BROOKINGS, S.D. – There is countless technology-based equipment available to farmers and increasingly to ranchers, that can detect issues and determine solutions far faster than someone driving through a field or pasture can. Incorporating such technology saves time and input costs.
Yet many producers in South Dakota are slow to adopt the time and money-saving technology.
A grant received by South Dakota State University will be used to address that.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced USDA awarded $40 million to 31 conservation projects across the U.S. through its Conservation Innovation Grants program.
SDSU received about $1.28 million in funding for a project entitled, “Overcoming Climate Smart Adoption Barriers by Demonstrating the Value of Linking No-Tillage, Cover Crops, and Enhanced N Management into a Single System.”
The project is focused on overcoming barriers in implementing climate-smart ag practices, including no-till farming, planting cover crops, and utilizing smart fertilizer technologies, in South Dakota.
The adoption of no-tillage and cover crops is “often very low” in South Dakota’s subhumid, frigid soils. In order to overcome this agricultural barrier, the project aims to utilize progressive farming measures to reduce the risk of planting delays and yield losses in these harder-to-farm lands.
“Addressing climate change is a tremendous challenge, but agriculture plays an important role, and we’re grateful for our many partners who are helping us confront the challenge head on. These new projects and agreements are working to mitigate climate change, conserve and protect our water, enhance soil health and create economic opportunities for producers,” Vilsack said. “We’re empowering our partners to develop new tools, technologies and strategies to support next-generation conservation efforts on working lands and develop cost-effective solutions to resource challenges.”
