Learning the Economics of Conservation Practices Here in Redwood

Aug 26

The Redwood Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) secured Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) grant funding to work with farmers in the Ramsey Creek Watershed to improve soil and water quality and conservation efforts. This includes a cost share component for producers to implement their choice of practices including:

using small grains
reduced tillage
strip till
no-till
cover crops
grid sampling

Producers will receive cost share to apply one or more of the practices on their land.

Data Collection & Reporting

Redwood SWCD staff will conduct soil health testing to measure the impact of implementing these practices over a period of 4 years. In addition to measuring the environmental impact, staff will also review the economics of implementing the selected practices in comparison to an adjoining traditionally-managed field that will not utilize any of these practices. This will provide us with actual field scale comparable data looking at yields, economics, and soil function of traditional management and the implementation of soil health practices.

Study Timeline

The study will begin the fall of 2021 to collect baseline data and field days will be scheduled to share the results of the project. The project will be implemented for 3 growing seasons with flexibility on practice use to allow for easy integration with the current crop rotation.

We will continually provide updates of the project so join our email list here or check back to learn the economics of conservation practices in Redwood County with us!