Growing Returns

Selected tag(s): crops

How coastal restoration in Louisiana is helping rural communities in the Midwest

By Christina Rouse / Published: August 10, 2016

Hunkering down in a duck blind with my dad on the Cuivre River, which feeds into the Mississippi.

Clang. A knot of rusted chains pulls shut the driveway gate, bringing it closed with a final smack against a worn fence post. Just like that, my Sunday afternoon visit to our family farm in Clarksville, Missouri ends. After a quick trip home to Saint Louis, it’s time to catch a flight to Washington, D.C. for my internship.

But not before my dad asks, “Do you want to see downtown?”. I laugh, but agree to check it out. “Downtown” is a relative term in Clarksville – a quiet river community with fewer than 500 residents.

The streets slope down to the shoreline, where historic buildings meet the Mighty Mississippi. A few barges float nearby, unperturbed by the currents that pull toward the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a calm day on the river. I spot a sign emblazoned with a familiar red and white Army Corps castle. Just ahead, a concrete arm extends across the channel. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged agriculture, climate change, commerce, economics, ecosystems, environmental defense fund, farmers, farmland, flooding, floodplain, floods, Louisiana, Mississippi, Mississippi River, missouri, resilience, resiliency, shipping, supply chain, sustainability, water quality, watershed, weather, wetlands | Comments are closed

3 ways drones can help take agriculture to new sustainability heights

By Stephanie Businelli / Published: August 19, 2015

A drone collects data while in flight. Photo credit

Drone technology has been around for decades, taking to the skies to capture movie sequences, collect scientific data and scout territory. But there’s another industry where drones are really beginning to take off: farming.

Agriculture is on tap to make up 80 percent of the market for unmanned aircrafts in the next couple of decades. With the invention of newer, more effective technologies, drones have the potential to launch the agriculture industry into a future of sustainability.

4 ways drones are helping people and nature prepare for climate change

Rules of the sky

In February of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed long-awaited rules on the commercial use of small drones in the agricultural sector. The new regulations require operators to be certified, fly only during daylight and keep their aircraft in sight. Although this proposed legislation could take one or two years for final adoption, it marks a major step for the industry, as the guidelines provide the formal structure needed to legitimize drone use and advance the market for their production.

Although drone technology is still modifying production to increase ease of use and lower prices, these machines already have the potential to go a long way towards improving farmers’ bottom lines – and the environment. Here are three key benefits of drone use in agriculture: Read More »

Posted in fertilizer, sustainable agriculture, western water / Also tagged agriculture, algal bloom, california, cameras, dead zones, drones, efficiency, Federal Aviation Administration, runoff, sustainability, technology, vegetation, water quality | Read 2 Responses

How cover crops can help growers beat droughts and floods

By Maggie Monast / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: July 22, 2015

Cover crops can include grasses like cereal rye.

Corn is trying to fight this summer’s extreme weather, and unfortunately, the weather is winning.

There are serious floods in the Midwest, devastating droughts in California, and brutal heat waves along the eastern seaboard. Ohio for example had a record June rainfall of 11 inches, which stunted corn roots and prevented many growers from planting any corn crops. In Northwest Ohio alone, 100,000 acres were left unplanted. At the same time, places in my home state of North Carolina experienced a June heat wave during the critical corn pollination period, significantly damaging corn yields.

These extreme weather events leave many farmers searching for ways to make the best of a challenging growing season. Although June’s weather was the opposite in Ohio and North Carolina, cover crops offer a proven solution to deal with both conditions. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged agriculture, California agriculture, California drought, cash crop, climate change, conservation, Conservation Technology Information Center, corn, cover crop, drought, ecosystems, farm, farmer, fertilizer, flood, food, nitrogen, North Carolina, nutrient, Ohio, pollination, soil, Soil Health Partnership, soy, soybean, soybeans, SUSTAIN, sustainable, sustainable agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, sustainable grain, United Suppliers MB Gro Program, water use, western water, yields | Comments are closed

It’s official! Rice farmers now eligible for carbon offset payments

By Robert Parkhurst / Bio / Twitter profile / Published: June 25, 2015

Credit: Brian Baer Photography

The door is officially open for crop-based farmers to participate in carbon markets and earn new sources of revenue. The California Air Resources Board (ARB) just approved a new protocol for rice growers, representing the first ever carbon offset protocol for crop-base agriculture in a compliance market.

This means rice growers who implement conservation practices to reduce methane emissions can create and sell a greenhouse gas credit, commonly referred to as a “carbon credit.” Regulated California companies needing to reduce their emissions under California’s cap-and-trade program can now buy rice growers’ carbon credits.

The rice protocol milestone marks a new chapter for sustainable farming and shows the central role agriculture can play in solving the climate challenge.

ARB can now move forward in developing other agricultural offset protocols. The most interesting is a nutrient management protocol that would reward farmers who reduce nitrogen fertilizer losses to the air.

This “fertilizer protocol” has enormous potential for farmers and the environment – more than 400 million acres of cropland could be eligible for participation, and growers could contribute millions of tons of greenhouse gas reductions.

Here’s how the rice protocol works. Read More »

Posted in Carbon Market, Climate Resilience, Wildlife Protection / Also tagged agriculture, Air Resources Board, california, cap and trade, carbon offset, Carbon Offsets, climate change, conservation, credit, data, drought, emissions, farming, fertilizer, growers, methane, nitrous oxide, protocol, rice, rice cultivation, sustainable agriculture, water use, western water | Comments are closed

How nature can protect farmers against droughts and floods

By Eileen McLellan / Bio / Published: February 2, 2015

Wacky weather isn’t just a fluke. According to the National Climate Assessment (NCA), extreme weather events are becoming more common and are likely to increase in the future, which poses challenges for farmers and communities.

Traditional ways of responding to weather crises, such as building higher flood walls and digging deeper wells are expensive and often fail.

The good news is that farmers are increasingly turning to more natural solutions and practices, often referred to as “green infrastructure,” that use nature to reduce the impacts of both floods and droughts.

Green infrastructure is also needed to reduce fertilizer pollution and restore the Gulf of Mexico dead zone to safe levels, as a new study published today in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) reports.

Posted in Uncategorized / Also tagged agriculture, climate change, conservation tillage, cover crops, drought, ecosystems, erosion, fertilizer, floods, food production, green infrastructure, sustainable agriculture, water quality, western water, wetland | Comments are closed