Upper Sugar River

Farmers for the Contact info:

Farmers for the Upper Sugar River207 E. Main Street, PO Box 314Mt. Horeb, WI 53704

Email: farmers@uppersugar.orgPhone: 608-437-7707Website: uppersugar.org/farmers

Upper Sugar River

Farmers for the

A newsletter distributed by the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association Winter 2019

Farmers for the Upper Sugar River

NEWSLETTER

Tuesday April 9, 10 am -1 pm

Sunburst Dairy, 1003 County Highway PB, Belleville, WI 53508

Lunch provided

• Spring and winter barley cover crop comparison

• No-till alfalfa demo

• Grain drill demo

• Manure injection demo

Save the DateFarmers for the Upper Sugar River Field Day

Farmers Annual MeetingFebruary 5 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Deer Creek Sports & Conservation Club

Cover Crop UpdateFarmers have been trying out different cover crop varieties the past few years

WI Cover Crop ConferenceThe 2019 Wisconsin Cover Crop Conference will take place February 20 in Stevens Point at the Holiday Inn.

Farmer TestimonialBrian Brown, FUSR President

Annual Meeting on February 5Farmers for the Upper Sugar River’s Annual Meeting on Tuesday February 5 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Deer Creek Sports & Conservation Club in Mt. Vernon.

Details inside.

HIGHLIGHTS

February 2019

Background on ‘Farmers for the Upper Sugar River’In 2016, five farmers in the Upper Sugar River Watershed came together to form the farmer-led group ‘Farmers for the Upper Sugar River’ as a way of maintaining and improving water quality in the watershed. In three years the group has grown to 23 member farmers representing over 10,000 acres in the watershed.

The group holds monthly meetings, hosts field days, and provides cost-share dollars to farmers who wish to try new conservation enhancements on their farms (cover crops, equipment rental for no-till or manure injection, etc.). Through working with the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association, the group has raised $92,000 from grants and corporate donations, used primarily to fund the cost-share program for area farmers.

Farmers currently in the group:

Farmers Invited to Annual Meeting on February 5Farmer-led group ‘Farmers for the Upper Sugar River’ hosting free educational lunch for all farmers in the watershed

Farmers from Mt. Horeb, Verona, Belleville, and beyond are invited to attend the Farmers for the Upper Sugar River’s Annual Meeting on Tuesday February 5 from 10 am to 2 pm at the Deer Creek Sports & Conservation Club in Mt. Vernon.

The Annual Meeting is a great opportunity to hear from farmers in the group, learn from guest speakers, and find out how to take advantage of the cost-share program the group is offering in 2019. A smoked brisket and chicken lunch from Paoli Bread & Brat Haus will be provided to everyone free of charge.

What: Farmers for the Upper Sugar River Annual Meeting

When: Tuesday February 5, 10 am-2 pm

Where: Deer Creek Sports & Conservation Club (8475 Miller Road in Mt. Vernon)

Smoked brisket and chicken lunch from Paoli Bread & Brat Haus will be provided free of charge

Annual Meeting topics will include:

• Amy Piaget, Dane County Conservationist, on the proposed updates to Dane County’s Winter Manure Spreading Ordinance

• Jim Amrhein, WDNR Biologist, on recent water quality surveys in the watershed and future projects

• Joe Bragger, Bragger Family Dairy in Buffalo County, on conservation practices used on the sloping terrain of his dairy farm

• Lee Kinnard, Kinnard Farms in Casco, WI on his experiences dairy farming in NE Wisconsin, managing nitrogen with a bioreactor, and being part of the farmer-led group Peninsula Pride

• Farmers for the Upper Sugar River round table panel discussion

All questions regarding the Annual Meeting or the Farmers for the Upper Sugar River can be directed to Wade Moder at the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association at farmers@uppersugar.org or call 608-437-7707. You can also find more information online at uppersugar.org/farmers.

Upper Sugar River

Farmers for the

Brian Brown

Cory Brown

Doug Brown

Sherry Combs

Andy Connors

Shawn Connors

John Doerfer

Mike Duerst

Tom Duerst

Dan Esser

Jeff Grindle

Kody Haag

Virgil Haag

Dennis Jelle

John Judd

Mark Keller

Tim Keller

Dan Krantz

Gerry Krantz

Jason Krantz

Marsha Ralston

Roger Ringgenberg

Jerome Zander

MISSION:“Ensuring the future of agriculture by being responsible stewards of the land and water quality in the Upper Sugar River Watershed.”

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The purpose of groups like Farmers for the Upper Sugar River is to get farmers trying out conserva-tion cropping practices that they have never tried before. Many of the farmers in the group have been trying out cover crops the last couple of years.

Cover crops serve many purposes;

1. They protect soil from erosion. This is im-portant both for the farmer, because soil is a farmer’s most valuable resource, and for the environment because soil that leaves fields often ends up in surface water, reducing water quality.

2. They improve water infiltration by keeping living roots in the ground more months of the year, keeping water channels open.

3. They feed soil organisms. Many soil organ-isms, such as bacteria and fungi, depend on their interactions with living roots to stay alive. When the soil is deprived of living roots for many months of the year, the diver-sity and function of soil organisms decreas-es.

4. They cycle nutrients. Nutrients leftover from the crop production season can be lost in the fall or spring if nothing is growing. Cover crops can act as a sponge to absorb nutri-ents during these time periods and then release nutrients back as they decompose the next year.

There are really only a few cover crops that grow well in the late fall, which is typically when we are getting cover crops planted after corn or soy-beans.

Cereal or winter rye is probably the most widely known cover crop. It is popular because it can sprout and grow at temperatures down to 34°, making it ideal (and the only option) for late fall planting. Some farmers avoid cereal rye because

it grows very aggressively in the spring and needs to be managed so it doesn’t create crop planting challenges.

Spring barley is also a cover crop that can be used in the fall but it is not winter hardy so it typically dies out in the winter, leaving the soil unprotected in the spring. Several farmers in the Upper Sug-ar River group have become interested in winter barley because it is more winter hardy than spring barley and at least has a chance of surviving our winter. This would provide spring coverage but it would be much less aggressive than rye, hopefully decreasing issues with managing it ahead of the next crop.

We experimented with winter barley on three farms in the watershed this past fall, we will hold a field day at one of the farms this spring to take a look at how well it did. The farm that will host the field day also planted half of the field to spring barley to compare the amount of spring cover between the two. More to come on this!

For more information on cover crop management in Wisconsin, visit https://fyi.uwex.edu/covercrop/

Cover crop update Heidi Johnson Dane county UWEX

Registration free through Farmers of the Upper Sugar RiverThe 2019 Wisconsin Cover Crop Con-ference will take place Feb 20, 2019 in Stevens Point at the Holiday Inn. Last year’s conference was attended by 400 people, the majority of which were farmers, showing the strong in-terest and enthusiasm in cover crops by farmers across the state.

This year’s conference will include more sessions and topics such as managing manure with cover crops and a session on farmer machinery modifications for covers and no-till. Blake Vince, a farmer from Ontario Canada, will be the keynote speak-er talking about how his concern for Lake Erie and desire to improve the resiliency of his farm led him to adopt no till and cover crops on his farm.

Also added on is an optional dinner the night before the conference called ‘Bugging out on Soil Health’ where UW Microbiologist Thea Whit-man will talk about the diversity and function of soil microbes and how they impact soil health.

Through the help of a grant, Farmers for the Upper Sugar River is offering to cover the travel and registration costs for the Cover Crop Conference. Please contact Wade Moder at 608-437-7707 or wade@uppersugar.org to be included. Space will be limited to a first come, first served basis.

For more info, visit https://fyi.uwex.edu/covercrop/

The Wisconsin Cover Crop ConferenceWednesday February 20 in Stevens Point

Thanks to the assistance provided by Heidi Johnson (UW-Extension Crops and Soils Educator) and Eric Birschbach (Ag Site Crop Consulting LLC). Both have donated their expertise and time to Farmer for the Upper Sugar River since the group’s beginning in 2016.

Special Thanks

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Timeline: March-October 2015: Held numerous meetings talking about the challenges for both farmers and water quality in the watershed

November 2015-January 2016: Identified ~10 farmers in the watershed who were interested in creating a coalition

February-April 2016: Held a meeting with interested farmers about creating a coalition, submitted an application to DATCP’s “Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grant”

May-August 2016: Developed a mission, goals, and formal group name. Enrolled five farmers in cover crop pilots.

September-December 2016: Created farmer mailing list, produced a letter, hosted a “Lunch & Learn” workshop to introduce the group to area farmers, and distributed checks to cover crop participants

January-April 2017: Planned and hosted a field day, created a protocol and cost schedule for 2017 incentive payments

May-August 2017: Began conducting phosphorus testing, assisted farmers with choosing conservation practices through the cost-share program

September 2017 – February 2018: Continued phosphorus testing, implemented cost-share program with 10 farmers, hosted a fall field day, distributed cost-share program checks, held our 2nd annual Lunch and Learn

March-April 2018: Planned and hosted an April field day showing cover crop trials and a closing wheel demo, created the 2018 cost-share guidelines

May-August 2018: Spread the word about the cost-share program, hosted field day showing the performance of various planters

September-December 2018: Distributed checks to cover crop participants cost-share participants, planned Annual Meeting

January-February 2019: Created a newsletter, Hosted Annual Meeting, began planning for a spring field day

Since day 1 of being a recipient of the DATCP grant I’ve seen thoughts and ideas flourish from the Farmers for the Upper Sugar River group. So far we’ve seen more interest in cover crops and grant requests for our cost share program, and we know more acres are being protected. One of the farm-ers in the group has also sparked interest in no-till planting. This last spring we held a cover crop field day. One area that sparked interest was a speaker named Brian Luck from UW Extension who talked about closing wheel types. A farmer in the group worked with Brian Luck to be one of the test plot sites for his study. After trying no-till the past two years, this spring we decided to buy our own no-till planter.

This year we tried vertical till and planted all our fields no-till. We are participating in Heidi Johnson’s winter barley and spring barley experiments, and 2/3 of our acres have cover crops.

As a lifetime dairy farmer in the Sugar River Watershed I have utilized conservation methods of strip cropping to hold soil on slopes, grass waterways for protecting an area so water can leave the slope, stream bank restoration a project that cleaned up and reinforced the stream bank to reduce erosion along with cover crops that sheltered the soil along with providing feed for our animals. The stream bank restoration project was something I wanted to do to help keep the Sugar River from eroding away at its banks each year. Working with the NRCS, a plan was developed to remove downed trees in the stream and reduce growth of new trees on the stream bank with a rip rap on the bends. The area was then seeded to control additional erosion. After completion of the project I’ve seen little erosion and faster clearer water along with the banks of the river staying in place. It was a lot of work, but well worth the results.

Being in production agriculture I see a benefit of working together with other outstanding farmers through conver-sation and by sharing practices that farmers are currently using. Being involved with the watershed group the last 3 years has been rewarding. Looking back and seeing where we started and going into the future is very exciting. At our education events there is participation all across the table, from farmers to industry people to agency people. That

along with researching new techniques of conservation while providing education to interested people in rural and urban areas.

When I initially heard that DATCP had a grant to work with starting producer led groups, I felt it was time to get the next generation involved. As serving on the Ag committee to the USRWA I started to gather ideas and make calls to organize a farmer led group. With my past experience of being a director on a few boards, I’ve been taking the lead on contacting participants and gaining ideas for education on water quality. My observation have been farmers are do-ing a good job with conservation but we see and learn and practice things from each other to get better at what we do. Having the DATCP grant allows Farmers for the Upper Sugar River to support cover crops, equipment rentals, trying new practices, and have ongoing projects partially funded.

The grant has also allowed the Farmers for the Upper Sugar River and the Upper Sugar River Watershed Association together. It allows for the farmer group to share and explain to non-farmers what is taking place. Things like this aren’t listed on an expense sheet, but I feel it’s worth a lot.

Farmer Testimonial:Brian Brown, FUSR President

Farmers for the Upper Sugar River (FUSR) currently represents 23 farmers and over 10,000 acres, accounting for 20% of the agricultural land in the watershed

In 2018 alone, 10 farmers received money as part of FUSR’s cost-share program, totaling $15,075. Practices included no-till, manure injection, and cover cropping.

Since 2016, FUSR has raised $92,000 to fund cost-share programs for member farmers, host field days and informational meetings, conduct water quality monitoring, and perform experimental studies.

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