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What Do I Need to Plant CRP?
Looking to enroll or just recently enrolled land in CRP? If you’re new to the program, it’s natural to have a few questions. The Conservation Reserve Program has a number of specific requirements that contract holders must follow, including what seed is used, how it’s planted, and how it’s maintained. Before you get too far along in
The Effects of Tilling on Soil
Farmers have long employed various methods to disrupt soil, using sticks, hoes, ards, rakes, and plows to turn the ground and prepare farmland. This is process is known as tillage. Tillage serves a number of purposes including seed bed preparation, burying crop residue, leveling soil, spreading nutrients, mixing in fertilizer, and activating pesticides. It’s also very helpful with
CRP vs. Crop Rotation – What’s Best for My Land?
Growing the same crops in the same spot year after year can take a toll on soil, depleting it of certain nutrients and leaving it unbalanced. As the soil’s health decreases, water runoff and erosion increases, damaging the soil further. Ultimately, this results in weaker crop yields. Farmers have long employed techniques to combat this. One of the more aggressive methods of keeping soil balanced
How Soil Erosion and Farming Practices Lead to the Dust Bowl
In 1929, the United States stock market crashed, kickstarting a decade long period known as the Great Depression. The exact causes for this crash are heavily debated to this day, though common factors typically include overproduction of crop and industrial materials, overpricing of stock values, and easy credit/loan practices. Farmers were already in a tough spot leading
The Importance of Pollinator Diversity in CRP
The honeybee has long been the US’s main pollinator, contributing over $15 billion to our economy every year. Over the past few decades, however, the honeybee has seen its population cut in half largely due to colony collapse disorder. If things continue at this rate, the honeybee could be extinct by 2035. Unfortunately, counteracting CCD directly has proven to be difficult. Eliminating the use
How CRP Can Help Restore Balance to the Environment
This past month, we’ve been examining the effects that agriculture and the environment can have on each other. While farming does immeasurable good for people around the world, certain modern practices can take a toll on soil, water supplies, animal habitat, carbon emissions, and more. Meanwhile, changes in the earth’s climate have caused disruption to the seasons and cycles that