Register For Farming After Dark
- Date : July 20th, 2022
- Time : 8:30pm - 9:30pm
Pollution, Pollinators and Profit
Half of 2022 is over and talking to some producers they wouldn’t mind if 2023 started now! 2022 has been a challenging year for farmers. I say, “each new day brings new challenges”. Another one of my sayings is “problems are opportunities for improvement…it’s just that I have a lot of opportunities!”
The July episode of Farming After Dark will be hosted by Melissa Devore, Ag technician for the Muskingum SWCD. She will be recapping and sharing a bus trip 23 folks from Ohio took to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed this month. After coming home, I thought I should have titled the trip “Pollution, Pollinators, and Profit”.
The Chesapeake Bay Watershed has been heavily regulated for over 50 years. They are just now seeing some improvements to the “Bay” as the locals refer to it. We found out that 48% of the water entering the bay comes from Pennsylvania even though no part of Pennsylvania touches the bay. An estimated 25% of the loading of nutrients entering the bay comes from one county.
We went over with the intention of learning from folks that have been there and done that. How can we “change” our operations to be more profitable and environmentally sound. Ultimately creating healthier soils, cleaner water, and enhanced ecosystems.
Those of us on the trip got to experience a lot of educational information from farms to organizations. Melissa will share that with you over Zoom. We visited 3 farms, met with 6 farmers, one of which farmed 13,000 acres and another farmed oysters. We saw native pollinator plants in different settings at 3 different locations. They included the Mt. Cuba Center, the Stroud Water Research Center, and the Rodale institute. And we heard and saw research information that directly impacts farms and water quality. The common theme from the farms and research was no till and cover crops. Over 70% of crop acres in Pennsylvania are no tilled and over 40% are cover cropped.