Precision Conservation

Soil and Water Conservation

Voluntary Conservation Solutions

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On May 17, I had the privilege of testifying, in Washington D.C., to the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry.  Members heard from two panels of witnesses. The first panel examined the impact and cost of regulations on producers.  The second panel focused on voluntary conservation solutions to natural resource concerns.

As a member of the solutions panel, I was invited to talk about our innovative approach to increase technical assistance accessibility through the private sector (see video below). I was also able to highlight the importance of software technology to precision conservation, specifically SoilCalculator, which uses the soil erosion model RUSLE2 to drive its outputs.   

 

I firmly believe conservation can be accelerated by ag retailers who are equipped with state-of-the-art technology. It all starts with giving farmers the information they need to make a decision and providing fast and efficient technical assistance for implementation.

Other second panel witnesses included:

  • Celia Gould, Director of the Idaho Department of Agriculture
  • Lee McDaniel, President of the National Association of Conservation Districts
  • Terry McClure, President of McClure Farms LLC

Click to view the full oral testimony and expanded written testimony.

 

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  1. Rick Tafoya

    Hey Tom,
    Just had the opportunity to view the video of your testimony to the House Ag Co. Excellent job!! I’m glad to see that you were given this opportunity, and that you were able to deliver a very important message to the folks who need to hear it. Good points on how conservation technical assistance is changing, in that, Govt. is playing less of a role–for multiple reasons– but, Farmers still need the TA…they just need it more efficiently and w/ less bureaucracy. You made it clear on how the private sector can help fill this need. Again, great job and keep up the good work!

    • Tom Buman

      Thanks Rick,

      Back in the 80’s when I began my career with the NRCS (then the Soil Conservation Service), the agency talked about getting the private sector involved in conservation delivery. Unfortunately no one had a vision for what that system looked like. Again in the 90’s, with Conservation Compliance, conservation districts talked about involving the private sector in conservation delivery. However again no lasting partnerships were developed. Again in 2004 the TSP (Technical Service Provider) program was set up, but has been larger underutilized and ineffective.

      In this go-around I believe ag retailers are more committed to developing a viable and sustainable private sector deliver program. I am confident the ag retail sector will develop a system that allows farmers to go to their trusted adviser for conservation services.

  2. Vinayak Shedekar

    Hi Tom,
    Great testimonial speech! I really liked the way you explained the importance of “precision conservation”. I believe that is the need for today. Without the “location-specific problem-solving” approach, it would be difficult to address the “source” of problem (i.e. water quality downstream). One question that relates to travel time of nitrates to the ditches was very relevant. A short answer is, it could be in a matter of few hours on an average tile-drained field. I had conducted a tracer study in Ohio on silt loam soils, and recorded travel times as short as 45minutes.
    Keep up the good work! And congratulations!