The time has come for a shift in our conservation programs. It’s time that we get away from the stale approach of managing for erosion control and move instead to the next level of conservation, which is managing for soil quality.

For nearly 50 years, the Coon Brothers Farm has been known for its conservation stewardship. Located in the northeastern rolling hills of Dutchess County, New York, almost exactly halfway between New York City and Albany, the Coon Brothers Farm is named Conservation Technology Information Center’s next Champion of Conservation.

As farm diesel prices climbed past $2.50 per this fall, the fuel-saving benefits of no-till and conservation tillage began to sound more appealing than ever. Skyrocketing fuel prices have sent many growers back to the desk to pencil out their budgets for their ’06 crops, and cutting tillage is naturally getting a lot of attention.

Considerable research has demonstrated that runoff from manure application on frozen or snow-covered ground has a high risk of serious water quality impact – and that trusted best management practices (BMPs), including vegetated filter strips, can be of little help in winter.

Like many Iowa farmers, Dirk Dunn of Villisca had an area of cropland that was too wet to farm; an area that only in the driest of years could be farmed for profit. Each spring it filled with water and remained saturated throughout the planting season, leaving no choice but to mud in a crop.

Once known for its diverse sport fish population, Bass Lake, a small lake in northeastern Marinette County, Wisconsin, was gaining a reputation for severe nonpoint source pollution. According to Greg Sevener, Watershed Specialist with the Department of Natural Resources, Bass Lake was placed on the Wisconsin 303(d) list of impaired waters because of high phosphorus, low dissolved oxygen levels and fish kills.

Four pork production operations that have demonstrated their commitment to environmental conservation have been named 2005 Environmental Steward Award winners by the Pork Checkoff and National Hog Farmer magazine.

When John Oglesby of Washington County, Miss., first tried conservation tillage on 200 acres of his soybeans in 1978, he found few places to turn for information. After more than two decades of pioneering conservation tillage practices in the region, Oglesby put his name and reputation behind a big idea – to establish a premier conservation demonstration farm to serve Mid-South Delta farmers.