We hear a lot about farmers under siege by hostile forces and public opinion, but West Central Tribune reporter Tom Cherveny reports that there's a real adversary undermining the viability of agriculture.
He writes in ‘Snirt’ calls attention to costly wind erosion losses:
The “snirt’’ covered fields of west central Minnesota this winter have served to call attention to the problem of wind erosion.
All that snirt certainly caught the eye of Jodi Dejong-Hughes, whose role with the University of Minnesota Extension is all about soil health. She is an agronomist with a master’s degree focused on soil fertility.
Instead of attempting to prick the conscience of those who allow what she calls the region’s most valuable, natural resource to blow away, Dejong-Hughes takes a different approach.
She points out that wind erosion is also picking the pocket books of those who allow excessive wind erosion to occur.
In one case, she found that the “snirt’’ coming from a tilled field in the middle of Chippewa County represented the loss of $96.20 worth of nutrients per acre.
Read the entire post at Cherveny's blog. The post is illustrated with photos by retired Clara City Herald editor John White, who posts with Rebecca Terk White at Listening Stones Farm.
Photo: "Snirt" in Chippewa County, by John G. White.
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