5-28 FB Hugh Bennett
The importance of current soil conservation work and future conservation needs are a very strong focus for the University of Idaho Ag Extension Services. We have talked a lot about no-till systems in the past and it’s appropriate to reflect on past conservationists that left their marks on our nation. Hugh Hammond Bennett is one of these conservationists. Bennett brought national attention to the soil erosion threat facing America at the turn of the 20th Century.
Hugh Bennett is called the Father of Soil Conservation. He worked for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a soil surveyor, classifying and mapping soil types and soil properties in the eastern United States. While doing soil surveys, Bennett observed that soil erosion contributed to declining crop yields. He realized soil erosion would impair our nation’s ability to produce food if nothing was done to stop it. And so he began a soil conservation movement that changed farming practices and government policies. Here’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Idaho State Conservationist Jeff Burwell: “Hugh Bennett was instrumental in working with the Roosevelt administration so that you could farm in a sustainable manner.”
