By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Farm fields left barren this growing season pose a risk to soil and water health.
So the Wood County Commissioners voted Tuesday morning to put $40,000 toward the Wood Soil and Water Conservation District’s cover crop program.
“We know that it’s very unusual circumstances,” Commissioner Doris Herringshaw said. “And we hope to never see it again. We are certainly willing to step up.”
The money will help put cover crops on acreage that has gone unplanted due to the historic rains that have drowned out many local farmers’ hopes of planting crops this year.
So far, about 3,700 acres of farmland have been committed to the cover crop program.
“There is quite a demand for it out here,” said Ron Snyder, who serves on the board of supervisors for the Wood Soil and Water Conservation District.
“We’ve got to get something on this ground. We don’t want to leave it bare. It goes backwards,” Snyder told the commissioners.
Fields left unplanted see the soil health degrade, and sediments leave the soil and end up in the lake, said Abby Wensink, on the staff at the Wood Soil and Water Conservation District.
“There certainly is a drastic need here,” Herringshaw said.
Snyder warned that doing nothing is not an option.
“Let’s don’t sit back and say, ‘What are we going to do now?’” Snyder said. “Let’s not give everybody a hardhat and say, ‘the sky is falling.’”
Cover crops are grasses, legumes, and other plants that are used for erosion control, improving soil structure, moisture, and nutrient content, increasing beneficial soil biota, suppressing weeds, providing habitat for beneficial predatory insects, facilitating crop pollinators, providing wildlife habitat, and as forage for farm animals.
Cover crops can also provide energy savings both by adding nitrogen to the soil and making more soil nutrients available, reducing the need to apply fertilizer.
Snyder expressed some concerns that seeds for cover crops may be hard to come by since planting crops this year is a widespread problem across the country. He said he recently spoke to a dealer in Nebraska who said he was already sold out of cover crop seeds.
Herringshaw thanked the Wood Soil and Water Conservation District for looking out for local farmers during this difficult season.
The other two commissioners also voiced their support for helping local farmers.
“We support our farmers, especially when they are under stress from climate issues,” Commissioner Ted Bowlus said.
“Agriculture is such an important part of our county, and easy to take for granted,” Commissioner Craig LaHote said.
