8A • Agriculture
www.crossville-chronicle.com • Friday, June 12, 2015
AGRICULTURE UT Institute of Agriculture hosts Fruits of the Backyard Field Day June 16 in Spring Hill If you’re searching for fresh, locally-sourced produce, what could be more local than your own backyard? On Tuesday, June 16, University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture experts will show you how to make the most of your outdoor space and reconnect with your food sources at the 8th annual Fruits of the Backyard Field Day. The event takes place at UT’s Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center in Spring Hill and is absolutely free.
Get free gardening advice from the experts Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. CDT with formal presentations starting at 9:30. Arrive early so you can tour the trade show and educational displays. Among the exhibitors will be the UT Soil, Plant and Pest Center, which will be offering field day visitors free plant disease diagnostics, insect identification and soil pH testing. Just bring plant and
insect specimens for identification. Those interested in learning the pH of their soil should bring a sandwich bag full of the soil they wish to be tested. “A cup of soil is all that is needed to determine if soil pH is optimal for your plants,” says Debbie Joines, manager of the UT Soil, Plant and Pest Center. She says those desiring more comprehen-
sive tests should visit the SPPC website (ag.tennessee.edu/spp) for instructions or call a local UT Extension office. The three educational presentations will take you through the growing season, harvest and product marketing. Learn how to extend your growing season with backyard greenhouses and other ideas. Discover the best techniques for pre-
serving your harvest, and pick up tips for selling your surplus at farmers’ markets. At the conclusion of the presentations, visitors are invited to participate in an open panel question and answer session. The panel will include all speakers, plus additional UT specialists. Area farmers will also be on hand to answer questions throughout the day
in the educational displays area. Fruits of the Backyard concludes at 12:30 p.m. For more program details, visit the website middle.tennessee.edu or call (931) 4862129. The Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center is located on Highway 31, just minutes south of Nashville. Take exit 53 from I-65 and follow the signs to Columbia. The Research and Education Center is on the east side of Hwy. 31.
$235M available for new conservation partnerships On May 4, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an investment of up to $235 million to improve the nation’s water quality, combat drought, enhance soil health, support wildlife habitat and protect agricultural viability. The funding is being made available through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), the newest conservation tool of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). RCPP, created by the 2014 Farm Bill, empowers local leaders to work with multiple partners― such as private companies, local and tribal governments, universities, nonprofit groups and other non-government partners―
Local coalitions can now apply for funding to improve soil health, preserve clean water, combat drought, protect wildlife habitat along with farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners to design solutions that work best for their region. Local partners and the federal government both invest funding and manpower to projects to maximize their impact. This will be the second round of projects funded through RCPP. The RCPP program helps USDA build on already-record enrollment in conservation programs, with over 500,000 producers participating to protect land and water on over 400 million acres nationwide. “We are looking to build new partnerships
and build on existing partnerships to achieve even more conservation across Tennessee. This program helps us all to come together to do some things we have never been able to do before,” said Kevin Brown, NRCS State Conservationist. “This is a new, innovative approach to conservation,” said Vilsack. “This initiative allows local partners the opportunity to design and invest in conservation projects specifically tailored for their communities. These public-private partnerships can have an impact
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that’s well beyond what the Federal government could accomplish on its own. These efforts keep our land and water clean, and promote tremendous economic growth in agriculture, construction, tourism, and other industries.” Vilsack continued, “We had tremendous interest from local partners when we first launched this program last year. In this new round of applications, we’ll be looking for even greater emphasis on expanding partnerships that break down barriers, work across boundaries, leverage resources and create new opportunities for innovation.” Secretary Vilsack made the announcement at a signing ceremony in Denver for the Colorado Pressurized Small Hydropower Partnership Project, a 2015-funded project that focuses on water quantity resource concerns in Colorado. The project, which will receive $1.8 million in NRCS support alongside local partner investments, will facilitate the conversion of flood irrigation systems to more resourceefficient pressurized irrigation systems with integrated hydropower. “USDA continues to look for new opportunities to address drought across the West. RCPP projects like this one in Colorado highlight the work the NRCS is doing with partners to increase efficiency while supporting produc-
tion,” Vilsack said. In January, USDA delivered first round funding to 115 high-impact projects, including the Colorado project, across all 50 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. One of these projects, “Securing Private Working Forests to Benefit Longleaf Pine, Threatened and Endangered Species, and Military Readiness,” will restore approximately 20,000 acres of longleaf near as many as seven military installations across the country through the purchase of conservation easements. The project will enhance longleaf forests while also increasing the forested buffer around military bases. Longleaf forests produce valuable products, such as high quality wood and pulpwood for paper, that are important to rural economies. Also, these forests are home to many rare species, and by restoring the habitat on which they depend, their populations will grow. Another project, “The Tri-State Western Lake Erie Basin Phosphorous Reduction Initiative” brings together more than 40 partnering organizations from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana to reduce the runoff of phosphorous to waterways in the western basin of Lake Erie. The lake has suffered from nutrient pollution for years, including last year’s water crisis that left 400,000
residents in the Toledo, Ohio area without water to drink, bathe or cook. From providing clean drinking water to employing thousands of people in the tourism industry, the health of Lake Erie affects nearly every aspect of life in the region. This project will target funding to the streams and rivers that have the largest impact on water quality in the lake. In January, USDA announced $394 million in awards in the first round of RCPP applications (which represented two years’ worth of funding for fiscal years 2014 and 2015). Today’s announcement was made possible by the 2014 Farm Bill. The 2014 Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life. USDA is now accepting proposals for RCPP. Preproposals are due July 8. For more information on applying, visit the RCPP website.
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