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Can Taller Cover Crops Help Clean the Water in Farm Country?

Civil Eats

The tall forage stands out in southeastern Minnesota’s corn and soybean fields, which this time of year have been reduced to stubble poking through the snow. It works as both a cover crop and forage for the cattle, and it’s helping Bedtka build up organic matter in his soil. That’s where the sorghum-sudangrass comes in.

Crop 114
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Changing How We Farm Might Protect Wild Mammals—and Fight Climate Change

Civil Eats

land, with cropland expanding by 1 million acres per year, fueling habitat loss for wildlife and mammals. For instance, agriculture can destroy forest habitats that certain bat species, like the endangered Indiana bat or northern long-eared bat , use for roosting and foraging. Agriculture already takes up over half of U.S.

Farming 101
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The whole dam truth

Food Environment and Reporting Network

million acres of the Central Valley. Herbicides and habitat loss have destroyed the bees’ forage. An array of pesticides, including dicamba and clothianidin, have been found to damage the bees’ health in a variety of ways, weakening their immune systems, for instance, and slowing their reproductive rate. Will it work?

Orchard 88
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The Solution to Water Woes Could Lie With Beavers

Modern Farmer

It’s been a decent year at the 200,000-acre spread, with enough forage for the 2,000 mother cows and their calves. Other pastures on the 200,000-acre ranch—an area larger than New York City’s five boroughs—are traversed by the Susie and Maggie creeks that, thankfully, provide a year-round source of water.

Ranching 122
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In Fire-Stricken Maui, Sustainable Land Management Is Key

Modern Farmer

Peppered throughout some 500 acres of charred pastureland, he found sizable patches of grass left unscathed by the blaze. The fire burned right around them,” says the 73-year old rancher and owner of Diamond B Ranch, noting the intact areas—some as big as a quarter acre. That’s the fight I’m in,” Balthazar adds.

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Hungry and Seemingly Unstoppable: Grasshoppers Invade Canada’s Prairies

Modern Farmer

Unfortunately, prevention isn’t as easy as spraying the larvae with pesticides. Even if a farmer does spray, there’s often a wait time between the application of a chemical pesticide and when it’s safe to harvest a crop. million acres of farm and ranchland infested by destructive grasshoppers. Crops devoured by grasshoppers.

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The Healing Power of Collaboration – Timber Ridge, Nanton, Alberta

RR2CS

By Trina Moyles Glen and Kelly Hall have been managing Timber Ridge Ranch, a 480-acre farmland situated an hour south of Calgary near Stavely, Alberta, for over 40 years. Over the last four decades, they have seeded an impressive 5,000 acres, aiming to enhance biodiversity both above and below the soil. Absolutely.