With field work and planting in full swing, now is a good time to remind producers about conservation compliance provisions for those who participate in USDA programs.

Established with the 1985 Food Security Act Farm Bill, these provisions protect soil and wetlands from excessive tillage operations and manage drainage operations by limiting the tolerable erosion limits by soil type.

Wetlands also are protected by limiting the areas that can be drained, cleared or altered for crop production.

Under the Food Security Act all farmers are required to implement an approved conservation system that protects and keeps soil loss at or below tolerable levels and prohibits any gully erosion or wetland drainage. With the advent of larger equipment, widespread adoption of no-till planting and the increased use of vertical tillage tools, farmers tend to abandon old conservation practices like contour strips and waterways.

While this might be acceptable in certain situations, a conservation plan developed by tract is the best way to determine what works best for your operation. A written conservation plan also protects you from local complaints to the conservation district if and when problems arise from storm events.

By developing a plan we can answer some of the more common questions like plowing whole fields, eliminating waterways and removing strips. The plan can be written to include several different scenarios to address unique situations as they come up.

Anyone interested in developing a plan or having an existing plan updated is encouraged to contact us.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.