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Conservation practices from a farmer perspective

To say Randy Miller is serious about conservation would be a big understatement.

“We’ve used buffer strips, waterways and terraces. We’ve got some dry fills, which are basically ponds with a standpipe in them. We’re using nitrogen management tools when we’re applying our fertilizer. And we’ve been using cover crops for four or five years now” Miller says.

He’s also seeing a good return on the dollars he has invested into those conservation practices, Miller says.

“Our trendline yields have come up. We’ve reduced our nitrogen rates. Our soil health is better from the use of these programs,” he says. “We’re getting better crops with less inputs and our farm is in better condition, based on less erosion from the conservation practices that we’ve used.”

Miller, who farms in south-central Iowa near the town of Lacona, is in his first term on the Iowa Soybean Association board of directors.  We visited with him at the ISA Research Conference in Des Moines.

AUDIO: Randy Miller