Mapping a greener future on farms

October 7, 2020 - Matt Davenport

When it comes to farming, becoming more sustainable can also mean becoming more profitable. So it’s only natural that farmers would look to Spartans for help going — and making — green.

Michigan State University researchers have garnered a nearly $2.6 million grant to work with farmers across the country to make their fields more eco-friendly while boosting their farms’ bottom lines. Led by MSU Foundation Professor Bruno Basso, the team is developing conservation practices that cut losses on unproductive plots and make the most out of more fruitful fields.

“This is what we call Precision Conservation,” said Basso, an ecosystems scientist in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. “It is a big step toward sustainability and resilience of agricultural systems.”

The grant is part of a nationwide initiative called On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “On-Farm Trials help producers improve the health of their operations while at the same time helping NRCS build data to show the benefit of innovative conservation systems and practices applied on the land,” said NRCS Acting Chief Kevin Norton.

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“This is revolutionary for U.S. agriculture,” said Jeff Sandborn, a farmer in Portland, Michigan, and member of the National Corn Growers Association. Other farmers shared Sandborn’s excitement to collaborate with the MSU team, including Marc Hasenicks of Springport, Michigan, Nathan Smith of Berlin, Illinois, and Brian Sutton, a fifth-generation farmer of Lowell, Indiana.

“By using precision technology in conjunction with aerial imagery, we can achieve great strides for both the farmer and the environment,” Sutton said. “This is truly a win-win.”

Read the full article at the MSUToday