Hardin County SCD

Details: Category: Programs

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WELCOME

Martha Griffin is here in Hardin County's NRCS Office as acting District Conservationist and is ready to assist you.She is familiar with Hardin County and has an interest in "helping people help the land" and improving our natural resources through education and conservation activities.

Office Hours are 8am - 3pm M-F

731-412-3106

NRCS/ Hardin County S&WCD

1035 C Wayne Road

Savannah, TN. 38372

Now Accepting ARCF Applications

Hardin County Soil Conservation District (SCD) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Savannah Field Office are working in partnership to help landowners in Hardin County conserve their soil, water, and other natural resources cost-share funding is provided by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Union Pacific restricts fertilizer shipments, will not accept new orders

Dennis Rudat, Farm News Media

Union Pacific instructed CFI to reduce the volume of their private rail cars on its railroad by 20%, effective immediately. Non-compliance, according to CFI, would result in the embargo of its facilities by Union Pacific. That means CFI will be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific customers for the foreseeable future. | Photo by Union Pacific

April 19, 2022

U.S. fertilizer manufacturer CF Industries (CFI) is advising customers it serves, via Union Pacific rail lines, that railroad-mandated shipping reductions will result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during spring planting season.

Union Pacific informed CFI, without advance notice, that it was mandating approximately 30 shippers, including CFI, to reduce the volume of private cars on its railroad effective immediately. CFI was told to reduce its shipments by nearly 20%.

Non-compliance, according to CFI, will result in the embargo of its facilities by Union Pacific. That means CFI will be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific customers for the foreseeable future.

CFI ships to customers via Union Pacific rail lines primarily from its Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana and its Port Neal Complex in Iowa to serve key agricultural areas such as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and California.

Products that will be affected include nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as well as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), an emissions control product required for diesel trucks.

CFI is the largest producer of urea, UAN and DEF in North America, and its Donaldsonville Complex is the largest single production facility for the products in North America.

The timing of Union Pacific’s announcement couldn’t come at a worse time for farmers, according to Tony Will, president and CEO, CF Industries Holdings Inc.

"Not only will fertilizer be delayed by these shipping restrictions, but additional fertilizer needed to complete spring applications may be unable to reach farmers at all,” Will said. “By placing this arbitrary restriction on just a handful of shippers, Union Pacific is jeopardizing farmers' harvests and increasing the cost of food for consumers."

Union Pacific spokesperson Robynn Tysver told Michigan Farm News the company is committed to proactively supporting customers and working to address the impact of several disruptive events to address national supply chain issues.

According to Tysver, Union Pacific has added 100 additional locomotives to the fleet, trained 450 new employees and relocated an additional 80 existing crew members to high demand areas and is partnering with customers to begin a metered approach in the coming days.

“This allows us to continue serving all customers while simultaneously working through a backlog of rail cars, restoring our ability to process volume – an approach we successfully applied last year with West Coast intermodal traffic,” Tysver said.

According to Josh Linville, fertilizer director for StoneX Financial, Union Pacific was behind on its own shipments, leading up to the restrictions on private rail cars such as CFI’s, to catch up.

“This really hurts fertilizer shipments as companies such as CFI rely on their own rail cars to move product. Logistics were already going to be tough this spring, this makes that situation worse,” Linville added.

CFI says it believes they’ll be able to fulfill delivery of product already contracted for rail shipment to Union Pacific destinations, albeit with likely delays, but questions their ability to meet late season demand for fertilizers due to the shipping restrictions.

CFI intends to engage directly with the federal government to ask that fertilizer shipments be prioritized so that spring planting is not adversely impacted.

"CF Industries' North American manufacturing network continues to produce at a high rate to meet the needs of customers, farmers and consumers," Wil said. “We urge the federal government to take action to remove these Union Pacific rail shipment restrictions to ensure this vital fertilizer will be able to reach U.S. farmers when and where they need it."

The Surface Transportation Board has scheduled a hearing for April 26-27 on rail service issues that have been prompted by complaints from the National Green and Feed Association and Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack.

How Farmers are Saving the Soil in Tennessee

Tennessee's farmers care for the landscape with no-till farming

By Brittany Stovall

Tennessee farmers have been transforming the landscape for decades with no-till farming methods, helping to restore the state’s soils. In fact, the University of Tennessee’s Research and Education Center at Milan has been a leader in this effort since 1981. The research conducted by UT AgResearch at Milan is known worldwide.

While no-till farming is the norm in Tennessee today, it hasn’t always been the case. “About four decades ago, West Tennessee was ranked as one of the top areas in the U.S. for the highest soil erosion rate,” says Don Tyler, retired professor for the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. The average soil erosion rate for Tennessee at that time was 40 tons of soil per acre per year.

Unlike tillage, commonly known as plowing, no-till methods leave soils undisturbed, allowing crop residue to remain on the surface, protecting the topsoil from runoff. Seeds are planted in rows in the soil. In contrast, tillage leaves soil “bare” and highly susceptible to erosion.

Some soils across Tennessee are considered fragile, Tyler says, but West Tennessee’s are especially susceptible.

“The soils in West Tennessee are especially erodible because they are very silty soils,” Tyler says. “They are almost like talcum powder – very silty and easily moved by water if they’re exposed and tilled.”

As an example of how easily soil can erode with tilling versus no-till, Tyler says, “We have data that shows in till systems, one storm can result in the loss of more than 10 tons of soil per acre, whereas a no-till system right beside it with the same measurements may result in 1/10 of a ton loss. It’s a huge difference.”Today, Tennessee is a shining example of the no-till success, with up to 90 percent of the state’s farms using no-till practices, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. This change was possible thanks to the assistance and innovation of the University of Tennessee Extension and UT AgResearch, within the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, and Tennessee’s row crop farmers who saw the benefits and invested in the technology to make no-till a reality.

Tyler was one of the many team members enlisted to research and help Tennessee adapt its tilling ways that were having a negative impact on the land.

“With no-till, we’ve dramatically reduced the manmade accelerated soil erosion,” Tyler says. “A lot of the soil that we have now in the state would not be here if we did not go no-till. The soil was eroding at such a high rate, and there would be fields today that would have been abandoned if we did not make the change. We have many farmers now who have been completely no-till for 30 years,” he adds.

Huge Benefits

Farming in Dyer and Lauderdale counties, along the Mississippi River, Jimmy Moody experienced firsthand the positive changes that no-till methods brought to his West Tennessee farm.

Moody, who is in his mid-60s, farms on his own family operation and at Cold Creek Farms with a business partner, growing soybeans and cotton. Back when he used to till all of his land, he would need to burn crop residue, till soil and plow weeds. But since he took up no-till, he directly plants crops and controls weeds with advanced herbicides that were unavailable several decades back.

“When I was young, using no-till was unheard of,” Moody says.

No-till is good for the soil, reducing soil erosion and increasing organic matter in the surface soil. Plus, it encourages flourishing earthworm populations – which are a great indicator of soil health and create channels to flow water into soil and reduce runoff. No-till farming has economic benefits, too. “Farmers using no-till are minimizing their labor needs, the time it takes to actually farm, reducing fuel costs dramatically, and a lot of them can farm on a much larger scale than they would be able to otherwise, which has almost become necessary to survive,” Tyler says.

Moody agrees. “There’s no way that I could be farming on the scale that I am today without no-till farming,” he says.

There are various State and Federal Programs available to landowners through the USDA-NRCS and Hardin County SCD. Some of the practices these programs assist with are cross fencing, pipeline, watering tanks, erosion, wildlife habitat, and water quality.

The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP)

The ACEP provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands and wetlands and their related benefits.Under the Agricultural Land Easements component, NRCS helps Indian tribes, state and local governments and non- governmental organizations protect working agricultural lands and limit non-agricultural uses of the land.Under the Wetlands Reserve Easements component, NRCS helps to restore, protect and enhance enrolled wetlands.Agricultural Land Easements protect the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by preventing conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses. Land protected by agricultural land easements provides additional public benefits, including environmental quality, historic preservation, wildlife habitat and protection of open space.Wetland Reserve Easements provide habitat for fish and wildlife, including threatened and endangered species, improve water quality by filtering sediments and chemicals, reduce flooding, recharge groundwater, protect biological diversity and provide opportunities for educational, scientific and limited recreational activities.

Agricultural Land Easements NRCS provides financial assistance to eligible partners for purchasing Agricultural Land Easements that protect the agricultural use and conservation values of eligible land. In the case of working farms, the program helps farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. The program also protects grazing uses and related conservation values by conserving grassland, including rangeland, pastureland and shrubland. Eligible partners include Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland or grassland protection programs.Under the Agricultural Land component, NRCS may contribute up to 50 percent of the fair market value of the agricultural land easement. Where NRCS determines that grasslands of special environmental significance will be protected, NRCS may contribute up to 75 percent of the fair market value of the agricultural land easement.

Wetland Reserve Easements NRCS also provides technical and financial assistance directly to private landowners and Indian tribes to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands through the purchase of a wetland reserve easement. For acreage owned by an Indian tribe, there is an additional enrollment option of a 30-year contract.Through the wetland reserve enrollment options, NRCS may enroll eligible land through:

Permanent Easements are conservation easements in perpetuity. NRCS pays 100 percent of the easement value for the purchase of the easement, and between 75 to 100 percent of the restoration costs.

30-Year Easements expire after 30 years. Under 30-year easements,NRCS pays 50 to 75 percent of the easement value for the purchase of the easement, and between 50 to 75 percent of the restoration costs.

Term Easements are easements that are for the maximum duration allowed under applicable state laws. NRCS pays 50 to 75 percent of the easement value for the purchase of the term easement and between 50 to 75 percent of the restoration costs.

30-year Contracts are only available to enroll acreage owned by Indian tribes. Program payment rates are commensurate with 30-year easements.

For wetland reserve easements, NRCS pays all costs associated with recording the easement in the local land records office, including recording fees, charges for abstracts, survey and appraisal fees, and title insurance.

	Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a continuous USDA sign-up program that offers financial and technical assistance to eligible participants to install and maintain conservation practices, including those related to organic production, on agricultural land or private nonindustrial forestland. Traditionally all funds have been allocated to applications taken during the first signup period running from October 1 to December 20th, with applications carried over from the prior year included in the first funding period. In Giles County most funds utilized in this program have addressed water quality issues associated with animal agriculture. Conservation practices installed most often increase the ability of the landowner to manage land more profitably and provide positive impacts to the local economy. Cross fencing and access control fencing, alternative water systems such as frost proof water troughs for cattle, and pipeline have proved to be the most feasible and popular practices we use. Managed grazing allows a landowner to reduce the time that livestock have access to streams which goes to our local water intake. Managed grazing can also significantly increase forage yields, reduce health problems for cattle and improve wildlife habitat. We also offer several options on seeding cropland or poor pastureland, including establishing native grasses. EQIP offers assistance to address cropland, energy conservation, animal waste management, organic farming, and other resource concerns identified locally. It offers a great tool for good land managers to improve their farmland. The application, ranking and contracting period usually runs from Fall to Spring with practices being completed during the first 12 months after contracting.
	Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) The Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program (WHIP) is a USDA-NRCS program aimed at working with landowners to create viable habitat for wildlife through improved management of natural resources.
	Agricultural Resource Conservation Fund (ARCF) The Agricultural Resource Conservation Fund is a program provided by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) to help agricultural producers implement Best Management Practices (BMP’s) that will help improve water quality.

Please contact731-412-3106 if you are interested in any offered programs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.