Tradewinds

The Talbot Soil Conservation District Winter Edition 2010/2011

FAVORABLE CONDITIONS YIELD RECORD COVER CROP ACRES

LEVIN SCHWANINGER, SOIL CONSERVATION PLANNER

IN THIS ISSUE:
Cover Crop Updates 1

ith fall certification in the books, the Talbot Soil Conservation District is pleased to announce that Talbot County farmers certified more than 44,000 acres of cover crops. There were a total of 93 operators signed up for the program. If you are participating in the 2010/2011 Cover Crop program please remember that for the traditional and commodity program you cannot add any nutrients before March 1, 2011. However you can add potash and lime at anytime. Please also remember that kill down date for traditional cover crop has been moved to March 15, 2011. Within two weeks of the suppression of the Cover Crop, please certify with the Talbot SCD to determine the final cost-share payment. Please contact Levin Schwaninger with any questions you may have at 410-822-1577 x 116.

New CSP Program

Poultry Facts

Prescribed Burn Plans

Envirothon Updates

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT? Earthworms move soil from lower strata up to the surface and move organic matter from the soil surface to lower layers. Where earthworms are active, they can turn over the top 6 inches of soil in ten to twenty years.

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NEW CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM (CSP) UPDATE

HEYDSHA R. CORDERO-RODRIGUEZ, SOIL CONSERVATIONIST

The program has 2 types of payments for performance. An Annual Payment- for installing new additional conservation activities and maintaining existing activities and a Supplemental Payment- available for participants receiving annual payments who also adopt a resource-conserving crop rotation. The payment rate for Supplemental Payment is $12.00 per acre. NRCS will make payments after October 1 of each fiscal year for contract activities installed and maintained in the previous year. CSP payments for joint operations contracts increased to an annual limit of $80,000/ FY and $400,000 for over 5 year contract. Payments of Individuals will not exceed $40,000 in any year or $200,000 for contracts entered into during any 5year period. Participants who are limited resource farmers, beginning farmer, or socially disadvantage farmer or rancher may receive minimum payment of $1,000 if the contract amount in any given year is less than that amount. To apply for the newly revamped CSP, potential applicants will be encouraged to use a Self-Screening Checklist to determine whether the new program is suitable for them or their operation. It is available on the NRCS Website and at NRCS field offices. After self-screening, the producers current and proposed conservation practices are entered in the Conservation Measurement Tool (CMT), which inventory resources to estimate existing conservation performance level, schedule new conservation activities and estimate conservation performance improvement, determine land treatment eligibility and ranking score and establish annual payment. Based on the ranking, the application is Pre approved and an On-site Field Verification is conducted to check if resources inventory information was accurate prior to contract approval. Applicants must meet the following CSP requirements: Be the operator of record in the USDA/FSA farm records management system (Owners can be participants) for the eligible land being offered for enrollment, have control of the land for the term of the contract, be in compliance with Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation Provisions, not exceed the Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limitations set by Congress and include the eligible land in their entire agricultural or forestry operation. New Enhancements added to CSP are:

SP is a voluntary program that encourages agricultural and forestry producers to address resource concerns by improving, maintaining and managing existing conservation activities and adopting new ones on their operations. This program is available nationwide and has a Continuous Sign-Up with periodic cut-offs for ranking. The next Cut-off date has been extended to January 7, 2011.

Applications will be evaluated and ranked relative to other applications that address similar resource concerns and focuses on those identified as a priority for Maryland. The 5 resource concerns identified by Maryland are:

Air Quality, Soil Erosion, Soil Quality, Water Quality and Water Quantity.
Eligible lands include cropland, grassland, prairie, improved pastureland, rangeland and non-industrial private forest. A new land use added is Pasture-cropland where prime farmland is used as pasture. Eligible applicants may include individual landowners and legal entities. Landowners interested in applying for woodland management practices should first contact their local Forester for a Forest Stewardship Plan before submitting their forestland application with us.

Forest Wildlife Structures Stocking Forages to extend the Grazing Season Managing Calving to coincide with forage availability Conifer Crop Tree Release Patch Harvesting to improve degraded hardwood stands Forest Stand improvement for soil quality On farm Composting of Organic Waste

Protecting of Sensitive Areas on Winter Grazing a land. For more information or interested to apply for the new CSP please call us at (410) 8221577 x 3 or the NRCS web site at

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/ new_csp/csp.html.

2008 FACTS ABOUT DEL-MAR-VAS BROILER CHICKEN INDUSTRY

Annual broiler/roaster/Cornish production 571,263,000 Total pounds produced 3,472,445,000 Number of broiler/roaster/Cornish houses 5,004 Broiler/roaster/Cornish and breeder growers 1,757 Poultry company employees 14,500 Bushels of corn used for feed 79,876,000 Bushels of soybeans used for feed 26,685,000 Grower contract payments $178,548,000 Wholesale value of broilers/roasters/Cornish $2,167,463,000

***

Each job in the poultry processing industry creates 7.2 jobs elsewhere ***

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GETTING YOUR WARM SEASON GRASSES IN ORDER

SHAWN SMITH, SOIL CONSERVATION PLANNER

the Prescribed Burn. The District will provide an approved Prescribed Burn Plan and technical guidance. We coordinate the burn with the Department of Natural Resources Wildlife & Heritage Service and the Regional Fire Manager. If you are interested in having the District write a plan for your property, please contact Shawn Smith at 410-822-1577 x 107.

pring is just around the corner, and now is the time to think about how you will be managing your warm season grass stands on your CRP ground next year. The Talbot Soil Conservation District is now offering technical assistance to landowners who are planning on using the most effective management technique for controlling warm season grasses, prescribed burns. Most warm season grass stands should be burned once every three to four years to remove accumulated plant litter. Prescribed burning does require a permit in Talbot County and might not be allowed in some areas. Before a Prescribed Burn plan can be written, a Planner will need to meet with you at your property and discuss in detail the overall process of

ENVIROTHON UPDATES

CRAIG ZINTER, DISTRICT MANAGER

estry (100.00 pts.), Wildlife (94.00 pts.) and Groundwater (83.50 pts.), and Montgomery Westminster, MD. It was the second year in a row that the team won the Maryland Envirothon and earned the right to represent Maryland at the Canon Envirothon. The team represented Maryland well at the Canon Envirothon 2010 California event. The event was held at the California State University Fresno campus August 1-6, 2010. The Maryland team did very well finishing fifth out of 54 teams from the U.S. and Canada. Host California was crowned the Canon Envirothon champions with Delaware second, followed by Minnesota, Florida and Maryland. Individual high scores went to Delaware for Aquatics (74.00 pts.), California for Soil (80.00 pts.), Pennsylvania for Forestry (84.00 pts.) and Groundwater (86.00 pts.) and Wisconsin for Wildlife (87.00 pts.) and high preliminary oral score (179.00 pts.).

he 2010 Maryland Envirothon was held at the William S. Schmidt Outdoor Education Center in Brandywine, Prince Georges County, MD. June 24-25, 2010. The date was moved forward because of numerous school systems adjusting their calendars because of the extraordinary snowfall during the winter which had school systems across the state closed for more than their normally allotted snow days. The 2010 Maryland Envirothon will go down as one of the hottest events in memory! Nineteen teams managed to make their way to the Schmidt Center to compete. Caroline County attended for the first time and once again a team represented Baltimore City, both by way of a Canon Envirothon Diversity grant.

2010 Winning TeamCarroll County

From L to R: Royden Powell Assistant Secretary, Office of ReThe fifth issue for 2010 was Protecsource Conservation, Maryland Department of Agriculture; Reed tion of Groundwater Through Urban, Portney; Eric Kayzak; Claudia Lewis - advisor, Kelly Habicht; ReAgricultural and Environmental Planbecca Baldwin; Ranson Leland Baldwin, VII; Frank Dawson, Assisning. The team from Carroll County tant Secretary, Aquatic Resources, Maryland Department of Natural was crowned Maryland State ChamResources; Paul Kazyak Advisor The Canon Envirothon 2011 event pions with a score of 452.00 points, will be hosted by New Brunswick at followed by Montgomery County Allison University in Sackville, NB, with 437.50 points and Harford County with for Soils (96.00 pts.). Canada from July 24-29, 2011. The 5th 430.00 points. issue topic selected by New Brunswick will The Carroll County team members are actuHigh score awards for resource stations went to be Salt and Freshwater Estuaries. ally from the BSA Venture Crew 202 in Carroll County for Aquatics (92.00 pts.) , For-

Talbot Soil Conservation District 28577 Marys Court, Ste 3 Easton, Maryland 21601 (410) 822-1583 ext. 3 www.talbotscd.com

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID EASTON, MD 21601 PERMIT NO. 268

WINTER 2010/2011 NEWSLETTER

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

DISTRICT STAFF
Craig S. Zinter, District Manager Teresa D. Kampmeyer, District Conservationist L. Dale Willson, Secretary Jim Brewer, Soil Scientist Christy Brown, Soil Conservationist, CNMP Planner Heydsha Cordoro-Rodriquez, Soil Conservationist Mark Mason, Soil Conservation Technician Scott Nordhoff, Soil Conservation Planner Levin Schwaninger, Soil Conservation Planner Roy R. Scott, Soil Conservation Associate Shawn Smith, Soil Conservation Planner Steve Spielman, Soil Conservation Planner David Wilson, Soil Conservation Engineer Technician

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
John Swaine III, Chairman S. Taylor Spies, Vice Chairman Lemmie Swann, Treasurer Jane Ward, Member Kyle Hutchison, Member Shannon Potter, Secretary (Extension Service) Phil Foster, Associate Member Lewis Smith, Associate Member Vicki Sump, Associate Member

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 1-800-795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

CONSERVATION DEVELOPMENT SELF-GOVERNMENT