Feb 19, 2021
Opinion: Cracking the accounting jigsaw of on-farm conservation to grow the profitability of healthy soilsKey Issues: Sustainability
Author: AgriPulse
This opinion piece originally ran in AgriPulse While American farmers are trying to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and tough economic conditions, they are also being asked to improve soil health and water quality. Policy and business leaders across the country are setting ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts from food production. But farmers can’t be expected to adopt practices like conservation tillage, cover crops and efficient nutrient management without these practices paying off on their balance sheets. Fortunately, there is growing evidence from farmers who have been able to make sustainable improvements while maintaining or even improving their profitability. Still, agricultural soils are complex, and different conservation practices have different costs, benefits and timelines to return on investment, especially when compared across crop types and geographies. Simply put, a cover crop that worked for a farmer...
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