Growing Returns

New resources help farmers and advisers maximize sustainability and profitability

By Jamie Powers / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: February 12, 2019

Winter is a critical planning period for farmers and their advisers. As they gear up for the 2019 growing season, a new set of resources can help build operational resilience in the near- and long-term.

Sustainability Programming for Ag Retailers and CCAs (SPARC) was recently launched by the Agricultural Retailers Association, the American Society of Agronomy, Environmental Defense Fund and Field to Market to provide farmer advisers with resources and training modules to help producers continuously improve agronomic and environmental outcomes.

Here’s why advisers should take advantage of SPARC resources as they help farmers plan for the year ahead. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged ag retailers, Field to Market, productivity, profitability, SPARC, sustainable agriculture | Read 1 Response

How the Army prepared me for a conservation career in agriculture

By Jamie Powers / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: January 16, 2018

I’ve always been mindful of the environment, but it never struck me that conservation was something you could focus on professionally. It was just something that you cared about.

That’s why my career until now has included a range of other pursuits – playing music professionally and teaching percussion to public school students, collecting and analyzing intelligence in the U.S. Army, and conducting social network analysis for the Department of Defense.

When U.S. military involvement (and thus my own involvement) in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began to diminish, I took stock of what was important to me and what I wanted to spend the rest of my career doing. Read More »

Posted in Supply Chain / Tagged agricultural retailers, Agricultural Retailers Association, agronomy, American Society of Agronomy, Certified Crop Advisers, fertilizer, Field to Market, military, Partnerships, SPARC, sustainable agriculture, veteran | Comments are closed

Why ag advisers should increase conservation offerings to farmers

By Jamie Powers / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: April 28, 2017

Ag retailers help these farmers manage their farm sustainably Farmers have a host of competing priorities clamoring for their time, energy and money. Fortunately, they often have trusted advisers to help them make good decisions for their operations – including about conservation practices on the farm.

These practices, such as improving fertilizer efficiency and planting cover crops, can provide significant benefits for farmers: increasing or stabilizing yields, reducing erosion, and ensuring more of the fertilizer applied delivers yield instead of being lost to water or air. They can also increase profitability.

But in order to get the best bang for every conservation buck, many of these practices require technical and agronomic expertise. As PrecisionAg suggested, who better to help integrate these practices into farm operations than the ag retailers and consultants who know their clients’ farms so well?

By expanding their conservation service offerings, ag retailers and crop advisers can meet growing demand from farmers – while also keeping their businesses, and that of their farmer clients, competitive. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged ag retailers, conservation district, conservation tillage, cover crops, crop advisors, extension services, extreme weather, fertilizer, fertilizer efficiency, Iowa State University, Natural Resources Conservation Service, no-till, nutrient efficiency, nutrient management, resilience, soil erosion, soil health, sustainable agriculture, USDA NRCS, water quality | Read 3 Responses