Source: USDA, 9/29/20
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is awarding $25 million in
grants designed to help partners implement and evaluate innovative conservation
practices that have demonstrated benefits on farmland.The
funding is provided through On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials (On-Farm
Trials), a component of the Conservation Innovation Grants program first
authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill. “On-Farm Trials help producers improve the health of their operations while at the same time helping NRCS build data to show the benefit of innovative conservation systems and practices applied on the land,” said NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton. On-Farm
Trials awardees work with NRCS and farmers and ranchers to implement innovative
practices and systems on their lands that have not yet been widely adopted by
producers. Awardees are required to evaluate the conservation and economic
outcomes from these practices and systems, giving partners, producers and NRCS
critical information to inform conservation work in the future. Fourteen
projects are receiving On-Farm Trials awards, including six awards under the
banner of the Soil Health Demonstration Trial. These six projects focus on the
adoption and evaluation of soil health management systems and practices. The
remaining projects focus on irrigation water management, precision agriculture
and a variety of management technologies. This year’s awarded projects: =
A collaborative effort between the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,
Texas State University, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, and
Texas producers, this project focuses on the long-term regional implementation
and evaluation of cover crops and improved tillage practices in degraded,
subtropical soils on arid, water-limited farms. Researchers will recruit
historically underserved farmers across the region to receive technical and
financial assistance to improve soil health. =
This project from North
Carolina State University adds new row crop farms to an
existing network of producers in an online co-learning environment integrating
technology, real-time data flow, and decision support tools to promote the use
of soil health management principles including carbon storage, nitrogen
cycling, and water infiltration and storage. =
American Farmland Trust will
stimulate the adoption of various soil health practices by involving farms in a
coast-to-coast Soil Health Demonstration project demonstrating regionally
appropriate soil health strategies across three regions covering seven states
and six cropping systems. Through soil sampling, in-field assessment, and crop
management protocols AFT will track the short-term soil, economic, and social
changes occurring as farms transition to full soil health management systems. =
Clemson University will
engage North Carolina and South Carolina cotton farmers, including historically
underserved producers, to implement cover crops and conservation tillage.
Participating producers will grow winter cover crops and use conservation
tillage in cotton-based cropping systems to evaluate the impact on soil health
to increase the adoption of these practices among cotton growers region-wide. =
The University of Hawaii will
establish a network of on-farm Soil Health Management Systems demonstrations
that are individually tailored, regionally adapted, and managed by farmers, in
collaboration with participating farms in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and
three Hawaiian Islands. The project emphasizes engagement with historically
underserved Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic farmers and
restorative efforts on degraded or abandoned agricultural lands in rural
communities. =
The University of Florida will
work with producers to institute a rapid, efficient, and near real-time method
of estimating root zone soil moisture in vegetable farms, with a long-term goal
of helping agricultural producers and stakeholders achieve balance between
water resource conservation and farming profitability through improved
irrigation accuracy and planning. =
Vermont Land Trust will
work with test farms to plan and implement a four-part Soil Health Management
System for each site including: no-till seeding of forage and cover crops;
nutrient management via application of compost and bioavailable soil
amendments; non-invasive mechanical pasture improvement; and
management-intensive rotational grazing of livestock. Outcomes will be
evaluated against five control sites and used to produce a predictive pasture
health model. =
Michigan State University will
work with producers to field-test a low-cost remote sensor monitoring system in
corn, soybean, and small vegetable production plots. MSU will assess adoption
through surveys conducted in collaboration with partners Michigan Farm Bureau
and Michiana Irrigation Association. =
University of Illinois, in collaboration with Washington State University’s Extension Program and cotton, corn, soy, and wheat producers, plans to deploy a data-intensive crop management system based on on-farm precision experiments. Farmers will use these tools to conduct site-specific, data-based evaluation of the yield costs of reducing nitrogen losses, enabling data-informed input management decisions. =
The University of Minnesota will implement on-farm corn PNM (precision nitrogen management) and monitoring trials on farms in Minnesota and Indiana in order to assess the agronomic, economic, and environmental benefits of PNM technology in comparison with farmers’ current nitrogen management practices under diverse on-farm conditions. =
Ridge to Reefs, Inc. will
bring together a coalition of organizations representing academia, public,
private, and non-governmental sectors in Puerto Rico to help farmers implement
improved Regenerative Production Systems consisting of a suite of Enhanced
Management Practices. Both small- to medium-scale farms will implement
practices focused on their specific resource concerns and production goals. =
Texas A&M University, in
collaboration with commodity boards and grower networks, will work with
soybean, corn, and cotton producers across eight states to enhance on-farm
adoption of integrated herbicide-resistant weed management practices through a
focus on cover crops and harvest weed seed control. =
In collaboration with corn, soybean, wheat, and cotton
producers, Michigan
State University aims to reduce nitrogen fertilizer losses
from agricultural fields by implementing two interconnected strategies:
site-specific, data-driven, variable-rate nitrogen fertilizer application
rates, and replacement of unprofitable and/or unresponsive areas with restored
native vegetation. =
Candidus, Inc. will implement and
demonstrate an advanced greenhouse lighting control system coupled with
site-specific lighting strategies, in cooperation with greenhouses in three
states, with the goal of improving greenhouse energy efficiency and increasing
profitability for growers. For
a full list of recipients or to learn more, visit the On-Farm Trials website.
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