sultant loss of fertilizer, nutrients and topsoil, is dramatically

sultant loss of fertilizer, nutrients and topsoil, is dramatically decreased.

Stripcropping is a technique which has been used on sloping land for many years, although the methods have been refined by years of experience and experimentation. Both the state and federal governments monitor stripcropping operations to determine the most efficient and effective techniques, which are then passed along to other farmers.

The traditional method of “contour” stripcropping involves long rows running parallel across the slope, creating areas with several short row's in the wider middle of the field which taper before they reach the narrower ends of the field.

William “Red" Payne, also of Ben Venue, has used this method of cultivating his family farm for nearly 40 years.

Locust Shade, the Payne family farm just one mile south of Mr. Latham’s property, also rolls across the hills along Route 729.. "I was not here when the property was laid off in strips,” Mr. Payne said, pointing to the few acres of land he stripcrops.

The wader middle section of the browui strip of soil is still visible even after years of slowly moving away from the contour method of stripping. Mr. Payne still stripcrops about 50 of the 100 acres he farms — the same number put into stripcropping almost 40 years ago.

“It has worked for me and for the soil, that’s why I’ve stuck with it,” Mr. Payne said. But, the Ben Venue farmer has found cultivating the strips is time-consuming, and over the years he has moved away from strict adherence to the method.

“It works well, but it takes too much time,” he said of the contour method. Mr. Payne, who retired from the Postal Service earlier this year, did most of his farming in the evenings and on weekends. “Every minute counted," he said of his farmSee

STRIPCROP, p. 14