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Conservation practices pay off

Throughout this year – the country has seen some major weather events.  From the drought to Hurricane Sandy – Gene Schmidt, Indiana farmer and president of the National Association of Conservation Districts says this is a good year to see if those conservation investments were beneficial.   

“In some cases we are definitely sure they (conservation practices) minimized the impact (of the extreme weather conditions),” he says.  “When I say minimize the impact – when we look at disaster relief that we are confronted with in those major weather events we ask ‘Did we help from an economic standpoint?’.”

He tells Brownfield you have to look at every conservation acre across the country.  “It could be a shelter belt, or a filter strip, or whatever practice it is,” he says.  “Those kinds of conservation practices truly provide the landscape an opportunity to minimize the impacts we’re seeing from these major weather events we are seeing across the country.

AUDIO: Gene Schmidt, National Association of Conservation Districts (3:58mp3)

Schmidt made his comments last week in Kansas City at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting.