By Justin Hanson

Fields, Rivers & Streams

Improving the future of agriculture is something that has taken off locally in the past year thanks to new partnerships, our area farmers and The Hormel Foundation.

On this Thanksgiving Day, all of us who care about conservation and agriculture have a lot of things for which to be thankful.

Mower Soil & Water Conservation District and Cedar River Watershed District are playing big roles in this effort, which has required our staff to venture into unchartered territory but we have had strong support from our partners and community.

Cedar River Watershed District is finishing its first of 25 projects planned for the next few years under an $8.4 million Capital Improvement Project (CIP) initiative that stands out in Minnesota as a unique, agricultural strategy for addressing water-quality and flooding issues. These CIP projects will build structures in farm fields to capture stormwater runoff and slowly release it.

CRWD is making strides thanks to a $3.2 million grant awarded a year ago by The Hormel Foundation through Vision 2020 that will be leveraged to secure other funding. Ag landowner cooperation is necessary for these projects, and we have been fortunate thus far in securing easements on farmland to implement conservation-focused projects.

CRWD-Mower SWCD also has started partnering with Riverland Community College, which will play a large role locally in the coming years in improving agriculture.

This month, Riverland announced plans to build twin building projects in the coming years at its Austin campus to make the college a regional center for ag education. Plans call for a greenhouse, space for test plots and other features of a cutting-edge ag education program.

This comes one year after Riverland and The Hormel Foundation announced the college would create an agriculture technology “center of excellence” at the Austin campus to train students for agricultural jobs in an ag-focused county like ours. The Hormel Foundation is providing a $263,200 grant for the center.

Building on that, Mower SWCD has started a partnership with Riverland’s new Ag Center and its highly talented director Dr. Uchenna Chukwu. Mower SWCD staff, especially soil scientist Steve Lawler, have assisted Riverland faculty and worked directly with ag students, including getting them out on area farm fields to do soil-health testing.

We are excited for our collaboration with Riverland and where it might lead us in the future, especially with soil-health research. Riverland students, for example, recently had a great discussion with ag producers who are on the new Fillmore-Mower Soil Health Team. The producers shared their successes and setbacks in experimenting with cover crops to keep soil on their land and improve its health.

Sustainability is the common theme between Mower SWCD and Riverland’s ag program. To me, sustainable agriculture means the opportunity for ag to have a business model that makes money today and for many years to come.

To do this, the next generation of ag producers will need to be armed with precision planning tools and abilities to maximize profit margins on the land while preserving the land’s ability to produce significant crops. A big part of this is land management.

Agricultural technology has been monumental in recent decades. Genetic engineering and the technology age have squeezed much growing potential out of an acre of land. It’s a great credit to the spirit of innovation. The struggle, however, becomes more real when the soil leaves the landscape and relocates itself somewhere less productive.

Soil protection is one of the most significant emerging issues in the future of sustainable agriculture. It also is one of the biggest issues in water quality protection.

What’s encouraging and motivating is that there is extensive leadership happening locally for the future of sustainable agriculture. We’re getting better and it’s being highlighted in our own backyard. Riverland’s new program and ambitious plans to grow it will set a new standard for ag education and prepare its students for what they will need to be successful in ag business as well as responsible to our natural resources.

Mower SWCD provides technical assistance to landowners with conservation practices that protect land and water resources. SWCD also administers the Cedar River Watershed District to improve water quality and reduce flooding. This column runs monthly on the last Thursday. For more, visit the Mower SWCD and CRWD websites and Facebook pages. Comments can be sent to tim.ruzek@mowerswcd.org