Conservation pays through field buffers
- Michelle Wood
- July 5, 2021
- 849
One of the most effective conservation practices farmers can implement also is the simplest — field borders or buffer strips.
Life is complicated. Conservation doesn’t have to be.
One of the most effective conservation practices farmers can implement also is the simplest — field borders or buffer strips. Holmes SWCD is one of three SWCDs in the Killbuck Watershed promoting this practice through the Killbuck Creek Working Lands Field Buffer Program as a pilot program. This voluntary program encourages producers in the Killbuck Creek Watershed to establish year-round vegetative cover on eligible cropland. This program promotes the conversion, establishment and maintenance of forage/hay land on certain cropland acres. A payment of $500 per acre paid over a three-year period is available to eligible participants.
Buffers are simply vegetated strips between a crop field and an environmentally sensitive area — a stream, wetland, forests or even a road ditch — that is a minimum of 30 feet and a maximum of 60 feet wide. If extending that width makes sense, exceptions can be made, as I will discuss later.
Buffers act to filter out pollutants and sediment before entering that environmentally sensitive area. Only acreage converted from cropland to perennial vegetative cover qualifies, and existing pastures and hay land do not qualify. Only crop-land acres where sediment and nutrients have the potential to be transported from the field and enter environmentally sensitive areas are eligible.
How does a producer benefit from this program? He or she will receive an annual payment — $250 in year one, $125 in year two and $125 in year three — for maintaining established forage and can harvest hay and forage from the working land’s buffer. The buffers will provide soil-health benefits while maintaining agriculture production. Plus, buffers are a great visual demonstration of farmers’ commitment to land stewardship.
What’s in the fine print? Forage plantings must include two species including at least one cool-season grass species. A list of eligible species is available as part of the application. Soil tests are necessary for any phosphorus fertilizer application at the time of establishment. Residual forage height must be a minimum of 4-inch height by Sept. 15 of each year. Residual forage must be maintained during the nongrowing season.
This is an ideal program for those areas that are compacted or wet and produce low yields or are adjacent to streams or woods that experience wildlife damage. When we floated this idea past one of our farmer friends, he immediately thought of a small, wet field adjacent to Killbuck Creek that is typically low-yielding, but it’s part of a larger rental acreage package, so he feels obligated to farm it. But taking out a 60-foot-wide strip would leave an awkward amount left to plant, and probably not worth the effort.
The beauty of this Killbuck Creek Working Lands Field Buffer Program is there’s flexibility to look at a field-by-field situation. If it makes sense to expand the maximum width and include the whole field, based on environmental sensitivity, we can do that.
This program is available to landowners in the Killbuck Creek Watershed, which includes parts of Wayne and Coshocton counties as well as Holmes. Unfortunately, this program got a late rollout this year, but as you assess your fields during the growing season, plan for it down the road. Call Holmes SWCD at 330-674-SWCD ext. 3 or see our website at www.HolmesSWCD.com for more information.