Conservation
Why Practice Conservation?
Conservation is meant to help you look at all the resources on your land, with the goal of developing a complete conservation plan and a resource management system for your farm. The conservation system will be designed to protect all the reources on your farm--soil, water, air, plants and animals. The goals of conservation are the same goals as producers and landowners: increase land productivity, protect resources for the future, beautify the landscape, provide wildlife habitat, and maintain healthy ecological systems. See some of the success stories under the projects page, click here.
No till beans into cereal rye that was sprayed a few months earlier, in Iowa.
NRCS Photo
What is Conservation?
Conservation is a system of practices with a function to mainly reduce the forces of wind and water in order to improve soil health. Managing vegetative cover often accomplishes these objectives (see the no till and cover crop system above). However, it may be necessary to change the topography via construction activities. Perhaps the identified problems may require a combination of construction and vegetative practices. While conservation practices are often used to correct soil loss or poor water quality, being conservation-minded is a great way to prevent such environmental problems. Learn more about conservation practices and programs available on our conservation pages!
How to Start Conservation
You can do a lot yourself by researching available resources, like through our resources page, click here. It is important to identify potential problems to set goals for your conservation practices. Help is available through the Jones SWCD office and from the NRCS every step of the way. The SWCD is here to help from getting ideas, planning, all the way to providing technical field assistance. Contact us now to get started or research some available options under our conservation pages!
Planting corn into standing cereal rye