An evolution in thinking, precision technology and science has given us new ways to farm more sustainably and efficiently without punishing the soil. The enemy, of course, is apathy.

The news isn’t exactly a surprise to those who follow the agency, as USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has previously said the massive agency would undergo some restructuring to reduce management layers and refocus efforts on serving farmers, ranchers, foresters and consumers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced March 24 key presidential appointments to the Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area.

UNL and NRCS researchers evaluated the growth and productivity of 30 commercially available cover crop species, varieties and mixtures planted in fall under the region’s unique climatic conditions.

The U.S Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Nevada is offering financial and technical assistance to help agricultural producers apply conservation practices through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program Classic (EQIP Classic) and Inflation Reduction Act (EQIP IRA), and the Agricultural Management Assistance Program (AMA). More than $16 million is available to producers through EQIP and AMA.

Strip-Till Farmer’s 11th annual Strip-Till Operational Benchmark Study, with responses from 215 strip-tillers across the U.S., shows that strip-till yields didn’t take much of a dip in 2023, despite much of the country experiencing dry or drought conditions.

This is the sixth year this program will be offered in the state of Iowa. To date, 1,800 farmers have enrolled nearly one million acres of Iowa farmland in the program.