Conversation With State Conservationist

On last week's Washington Association of Wheat Growers Conservation Tour I had the opportunity to visit with Washington Natural Resource Conservation Service State Conservationist Roylene Rides-at-the-Door about the benefits of bringing out National leaders from USDA and NRCS to see how programs were working on the ground.

Rides-at-the-Door: "Working with great partners like we're working with here like the wheat growers and others — really bringing it home to show some of our national people how one size does not fit all. That we can — with flexibility — still get good conservation on the ground."

One example that the NRCS folks witnessed first hand as far as how different regions farm was the use of rollers. In the Pacific Northwest for no till farmers who produce peas and lentils, they use a roller to break up clods and push rocks into the soil. Nationally however, rollers are considered to tillage equipment and in order to participate in some NRCS programs — they cannot be considered no till because of their use of a roller. Once one of the farmers on the tour, explained the why and how behind the use of the roller, it was apparent that he was not — in this case — using the roller to break the soil.

Rides-at-the-Door mentions that the new Farm Bill has some very positive news for conservation.

Rides-at-the-Door: "The new Farm bill has more conservation money in it than ever before. A huge opportunity to really build it to how we want to see it work in Washington state. So a huge opportunities over the next several months."