Conservation Practices Applied to Corn Production (in IN, IL, IA, and NE)
Producers have adopted a variety of land-management and structural conservation practices
on corn producing acres for a variety of economic, conservation, and environmental reasons. These
practices have included crop rotations, conservation tillage, scouting for pests, applying nutrient
tests, use of variable rate technology (VRT) for seed and/or fertilizer application, use of Global
Positioning System (GPS-based) soil map information, installation of one or more conservation
structural practices, and intensive use of alternative pest management practices.6 In 2005, farms not
participating in conservation programs (on corn acres) were by far the primary users of all ten land-
management practices (fig. 2). These farms accounted for 83 percent of planted corn acres within
the 4 surveyed States. Higher-sales, non-participating farms (on corn acres) were the primary users
of all land-management practices (except for use of variable-rate technology for seed and/or
fertilizer application — here, retired/residential/lifestyle/low-sales farms among non-participants
were the primary users of this practice). Higher-sales farms were also the primary users of
conserving land-management practices among conservation program participants. Use of contours
and strip cropping was the primary land-management practice for these producers. The 2005
CEAP-ARMS data for corn suggest that while higher-sales farms among conservation program
participants likely make a positive contribution to reducing agriculture-induced environmental
damages, the largest contribution to environmental benefits likely originates with non-participants,
6 “Pest-management intensity” is identified when a producer applies five or more pest-management practices to a
survey field. Alternative pest-management practices for a survey field may include such direct activities as scouting
for pests (at various levels of intensity), keeping detailed written or electronic records, making use of published
threshold information, using field mapping data, use of diagnostic laboratory analysis for pest identification, use of
soil/plant tissue testing, use of beneficial organisms in the field, use of a trap crop, as well as other indirect activities
designed to manage or reduce the spread of pests such as plowing down of crop residue, rotating crops, use of ground
cover or mulches, use of no-till or minimum till, adjusting row spacing, plant density, or row direction, cleaning field
equipment after completing a field operation, removal of crop residue from the field, use of cultivation for weed
control, and/or chopping, spraying, mowing, plowing or burning field edges, ditches, roadways, or fence lines.
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