Water quality in the Chesapeake Bay needs to be improved. To be sustainable for the future, the people of this region need to figure out how to live, work, farm and recreate in ways that allow the Chesapeake estuary to function and thrive.
Contrary to the opinions of some, maintaining well-managed farms and private forests is
Continue reading Bi-Partisan Legislation Bolsters Efforts to Clean the Bay
Alien-looking contraptions with metal arms protrude out of farm fields throughout the state of Washington. Look closer and you’ll see gauges on the arms measuring all kinds of weather data, from temperature and precipitation to wind, dew point, solar radiation and humidity. The stations—part of Washington’s AgWeatherNet—relay data to a
Continue reading Which Way the Wind Blows: AgWeatherNet Gives Washington Farmers the Data They Need to Grow Greener
Recently, President Obama attended the White House Conference on America’s Great Outdoors to speak and sign a memorandum that sets a 21st century conservation agenda to bridge public and private efforts to conserve outdoor spaces (including farmland) and connect Americans with the outdoors.
While the efforts of farmers and the importance of farmland conservation were mentioned by the
Continue reading Don’t Forget Farmland is a Part of America’s Great Outdoors
Image: U.S. Coast Guard
As I write this post, the oil rig explosion continues to degrade the Gulf of Mexico, damaging marine ecosystems, local fishing and tourism industries and threatening farms and farmland —a tragic and poignant illustration of how valuable and fragile our nation’s natural resources are.
Upsetting as it is to watch, it also
Continue reading Oil and Agriculture
Washington’s Yakima Valley, a terrain of rugged hillsides and golden desert, is one of the top wine regions in the country. With an ideal climate for grapes and well-drained soils deposited by prehistoric floods, the valley is home to a third of the state’s vineyards. But the region’s many growers of
Continue reading IPM Research Helps Washington’s Renowned Wine Industry Get Greener
There are a couple of big happenings in the world of Chesapeake Bay restoration in regards to farmers in the region- and for those out of the region too, since the Bay is likely to be the model for other watersheds across the country.
First, as of May 11, 2010, a federal judge found
Continue reading The 64,000 Mile Chesapeake Bay Plan
On the outskirts of Wenatchee, a city in the heart of central Washington where golden hills surround endless miles of irrigated fruit orchards, a large apple-shaped sign reads, “Apple Capital of the World.” In a region that ships over 100 million boxes of apples a year around the nation and the world, education has been
Continue reading Education Helps Limon and Sons Orchard in Washington Go Natural
This week, Jim Baird, Mid-Atlantic Director of American Farmland Trust (center, with plaque), donated 945 nutrient credits worth over $4,000 to the Lancaster Farmland Trust, a big step in our long-term goal of helping farmers reduce nutrient run-off into the Chesapeake Bay.
The credits were generated by three Lancaster County farmers who participated in our Best
Continue reading BMP Challenge: Helping Farmers Clean Up the Chesapeake Bay
The U.S. population is projected to double over the next 50 years. Much of that increase will be concentrated in a few dynamic regions of the country that will also have to contend with the environmental consequences of growth: air and water pollution, flooding, depletion of surface and ground water, loss or damage to wetlands,
Continue reading Conservation Markets for Farms: Economically Sound Environmental Protection