CORTEZ, Colo. -- A 36-acre property near Cortez in southwestern Colorado soon will be transformed into a sustainable community apple "orchard hub."
With help from The Nature Conservancy, the Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project was able to purchase the land . Jude Schuenemeyer, who co-directs the project, said they'll use beneficial insects instead of pesticides to protect the apple trees, and underneath, there will be a range of native wildflowers to create a safe space for pollinators to refuel.
"You start to create an ecosystem there," he said, "and, within that ecosystem, it's a place where all the different species of bees can be in there without getting sprayed out and killed."
Plans for a hybrid water system, using native grasses throughout the orchard with roots up to nine feet long, will create a natural underground reservoir, conserving water in an area prone to prolonged drought.
The project also aims to restore the region's historic apple varieties that industrial-scale production discarded years ago in favor of mono-culture harvests that can travel cross country. Schuenemeyer said Colorado's booming cider industry, and consumers looking for fruit grown closer to home, should help the orchard become a key contributor to the local economy.
"The pandemic right now has really opened people's eyes, and forced people's eyes open in a way they hadn't been, to where food is coming from and how the food chain works," he said. "So there's just a lot of factors that make this more viable than it used to be."
Within a decade, Schuenemeyer said, he hopes kids who are now learning to manage sustainable orchards in Cortez elementary and middle schools will take the reins and keep the region's agricultural traditions alive and strong.
"They'll grow up knowing the skills of the water conservation," he said, "and how to manage these orchards in a way that is holistic -- that works with the land, that works with the environment, instead of trying to fight against it."
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A farm group is helping Iowa agriculture producers find ways to reduce the amount of nitrogen they use on their crops.
Excess nitrates can wind up in ground and surface water, and cause health problems.
Practical Farmers of Iowa is encouraging farmers to find just the right amount of nitrogen they need for their crops - while avoiding applying too much, which the group says is common.
PFI's Field Crops Viability Coordinator - Chelsea Ferrie - said thanks to federal grants and private funding, the group will pay farmers up to $35 for every acre that has a lower than normal yield if they didn't apply enough nitrogen.
"No cost to the farmer, either," said Ferrie. "We're trying to help incentivize them. This is something that farmers want to do - I mean, they want to be good stewards of the land - but also, that they need to have a profitable farm."
The application period for the program is open through the end of April.
To help them reach the right nitrogen balance, Ferrie said PFI will help farmers on the front end of the process, too - so they aren't left guessing how much to apply.
"Talk through what your typical fertilizer plan is, and what your reduction plan would be," said Ferrie. "Then you would implement this year, going into the spring and into the season."
Farmers have relied on nitrogen-based fertilizers for generations - but when applied in excess, nitrates run off into ground and surface water, posing health concerns for animals and people.
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Pesticides are still common in agriculture. Organic producers who avoid them have seen ups and downs in pushing for stronger regulations, and they point to a South Dakota example of the harm associated with widespread use among neighboring farms.
At the heart of the regulatory fight is the application of the weed-killing pesticide dicamba, and how it can drift from one farm to another. Last month, a federal court blocked "over the top" spraying of dicamba products, but the EPA followed with an order to allow the spraying of existing supplies.
Glenn Pulse, co-owner of an organic farm in Vermillion, said a 2017 drift incident had a big impact on his operation.
"Our entire farm was covered. We lost a lot of livestock, and thousands of bees were killed," he explained.
It also resulted in health concerns for his family, having to regain his organic farmer certification, and a legal battle over restitution. Groups such as the National Family Farm Coalition have been fighting what they call the deregulation of these chemicals, arguing the drift and runoff effect has damaged millions of crops.
Dicamba-manufacturing companies deny responsibility, instead blaming farmers who apply it for not following guidelines.
The EPA has said there were already millions of gallons of dicamba in circulation prior to the court's ruling, prompting the agency's order. Pulse feels there are farmers who are careful in spraying chemicals, but he wants stronger enforcement against those he describes as "loose cannons."
"The guys that are not following the labels and they're spraying in weather conditions that are not favorable, that is where, I would say, 90% of the problems are happening with drift incidents," Pulse said.
His calls for better responses to these incidents coincide with policy demands to heavily restrict dicamba products. Meanwhile, Rep. Dusty Johnson, D-South Dakota, is the main sponsor of a bill supporters say would assure uniformity in national pesticide labeling under federal law. But opponents argue it would limit longstanding state and local pesticide safety rules.
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Montana farmers have testified before a panel of state lawmakers asking them to protect agricultural data that is collected by precision farming technology - and stored electronically, "in the cloud."
They're looking for changes in how that information is accessed.
At a recent state Economic Affairs Committee meeting, Montana Farmer's Union President Walter Schweitzer said with the increased use of precision ag tools and a huge uptick in data collected and stored remotely, farmers' information needs greater protections.
"We read every day that there's data being hacked," said Schweitzer. "The military has gotten hacked. Banks have been hacked. Hospitals are being hacked."
Schweitzer argued that hackers could use the information to affect prices or direct-market products to farmers based on the information they collect about crops and ag operations.
He said based on farmers' input, the Economic Affairs Committee will work with lawmakers to consider changes during next year's legislative session.
Rather than tighten access, Schweitzer said he thinks ag data should be made more transparent and publicly available.
He explained that this would help avoid the potential for market manipulation by commodities brokers or large countries, such as China, that purchase the crops.
"Let's say the wheat crop, during harvest, it looks like it's going to be lower yields than average or anticipated," said Schweitzer. "So then, China would come in, purchase all the wheat they needed before the USDA announces that, and the price goes up."
Schweitzer said 10% of a farmer's data, which is uploaded in real time during harvest and stored in the cloud, is all it takes for hackers to know a producer's entire harvest.
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