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Eroded soil, particularly from steep slope farmland such as is found in much of Rappahannock County, also contributes to the problem. Without good topsoil, the farm’s productivity eventually suffers as well.
When stripcropping is done on steep slopes, the fields are divided into long strips, about 60 feet wide, which follow the contours of the land. The strips are planted alternately with a row crop like com or beans next to a dose-growing crop like a small grain, legumes or grasses.
The soil which is lost to erosion in the strips planted in the row crops is caught as the water trickles down through the close crop, thus saving the farmer’s most valuable commodity — his soil.
And, the nutrients added by fertilizer also stay on the field where they belong rather than washing into the creek, where they become unwanted pollutants.
The benefits are many: since the fertilizer stays where it is needed, the farmer applies less, and since his topsoil is conserved, he gets greater production from the fields.
Though SWCD technician Sue Wright acknowledged there is some loss of land to the cover crops, she stressed the net benefit in increased productivity over time because the topsoil stays in the fields, not in the streams.
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