The Soil Health Partnership (SHP), a program of the National Corn Growers Association, and IL Corn are excited to announce a new project focusing on helping farmers understand and implement new soil health practices and connecting those practices to farm profitability. The project is funded by the USDA Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) Program, the on-farm trial portion of which was authorized in the 2018 Farm Bill.
There are more than 2 million farms across the United States, tended by men, women and families who produce the crops that feed, fuel and clothe the world. They care deeply for the lands and waters that sustain their livelihoods, but as the global population continues to grow, our nation’s farmers are under increasing pressure to produce more crops while also protecting the environment.
Terry Bachtold of Strawn, Illinois, has been farming his entire life. He grew up with cattle and hogs along with an annual rotation of oats, soybeans, corn and hay.
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Steve and his family have a corn and soybean farm in southeast Iowa, alongside a 1500 pig finish operation. Steve’s father had a strong conservation ethic, and began implementing no-till on the land in the 1970s. It was a natural progression to begin putting in cereal rye.
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Brent Bible has practiced no-till farming and the use of cover crops for several years on some of his nearly 3,000 acre farm. But it has been a scattershot approach without measurable results. By joining the Soil Health Partnership, he takes a more disciplined approach, looking for a better understanding of soil health, improvement in his operation’s efficiencies and enhancement of his bottom line.
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