indiana Prairie Farmer Logo

Here are 5 examples of troubling images due to soil conservation.

Tom Bechman 1, Editor, Indiana Prairie Farm

March 4, 2014

3 Min Read

Would I actually blame soil conservation for the way the countryside in Indiana looks today, and for the current water quality in streams and rivers? That depends on your point of view.

Here are examples of how soil conservation practices, especially since T by 2000 began in 1986 and morphed into Clean Water Indiana, and the 1985 Farm Bill and Conservation Reserve Program kicked up interest and funding at the federal level, have changed the Indiana landscape. You decide.

blame_soil_conservation_practices_todays_environment_1_635295612424763710.JPG

One. Fewer rock'em, sock'em gullies for four-wheeling! Old-timers in southern Indiana claim there were gullies big enough to lose a combine in back in the 1940s. Of course, combines were smaller then. With grass waterways and the Conservation Reserve Program, the vast majority of these "ultimate" gullies have disappeared. That's great for losing less soil and making pasture and crop fields productive again, but it's a lost opportunity for those who like to drive four-wheelers over rough terrain.

Two. Fewer dramatic "dust bowl-type" pictures to shoot. Wind erosion is still a big deal in northwest Indiana. If you don't think so, you should have driven through Benton County this winter and seen the dirty snow where fields were tilled last fall.

Actually, those examples are harder to find today than before people planted windbreaks and heaven forbid, began planting cover crops. It's tougher to find a good dust storm to shoot ominous pictures of dust clouds these days.

Three. Less mud at the old swimming hole. James Whitcomb Riley made things like the old swimming holes famous. Picture one with kids sliding up and down muddy banks where cattle tromped in and out. With incentives to fence cattle out of streams today, the banks of most streams are far less muddy and prone to soil erosion today.

Related: Spring Moldboard Plowing? Really?

Four. Where have all the manure lots gone? Growing up, if no one was looking, it was easy to get rid of manure if you couldn't get into the field. Just let it run down the hill! If a creek was nearby, big deal – out of sight, out of mind. Farming like that might have seemed easier, but in reality, valuable nutrients were going where they shouldn't be instead of where they should be. Cost-sharing on lagoons and manure control structures have helped replace those scenes with panoramic views of manure treated like a fertilizer, stored and applied properly.

Five. Wonderful scent of fresh-plowed fields. Man, didn't that fresh-turned earth smell good? I grew up thinking it did. Then a friend told me that's why gullies kept appearing in our fields. Once you get the hang of it, the look of green corn plants growing up through residue is more gratifying than even the smell of freshly plowed dirt.

Epilogue. OK, I hope you understand satire. If you want to return to the gullies of the 1940s and the dust storms of earlier days, you might rethink your priorities. Besides, riding ATVs over gullies is dangerous, and cattle in a creek eventually produce a messy, smelly quagmire. And moldboard plowing? It's your right to do it, even after soybeans. But if you do, attend just one meeting where someone demonstrates soil health by putting soil from a no-till field and from a conventional field into jars of water. If that doesn't make you think twice before you hook to the moldboard plow again, are you sure you want your kids to have land to farm someday?

About the Author(s)

Tom Bechman 1

Editor, Indiana Prairie Farm

Tom Bechman is an important cog in the Farm Progress machinery. In addition to serving as editor of Indiana Prairie Farmer, Tom is nationally known for his coverage of Midwest agronomy, conservation, no-till farming, farm management, farm safety, high-tech farming and personal property tax relief. His byline appears monthly in many of the 18 state and regional farm magazines published by Farm Progress.

"I consider it my responsibility and opportunity as a farm magazine editor to supply useful information that will help today's farm families survive and thrive," the veteran editor says.

Tom graduated from Whiteland (Ind.) High School, earned his B.S. in animal science and agricultural education from Purdue University in 1975 and an M.S. in dairy nutrition two years later. He first joined the magazine as a field editor in 1981 after four years as a vocational agriculture teacher.

Tom enjoys interacting with farm families, university specialists and industry leaders, gathering and sifting through loads of information available in agriculture today. "Whenever I find a new idea or a new thought that could either improve someone's life or their income, I consider it a personal challenge to discover how to present it in the most useful form, " he says.

Subscribe to receive top agriculture news
Be informed daily with these free e-newsletters

You May Also Like