Category: Water Quality

Carbon in the Soil – How Much to Add, How to Measure?

This article is based on two accompanying articles by Jeff Carter and Kristin Williams in our Summer 2021 Newsletter. Read the full articles on page 6 and additional info from Kirsten Workman on page 1.

Adding carbon to agricultural soils is being tossed about as the preferred currency for extra payments to support farms, improve soil health for better crops, hold precious rainwater, and reduce those pesky CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere which are hurting our planet. This leaves farmers and service providers asking, “how much carbon should we be trying to add to our soils?” The short answer is, “as much as you can.”

Right now, the Vermont Climate Council, the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) workgroup, and the Addison County Climate and Economy Action Committee (CEAC) are all discussing the values of increasing carbon in farm fields, for short-term income, long-term soil base preservation, and GHG mitigation. Easy to talk about, but much harder to accomplish if you are a farmer.

The University of Vermont is in the process of soil health testing, including measuring carbon for multiple projects. This include a Conservation Effects Assesment Project (CEAP) lead by Joshua Faulkner with support from our team, which is a long term water quality project in Addison County. Allison White is conducting a ‘State of Soil Health’ survey of farms across Vermont. Joshua is also leading another initiative looking at soil health and climate.

Read the full articles in our Summer 2021 Newsletter.

Check out these sites for the status of these projects in Vermont:
• https://aoa.vermont.gov/content/vermont-climate-council
• https://agriculture.vermont.gov/pes
• https://ceacac.org/climate-action-planning

Our Summer 2021 Newsletter is Here

In This Issue:

  • Focus on Agriculture
  • News, Events and Info You Should Know
  • Opportunity For Farmers to Develop Grazing Plans
  • Managing Nitrogen in Hay and Pasture Crops
  • How Much Carbon Should You Add to Your Soil? and Soil Health Testing Coming to a Field Near You
  • On the Wild Side
  • Addison County Fair and Field Days Crop Entry Info

Read the full Summer 2021 Newsletter as a pdf.

Add Some Spring in Your Step with Our Spring Newsletter (2021)

Read the whole newsletter as a pdf.

In this Issue:

Sign Up for New Priority EQIP Practices

In Vermont sign up deadline for all 2021 EQIP contracts is March 19, 2021.

You can still sign up for EQIP after that, but you will be considered for next year.

VT Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced a top ten “high-priority” list of Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) practices. The state chose these practices to motivate producers to implement important practices that address critical resource issues but that are not as widely adopted. This is part of the 2018 Farm Bill – states were allowed as of 2020 to provide increased payment rates for up to 10 high-priority practices. These practices will be incentivized at a 90% cost payment rate. In consultation with each state’s Technical Committee, the State Conservationists designates their state’s priorities.

In Vermont, the ten priorities are: Contour Buffer Strips (332), Cover Crop – multi-species only (340), Residue & Tillage Management – reduced-tillage (345), riparian forest buffer (391), Pasture and Hay Planting (seeding down continuous corn) (512), Open Channel (582), Stripcropping (585), Nutrient Management (manure injection only) (590), Tree / Shrub Establishment (612), Phosphorus Removal System (782).

Some of these practices are probably more familiar to our audience than others, like reduced tillage. Other practices like stripcropping offer soil conservation benefits particularly on steep slopes, but are not commonly seen in our area. Open Channel refers to a two-stage ditch, and Phosphorus (P) Removal System is the installation of an end-of-pipe filter system to mitigate P losses in tile drains. 

If you are interested in signing up for one of these practices, call your local NRCS office, in Middlebury – 802-388-6748. You can also call our office – 802-388-4969, if you’d like to discuss how we might assist you in getting a project implemented. NRCS accepts applications on a rolling applications but processes them in batches, sign up deadline for 2021 practices is 3/19/21.

Curl Up Next to Fire with our Newsletter – Fall/Winter 2020

This season we have combined the Fall and Winter Newsletter.

In This Issue

  • Focus on Agriculture, by Kirsten Workman
  • News, Events and Info You Should Know
  • Winter Planning for 2021 Farm Risk Management, by Jake Jacobs
  • Nitrogen, An Overlooked Macronutrient, by Kirsten Workman
  • Transition to Grazing: Farmers Thinking Outside the Box, by Cheryl Cesario
  • Giving Credit Where Credit is Due: Farmer’s Practices Make Gains Towards Meeting TMDL, by Kristin Williams

View the Full PDF Here!

See our highlighted article on Nitrogen management (which will become a series) as a blog post.

Important update on our No-Till, Cover Crop Symposium included in the newsletter:

We have made the difficult decision to forego our annual in-person No-Till and Cover Crop Symposium in order to comply with COVID safety precautions, and keep folks safe and healthy. But we have some other exciting options in the works. The 2021 event was intended to be a partnership between our conference and the Northeast Cover Crop Council’s Annual Conference. The NECC Annual Conference has moved online and will be held on March 4, 2021. Save the date and stay tuned for more details including an agenda which will be posted soon on the http://northeastcovercrops.com/ website. In addition the Champlain Valley Crop, Soil and Pasture and Northwest Crops and Soils Teams are working on bringing the NTCC Symposium ‘hyper-local” by potentially hosting smaller in-person meetings (with remote participation available) to build on the virtual NECCC meeting and fill the void of the NTCC Symposium. If there are topics you’re interested in hearing more about in your locale, reach out to Kirsten at kirsten.workman@uvm.edu and let her know.

Stay Cool in the Shade and Read Our Summer Newsletter

In This Issue:

See the full pdf here

Spring Newsletter is Here!

View the Newsletter Here (pdf link)

In This Issue:

  • Focus on Agriculture, by Jeff Carter
  • News, Events & Info You Should Know
  • Opportunities for Grazing Funding, by Cheryl Cesario
  • Grassland Manure Injection: By The Numbers, by Kirsten Workman
  • Two Bedrock Professors Retiring: Will Be Missed in Jeffords Hall and Beyond
  • End of Gypsum Project Leaves us with Important Lessons and Questions, by Kristin Williams
  • USDA Authorized Flexibilities Help Producers During the Coronavirus Pandemic, by Jake Jacobs
  • Notes on the Wild Side, by Jeff Carter

Newsletter Highlight From Grassland Manure Injection: By The Numbers (pg. 4)    With funding from VAAFM’s Clean Water Fund and the help of Ken and Debbie Hicks at Hicks Equipment, we purchased the right equipment from the Netherlands. With the expertise of Eric Severy of Matthew’s Trucking to operate it, we began demonstrating the utility of this system. Shallow slot grassland manure injection gets liquid dairy manure just two inches below the soil where it is protected from runoff during rain events while still well within the root zone where the plants will use it. Read More

Save the Date: 2021 No-Till Cover Crop Symposium March 4-5, 2021. More information coming soon.   We’re joining forces with the Northeast Cover Crop Council to bring you a full day and a half of information related to no-till and cover cropping. go.uvm.edu/ntccs    If you missed this year’s symposium you can also read presentation pdfs and the proceedings online.

NMP Update Sessions

Did you know you need to update your NMP every year to stay in compliance with the State of Vermont Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs)?  

If your plan is out of date or you need assistance in updating your nutrient management plan, UVM Extension can help!!    

If you took a NMP class through UVM and designed your plan in goCrop, please call the office where you took your original NMP class, or contact your closest location (listed below). You will need manure sample results every year, soil sample results every three years, and field records of the activities you performed annually. You may also need updated rotation calculations, depending on your situation. UVM Extension can help you identify everything you need and walk you through the process of getting it accomplished.  

The three locations that can help you are:  

  • Middlebury Extension Office – 802-388-4969 or 1-800-956-1125  
  • St. Albans Extension office – 802-524-6501 or 1-800-639-2130  
  • St. Johnsbury Extension office – 802-751-8307 or 1-800-545-8920 (800 numbers toll free in Vt.).    

At Middlebury UVM Extension Office

23 Pond Lane Suite 300, Middlebury, Vt

we are holding update sessions on the following days:

These sessions are for folks who have already taken a class with UVM Extension. If you have not taken a class with us, but would like help, give us a call.

Our sessions are informal. Please bring a lunch or snack if you need it to keep you going!

We have laptops, or you can bring your own. Remember to bring your NMP binder along with any records and documentation, including your login information. If your goCrop account is out of date you will need to renew your subscription with debit or credit card. If you have any other paperwork that is related to an updated NMP, such as MFO/LFO permitting, bring that along too. If you have new fields, you will need new maps and field information, including yearly and average RUSLE2 calculations.

Contact our office for more details, 802-388-4969.       

To request a disability related accommodation to participate in this program, please contact Karen Gallott at (802) 388-4969 or 1-800-956-1125 (toll-free in Vt. only) so we may assist you.

Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition Annual Meeting and Dinner

January 22, 2020

5:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Middlebury Vetrans of Foreign Wars, 530 Exchange St, Middlebury, VT 05753

Come celebrate with the Champlain Valley Farmer Coalition (CVFC) as we begin a new year! Come hear about our work as an organization, our direction for this next year, and of course an evening program and entertainment that will be both fun and informative!

RSVP for the dinner by January 15! RSVP here

Cash bar and Social time at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:15 p.m., program starts at 7:00 p.m.

This is an opportunity to keep CVFC Members up to speed about current ‘hot topics’ facing the Vermont landscape and their vision of how Agriculture fits into the future of our state. Bring your questions for a good conversation!

Questions? You can also call the Middlebury Extension office at 802-388-4969.

To request a disability related accommodation, please contact Karen Gallott at 802-388-4969 or email karen.gallott@uvm.edu by January 15th so we may assist you.