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Stripcrop
Continued from page 11
ing operation. Today, he raises feed grains for his ever-increasing herd of pure-bred Simmentals.
“The wide strip in the middle compensated for the hollow in the land,” he explained, motioning with his arm to indicate the curve in the field. “In the belly, you have extra short rows.” Those short rows cost him time in planting and harvesting, since his equipment must turn more often. “It took time, and time is money,” he said with a smile.
He said that, despite the extra effort, the contour strips have been beneficial to the land both in erosion control and because it encourages crop rotation, which preserves soil nutrients. “It’s always a good idea to keep rotating crops,” he said.
For the Soil Conservation Office, the reasons advanced by Mr. Lattuyn and Mr. Payne for using stripcropping • — erosion control, preservation of nutrients, higher yields and more efficient planting and harvesting — are all valid encouragements to try the system.
“Because of the emphasis on erosion control, the concern about sediment in water in the Chesapeake Bay, the stripcropping technique has created new interest,” said Nancy Grimes, an SCS technician.
The Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service sponsors the Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) which pays participating farmers a specific per-acre rate for using stripcropping methods. Dates for sign-up into the program each year are announced by the ASCS newsletter and in newspaper articles, and there are also often special sign-up periods.
The Chesapeake Bay Program, a
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