minimizing disturbance to the soil.

On the opening page Faulkner writes, “The truth is that no one has ever advanced a scientific reason for plowing.” Later in the first chapter he wrote, “We have equipped our farmers with a greater tonnage of machinery per man than any other nation. Our agricultural population has proceeded to use that machinery to the end of destroying the soil in less time than any other people has been known to do it in recorded history.” It is well documented that we have lost as much as 12 inches of topsoil in Eastern Nebraska and Iowa, which has exposed mineral subsoil.

Faulkner went on to say, “The chief trouble with our farming is that we have concerned ourselves with the difficult techniques of supplying our farm crops with new materials for growth, when we could easily take full advantage of the almost automatic provisions of nature for supplying plants with complete rations in secondhand form. We have made a difficult job of what should be an easy one.” He was referring to our unfortunate reliance that quickly swept this nation for utilizing manufactured fertilizers instead of taking advantage of the natural fertilizer provided through crop residue.

Faulkner cited an excerpt from Paul Sears book Deserts on the March which reads, “The face of earth is a graveyard, and so it has always been. To earth each living thing restores when it dies that which has been borrowed to give form and substance to its brief day in the sun. From earth, in due course, each new living being receives back again a loan of that which sustains life. What is lent by earth has been used by countless generations of plants and animals now dead and will be required by countless others in the future…No plant or animal, nor any sort of either, can establish a permanent right of possession to the materials that compose its physical body.” Faulkner follows this with, “This is the solemn, necessary truth; and the earlier it becomes a part of our thinking, the more quickly can we plan intelligently the necessary work of recreating the soils on our farm lands. We have been too squeamish to visualize dead tissue being transformed into living, though with every mouthful we eat we demonstrate precisely that fact.”

There are many favorite quotes I can cite from this book, but one for sure is the following, “The task of this book is to show that our soil problems have been to a considerable extent psychological; that, except for our sabotage of nature’s design for growth, there is no soil problem.” Another quote that grabbed my attention is, “The drain tile and the moldboard plow, therefore, become suspect of complicity in robbing our people of their birthright of vigorous health—by stealing away vital elements from the plowsole before plant roots are able to salvage them. So logical does this inference seem that it is difficult to understand why it has never been investigated officially.” Faulkner’s point is that the plow was responsible for eroding away valuable topsoil, while the underground tile line sucked nutrients from the bottom side of the soil profile.

Faulkner said it took seven years of experiments and tests before he broke away from conventional ways of thinking about the soil. He said, “Then I discovered, through certain tests, that the trouble lay in the operation which preceded all of the tests, namely plowing. It was as if one tried to assemble a picture puzzle with the pieces upside down. By simply correcting basic error—by incorporating all of the organic matter into the surface of the soil—the difficulties all disappeared as if by magic.”

He said, “…if planting and cultivating equipment had been designed to operate in the trashy surface it would have left, there would never have been a moldboard plow. It should be clear that the immaculately clean material we now have on most of our farms cannot be called soil except by the most liberal license. Our ideal of the soil includes of necessity that it must be easy to work, free from obstructions. It must be tidy. The fact is that untidiness to an extreme—a surface covered or filled with abundance of decaying trash—is really the proper condition. We must, therefore, revise our ideas as to the nature of the material upon which we can depend for sustenance. We certainly cannot depend upon the almost white soils we now cultivate with the plow.”

I could go and on with citations from this book, but I will end this week with the following quote because it cited research work in Nebraska. “Planting can be done in a trashy surface. It had to be done so when the land was first cleared. Doubtless, it is easier to manage land which has nothing on the surface to be caught and dragged along by the sliding equipment we use for planting and cultivating. But, if the crop planted in such smooth land must necessarily produce a smaller yield because of the purity of the minerals (freedom from decaying organic matter); it seems logical to suggest the wisdom of trying to devise implements which negotiate the trashy surface. Equally, if crop yield s greater from a trashy surface, as has been proved by the official tests at the Nebraska Experiment Station, the desirability of the necessary equipment is beyond question.”

Edward Faulkner promoted the use of a disk harrow in place of the moldboard plow because at that time no-till planting equipment had not yet been invented that could directly plant seeds into undisturbed crop residue, but Faulkner clearly recognized the importance of leaving crop residue at or near the soil surface. Over the next couple of weeks I will share a little more information from this book – a book that is very difficult for me to put down.

Reprinted with permission by Steve Chick.

Conservation Benefits of Rotational Grazing

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:40:00 +0000

Guest posting by Dick Tremain

Iowa farmer Paul Ackley checks cattle watering tanks that are part of a new rotational grazing system NRCS designed for his farm. Ackley says he likes rotational grazing because the system allows him to raise the same number of cattle with one-third less land.

Rotational grazing is paying off for a Taylor County, Iowa, farmer. Paul Ackley, of Bedford, Iowa, says he can raise the same number of cattle on one-third less land thanks to rotational grazing. He installed fences, cattle watering tanks and lines, and methodically moves his 100-head of cattle among 15 paddocks so they always have fresh grass.

US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helped design and fund the building of Ackley’s watering systems and fencing in 2006.

Ackley said he’s found a number of benefits to rotational grazing. “The big benefit,” he said, “is needing only two acres per cow instead of three. This means we can now devote 120-acres of former pastureland to standing winter hay.

“Another benefit we have found,” he said, “is that flies tend to stay with manure. The manure helps us two ways. When we move cattle, the flies stay behind. This eliminates our need to spray cattle for flies. The manure also reduces our fertilizer bill by $8,000 per year because our pastures do not need chemical fertilizers.”

Ackley’s use of rotational grazing is a 180-degree turn from five years ago. “I used to think it was silly to fence cattle out of a pond,” he said, “but now I can see that’s the way it should be.”

Cattle are like mini-bulldozers to Ackley. “When they go down to a pond to drink, they push soil into the water, pollute it and fill it,” he said. “Soon I’ve got a major expense to dig it out so cattle can drink from it again.”

“Thanks to rotational grazing,” said Ackley, “the ‘bulldozers’ are leaving my stream banks and ponds alone. That saves me a lot of time I can devote to other things.”

Doug Davenport is the NRCS district conservationist for Taylor County. He says he sees this conservation practice as just one more the Bedford man uses to save soil. “Paul Ackley is a Conservation Security Program (CSP) participant which clearly demonstrates his strong belief in conservation,” said Davenport.

I didn’t happen all at once. Ackley has been farming for 40 years. Over much of that time, Ackley and the team of conservationists at the Taylor County Soil and Water Conservation District have worked together planning, finding financial assistance, and designing and installing many conservation practices on his 1,100 acres. “NRCS, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) have all worked with him on many soil saving practices,” said Davenport. “On his farm you can find filter strips, no-till, terraces, grassed waterways, wetland construction, and riparian buffers. It was a logical next step to suggest Paul apply for Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) financial assistance to help set up a prescribed grazing system for his cattle.”

Davenport’s team designed a paddock system for Ackley that allows him to use rotational grazing and keeps his cattle away from pond and stream banks. Water for the cattle is gravity fed from an erosion control structure and can be piped in from a high pressure water source on Ackley’s farm.

Ackley says this is the way to go. “I am very happy,” he said. “The cows are no longer ruining my ponds and stream banks. Cattle are getting better quality water because they are not loafing in the ponds and streams fouling the water they drink. Rotational grazing forces them to loaf elsewhere and scatter their manure evenly. Cattle end up getting better water and better grass. I like this system. It is a better way to raise cattle on fewer acres of land.”

Dick Tremain is a public affairs specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Des Moines, Iowa.

The Forgotten World Water Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (sworkman) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:50:00 +0000

From the CGIAR website

The recent World Food Summit provided a forum for active debate about the role of high oil prices, biofuels, changing consumption patterns and erratic weather in driving up the prices of basic foods. But oddly, participants paid less attention to the alarming decline in the availability of water over the last few decades. Read more...

2008 Annual Conference-related stories

noreply@blogger.com (Dewayne Johnson) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:00:00 +0000

These two stories from the Des Moines Register have an SWCS Annual Conference tie.

Guest column: To better manage water, you must better manage land (Duane Sand)
Having just witnessed nature at its worst, Iowans are called to our best as we rally to prevent such destruction in the future. More...
Duane Sand, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, was a presenter at the Getting the Water Right workshop on Wednesday, July 30th.

Article: Soil, water conservation took a beating in floods
Iowa's terraces and other soil and water conservation structures suffered $40 million in damage from heavy rain and flooding this year, according to a survey by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. More...
Dean Lemke, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, was a presenter at the Midwest Floods symposium on Tuesday, July 29th.

2008 SWCS Annual Conference Publications

noreply@blogger.com (Dewayne Johnson) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:09:00 +0000

The 2008 Annual Conference in Tucson, Arizona, starts in two days. If you can't make it, you can still download and read the two conference publications (the final program and the conference abstract book). Go to: www.swcs.org/08ac

Direct links:
Conference Program
Conference Abstract Book

Smithsonian Celebration of Soil

noreply@blogger.com (Ross Braun) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:31:00 +0000

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History unveiled “Dig-It! The Secrets of Soil” exhibit on July 17, 2008. Cristian Samper, director of the National Museum of Natural History, declared the exhibit a “Celebration of soil,” at the reception and preview. SWCS and SSSA members from all over the US participated.

The grand opening to the public was on Saturday, July 19. The Pritchard Lecture at the SWCS Annual Conference in Tucson, Arizona, will be a presentation about this new exhibit. You can learn more about this presentation at http://www.swcs.org/en/conferences/2008_annual_conference/pritchard_lecture/. “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil” occupies approximately 5,000 square feet in the National Museum of Natural History. It is on display through January 2010 when it will take to the road and will be displayed at over 10 museums around the US.

A soil monolith from each state, territory, and the District of Columbia are on display. Interactive stations include soil texture, color and parent materials, and the distribution of soils in the US. Displays and videos related soils to our daily activities and show water, nutrient, and gas movement in soil, soil formation, and more.

For more information, visit the Smithsonian exhibit Web site: http://forces.si.edu/soils/ and the Soil Science Society of America web site: https://www.soils.org/smithsonian/.

Tillage Found to be More Harmful than Previously Realized

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:02:00 +0000

An article in the recent issue of the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation reports that "filling ephemeral gullies on an annual basis during tillage operations may be more harmful to soil and water resources than previously realized."

The study finds that "routine filling of empheral gully channels during tillage practices may result in markedly higher rates of soil loss as compared to allowing these gullies to persist on the landscape, demonstrating a further advantage of adopting no-till management practices."

News release from the USDA Agricultural Research Service:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2008/080711.htm

Reference
Gordon, L.M., S.J. Bennett, C.V. Alonso, and R.L. Bingner. 2008. Modeling long-term soil losses on agricultural fields due to ephemeral gully erosion. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 63(4):173-181.

Ag Secretary Urged Not to Release Land from CRP

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:08:00 +0000

News release from Environmental Defense:

Fifteen conservation groups today sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer strongly urging him to reject pressure from Congress and producer groups "to allow the penalty-free early release of land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)." USDA has been urged to release up to 24 million acres from CRP - roughly three-fourths of the land currently enrolled in the program - and put it back into production. This move would result in a loss of billions of dollars of taxpayer investment in conservation on these lands.

"A penalty-free early release of the magnitude you are considering - millions of acres - would deliver a devastating blow to the nation's soil, water, and wildlife habitat, and significantly increase global warming," said the letter. "Because most CRP lands are marginal for cropping, even if all CRP acres were brought back into commodity production, the impact on aggregate commodity supplies and prices would be modest... We urge you to protect the taxpayers' investment in soil quality, water quality, and wildlife habitat and not allow landowners to leave CRP contracts early without fully reimbursing the Treasury for the taxpayer-funded investment in those lands."

"Biofuels Caused Food Crisis"

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:54:00 +0000

According to a confidential World Bank report leaked to the Guardian newspaper, "Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated."

The story is available here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy

Combined Earth Systems Science Agency Recommended

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:39:00 +0000

An article in the recent issue of Science magazine recommends combining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) into a new Earth Systems Science Agency.

According to the authors, "Addressing serious environmental and economic challenges in the United States will require organizational changes at the federal level."

Associated Press story: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_4RSLLOhub2xXzr5OjRl2OiLLUQD91MJV500

Science article (subscription required): http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/321/5885/44

SWCS Publication Program Call for Proposals

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:21:00 +0000

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) has released a request for proposals to be considered for its 2009 book and special publication program.

SWCS partners with leading authors to make the best in new conservation science, practice, and policy perspectives available to a broad audience. With over 60 years of publishing and hundreds of titles, SWCS is a trusted source in conservation publishing.

For more information, go to:

http://www.swcs.org/documents/SWCSBookProgramCall.pdf

The deadline for proposals is October 15, 2008. Submission details are included in the link.

SWCS Professional Takes Water Conservation Home

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:05:00 +0000

Today's Washington Post features an article about Soil and Water Conservation Society member Andrew Manale's rain garden:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070200900.html

Manale, who works for the US Environmental Protection Agency, is "among a pioneering class of gardeners who have turned to rain gardens, designed to slow and trap storm water in a way that's good for the garden and the environment."

Midwest Floods, Global Warming, and Managing Associated Challenges

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Pohl) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:30:00 +0000

Learn more about the increasing frequency of heavy rain, how floodplains are being managed, and how we can be better prepared in the future by tuning in to a teleconference on July 1 at 10 am Eastern time and 9 am Central. This teleconference is presented by the National Wildlife Federation. Speakers will include Dr. Amanda Staudt, a National Wildlife Federation Climate Scientist who will discuss the latest science on global warming, heavy rainfall, and increased flooding risk. David Conrad, who is the senior resource specialist with the National Wildlife Federation, will speak about national flood insurance legislation that is poised to move in Congress. The president of the Iowa Wildlife Federation, Joe Wilkinson, will share his on-the-ground perspective on the flooding. Nicholas Pinter from the Department of Geology at Southern Illinois University will talk about why flood levels have increased systematically through much of the Mississippi system, and how new estimates appear to dramatically underestimate the actual modern frequencies of large floods. To join in the call, dial 1-800-791-2345 pin 64083#.

NOTE: Birl Lowery and Pete Nowak from the University of Wisconsin-Madison are organizing a special symposium at the SWCS Annual Conference on conservation issues related to the Midwest floods. The symposia will be held on Tuesday, July 29th as a part of the 2008 SWCS International Conference in Tucson, Arizona. For more information, go to www.swcs.org/08ac.

Improving Industrial Farm Animal Production

noreply@blogger.com (Jacqueline Pohl) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:56:00 +0000

Current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) practices have several problems that need to be fixed according to the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production. First, IFAP practices put public health at risk. By having so many animals in close quarters, the opportunity for spreading disease is great. Farmers spend more time in closer contact with the animals, increasing the likelihood that disease will spread across species. IFAP animals are often fed antibiotics in an attempt to ward off disease, and this creates a golden opportunity for bacteria and other disease-causing organisms to become antibiotic-resistant as well.

Another problem the Pew Commission identifies is the IFAP’s impacts on the environment. For example, large amounts of animal waste accumulate at these facilities. While in theory, this waste could be used for fertilizer, there is too much waste, concentrated in too small of an area for it to be useful. When this waste is used as fertilizer, it allows nutrients, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones, and heavy metals to be washed into waterways. All of these chemicals can contaminate water. The excess nutrients promote algal blooms that use up all the oxygen in the water, causing sea life to leave or suffocate to death. Furthermore, these animal confinements are bad for the environment because of the release of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane.

Finally, the Pew Commission recommends the IFAP practices need to change because of the unjust treatment of animals. While we do our best to protect livestock from predation and disease, this does not justify intensive confinement of animals (gestation crates for pigs or battery cages for hens). They should be allowed to move around and proceed with natural behaviors. This helps keep distress at a minimum.

After identifying these problems, the Pew Commission came up with these recommendations to help the IFAPs improve:
1. Ban the non-therapeutic use of antimicrobials in food animal production to reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance to medically important antibiotics and other microbials.
2. Implement a disease monitoring program for food animals to allow 48-hour trace-back of those animals through aspects of their production in a national database.
3. Implement a new system to deal with farm waste to protect Americans from the adverse environmental and human health hazards of improperly handled IFAP waste.
4. Phase out the most intensive and inhumane production practices within a decade to reduce the risk of IFAP to public health and improve animal wellbeing (i.e., gestation crates and battery cages).
5. Federal and state laws need to be amended and enforced to provide a level playing field for producers when entering contracts with integrators.
6. Increase funding for, expand, and reform, animal agriculture research.

Conservation Tillage and the Floods

noreply@blogger.com (Dewayne Johnson) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:58:00 +0000

This post was the beginning of an email exchange among the members of the Science and Policy Committee of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. We've posted Pete Nowak's (UW-Madison) original comments as well as subsequent comments from Jerry Hatfield (NSTL), Dewayne Johnson (SWCS), and Andy Manale (EPA) over at the SWCS Network to prompt further discussion (http://swcsnetwork.ning.com/group/conservationimpactsof2008floods). ~Dewayne

Early last week I had a chance to drive from Madison to Nebraska City, Nebraska for a workshop at the Lied Center. This trip took me across SW Wisconsin, Central Iowa, and SW Iowa shortly after the significant rain events (I could not cut down and pick up I-80 as the Interstate was closed outside of Iowa City due to flooding).

What I saw was a tragedy in terms of our soil and water resources. I have not seen washing and gullies to this extent since I was a wet behind the ears assistant professor at Iowa State University in the early 1980s. Many of you will remember that this was before widespread use of various conservation tillage systems, and it was still a "normal" practice to moldboard plow fall soybean ground. The streams and rivers I crossed were dark brown with major streambank slumping evident. The travesty is what the science and policy communities allowed to happen on our agricultural lands in the Heartland. The only exception was those rare fields where continuous no-till was in use.

So you might be asking what this situation has to do with science and policy? I believe the science and policy questions revolves around how we could allow something like this to occur. When was the last time you saw conservation tillage or no-tillage being listed as a major research issue? Yet many of those "systems" failed in the rains last week. I suspect that many failures had more to do with how they were implemented rather than the inherent capacity of those systems. I do not buy the argument that this was a "natural" event where nothing could be done to prevent it! The lack of grassed waterways and other conservation practices that should have been part of the tillage system were absent in most cases. The Kansas City conference on conservation at the landscape scale had much to offer relative to explaining why this occurred, but to what extent are the science recommendations from that conference being addressed by the SWCS Board? Should not our committee be pushing the SWCS Board to reach out to other scientific societies to explore how we can design conservation at the landscape scale?

The policy side of last weeks tragedy is even worse. It was clear that a number of farmers were overcome with greed in pursuing high crop prices at the expense of common sense on how to treat the land. More important, where were our federal agencies in enforcing compliance on these now highly eroded land? We have laws in place but these laws are not being enforced by NRCS and others. Why not is a legitimate policy question. Another policy question is how we can be giving away tens of millions of federal dollars in the Conservation Security Program yet apparently this had little impact last week (a great research question). Any individual looking at the amount spent on conservation versus what happened has to wonder whether there was any thought given to how those dollars were allocated.

It seems to me that our agricultural federal agencies and Districts have redefined their role to one where they give away government checks with no expectation or responsibilities relative to conservation. It also seems to me that a lot of land grant university and federal agency research is focused on the latest "hot themes" where there is no obligation to finish the hot topics of yesteryear. Who has the responsibility to speak for the soil and water resources of this country if not the federal agencies and land grant scientists charged with this mission? Again, a messy policy issue that we would all rather avoid.

Let me repeat what I have stated many times with this committee in the past. Our mission is to raise the hard and unpopular questions with the SWCS Board. Ours is not to conduct a polularity contest where we all agree with the laest trends or research areas with new funding. There are some hard and unpopular questions that need to be addressed or at least raised for discussion. Under no circumstances should we allow the Board to be "blind-sided" by a science issue or policy question they did not anticipate. We (our committee) needs to be one step ahead of the SWCS Board on both science and policy themes.

Someone in Iowa or elsewhere is going to raise the questions listed above. Will the press catch on that we have another situation where it looks like all is going great until there is a real need, and then the system falls apart? Will the SWCS Board know how to respond? Look at the mission statement of SWCS and then ask whose job it is to work for the right science to be conducted on soil and water conservation questions. The same could be said for policy.

Let me repeat myself; if we will not speak for our soil and water resources, then who will?

Pete

Pete Nowak
Professor, Environmental Studies, Nelson Institute Soil & Water Conservation Specialist, UW-CALS ERC University of Wisconsin-Madison
64 Science Hall550 North Park Street
Madison, WI 53706608-265-3581
pnowak@wisc.edu

To participate in the discussion or read the other posts in the topic, please visit http://swcsnetwork.ning.com

SWCS Comments on Climate Change Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Anderson-Wilk) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:21:00 +0000

The Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) recently provided input to the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Water Program Climate Change Strategy.

In a letter to the agency (available here), SWCS President Peggie James recommended the following priorities for immediate action:

1. Focus more attention in planning and program implementation processes on currently well-understood practices that reduce damage from concentrated flow.
2. Focus more attention in planning and program implementation processes on protecting or repairing stream and riparian corridors.
3. Use current models and monitoring systems to indentify high-risk and high-value tributary watersheds that would benefit from focused conservation efforts.
4. Update climatic parameters used in conservation tools and planning approaches to include the most recent data and ensure that routine and periodic updates are completed in the future.

These recommendations are based on an SWCS special report available here.

Eroded soil sends message: Step up conservation

noreply@blogger.com (Dewayne Johnson) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Guest column in The Des Moines Register • June 18, 2008
BILL LEONARD of Des Moines is a former Register editorial writer.

Eroded soil sends message: Step up conservation
A huge hunk of Iowa is washing away with the Flood of '08 - a disaster whose magnitude dwarfs the visible impact.Soil scientists consider a soil loss of five tons per acre per year to be acceptable on most tillable soils. That's a small fraction of an inch off the top of the field. But this month, some Iowa farms lost more than that in a single day. That's the nutrient-rich topsoil that makes Iowa the nation's agricultural powerhouse - and that helps create a "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, where chemicals washed from Midwestern farms choke the oxygen supply needed by aquatic life.

It could have been prevented, or at least mitigated to a major degree. Read more...

World Food Summit

noreply@blogger.com (sworkman) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:29:00 +0000

Recent stories on the World Food Summit...

From The Economist:
June 5: Only a Few Green Shoots
"Some good ideas, but too little cash, were among the fruits of a global gathering"
Full story at: http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11502285

From the Guardian:
June 5: Rome food crisis summit ducks crucial issues
June 6: Food summit fails to agree on biofuels
"The world food summit in Rome has come to a delayed end after some angry exchanges in the closing stages, but it ended without agreement on some of the key policy decisions now confronting governments."
Full stories at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/05/food
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/06/food.biofuels

From IFPRI:
June 6: Food Summit: Some Progress But More Needs to be Done
"The UN food summit closes with a strong statement on agriculture, but fails to adequately address trade, biofuels, safety nets, and implementation."
Press release from IFPRI