New farm bill may be a good match for our Daviess-DeKalb County producers

by David Speidel, District Conservationist

The conservation provisions in the new farm bill may be a good match for our Daviess-DeKalb County producers. With the variety of farm operations in the area, different approaches are required to adapt the farm bill programs. The first step is to take a look at the farm management being used before selecting a specific program.

Last week I had the pleasure of spending some time with one of our producers that lived in a ‘tugged away valley’ that had a picture book back drop of tall treed hills with lush grass along the creek coming up to the house. On that real foggy morning the low clouds put just the right light on everything. Truly there is some beautiful country in this part of the state. In this part of the country, cattle is king and a practical common sense approach to management important. This producer referring to his hills, stated that there may be some “American Natives still back there” and was real glad he had seeded down the cut up fields some forty years ago. While the pasture could still use a couple more ponds, he does not over graze by using good herd numbers for this type of land. The better land, he uses for crop and hayland. Recognizing that even with terraces he needs to ‘do something more.’ So he still follows a rotation of wheat-clover-soybeans with just enough good residue management keeping the soil loss down to maintain long term productivity. With a little care applied on the graded terraces, field borders and grassed waterways an unassuming operation can be an award winner. This low input management style just fits this type of land and the owners easy going temperament.

Other producers like to get over a lot of land quickly and have adopted no-till, parallel tile-outlet terraces with higher inputs. This requires daily management to adjust when to plant, what crop fertilizer and pesticide rate to apply and when. Many also manage livestock operations. Some are hog confinements needing waste lagoon analysis of waste application. Others may be cattle producers using high management levels to maximize the herd numbers with intensive grazing by the critical location of paddock fences and waters, combined with quick grazing rotations. Again the satisfaction of seeing ‘your plan’ come together drives a number of producers to use the latest best management available.

Every farmer approaches how he or she handles the operation in a unique manner that suits his style the best. For producers who have found that ‘right’ piece of land that lends itself to the way it’s owners know best how to farm, then it seems everything just falls into place. The underlying common denominator for each producer is that they generally develop plans which are practical, using common sense methods. They are a little conservative on trying new things and willing to discuss with neighbors what works, even letting the other guy try it out first. The new Farm Bill Conservation Programs, if we stay on top of them, will allow our producers time to study up on the details first before making commitments they aren’t ready for. But planning needs to start soon.

The 59 cost-sharable or incentive-based conservation practices available in the new EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program) can be simplified into similar resource conserving groups. To qualify for the environmental benefit based on a score for the degree of protection applied and the sensitivity of the general site, determine the competitiveness of the application. The new program does not consider the cost. In fact the total funds that could be spent during the life of this farm bill is $450,000. This is considerably more than in the past. The only time the project costs matters now is if the producers are treating more than one resource. Then the higher priced one must have its environmental benefits credited. Our state planners have done a good job of using this to complement several existing programs.

Animal waste projects have been underutilized in the state and do not have state program funding. Now this is one of the top resource concerns for EQIP drawing very high environmental benefit points. Next grazing land health, forest health, wildlife management and stream bank stabilization resource concern practices seem to have good potential to score well. Soil erosion, and the nutrient and pesticide resource concerns, while important, do have good existing programs available and have been adjusted to score less competitively for EQIP. These practices are very important and can be part of any producer’s plan, but the odds of approval are better if part of that program has a wide group of resource issues being addressed.

Producers interested in the new farm bill conservation program should first consider updating their existing conservation plans. Determining just what your farm needs are, tailoring that plan to your operation and management objectives, is essential before a satisfactory EQIP conservation plan of operations can be developed later this fall or next year. Taking the time in the next few months to visit with the Maysville-Gallatin Natural Resources Conservation staff to review what your personal conservation objectives are will pay dividends later if a EQIP program is requested.