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What Is Your Fieldprint?Learn more about your natural resource management practices, how your environmental impact compares to other growers in your area, and how conservation techniques can help improve your bottom line.
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Paw Paw River Watershed Fieldprint Calculator ProjectThe Van Buren Conservation District, The Coca-Cola Company, Field to Market, The Nature Conservancy, and WWF are working together to help growers learn more about how their natural resource management decisions compare to county, state and national averages. Join the project and you will:
• Discover how your farm compares to state and local efficiency benchmarks• Determine where small changes can bring big benefits to your bottom line• Understand how corn production in the Paw Paw Watershed compares against other areas• Learn from and share with your neighbors conservation approaches to boost yields and improve economic efficiency
Cover crops represent a potential money-saving conservation approach as they can produce a significant nitrogen credit and reduce spring fertilizer inputs.
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The Paw Paw Watershed project is supported by:
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Your land. Your water. Your Michigan.
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The Fieldprint Calculator
Paw Paw River Watershed What is the Fieldprint Calculator?The Fieldprint Calculator is a web-based educational resource for growers, allowing for instant comparison of their performance against county, state and national averages in six specific resource areas. The online tool allows you to see how on-farm choices relate to natural resource management and sustainability.
Six resource areas are compared against the following efficiency benchmarks:• Land Use• Soil Conservation• Soil Carbon/Organic Matter• Irrigation Water Use• Energy Use• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The final output is given in easy to read graphs, allowing simple and fast interpretation.
For more information, or to participate in the project, please contact:Van Buren Conservation DistrictJared FosterConservation [email protected](269) 657-4030 ext. 129
1035 E. Michigan Ave.Paw Paw, MI 49079www.vanburencd.org
Why the Paw Paw River Watershed?The Paw Paw River Watershed represents a significant opportunity to learn more about growers’ role in natural resource management because of these specific characteristics:• Importance: The Paw Paw River drains nearly two-thirds of Van Buren County.• Concentration: The majority of Van Buren County corn is grown in the Paw Paw River Watershed.• Consistency: Soil, moisture and topography are more similar within a watershed than at state or even county levels.• Comparison: Focusing on a small, distinct area provides a better opportunity for growers to talk with their neighbors about results.• Cost-sharing: Many cost-share opportunities exist exclusively for parts of the Paw Paw River Watershed.
The Van Buren Conservation District, The Coca-Cola Company, Field to Market, The Nature Conservancy, and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) are partnering to help 50 corn growers in the Paw Paw River Watershed learn more about their farmland resource management. The Paw Paw River Watershed is a diverse landscape dependent on clean water and healthy soil. Managing crops to use these and other resources wisely will ensure availability for future generations. Using the Fieldprint Calculator, we hope to measure and ultimately improve corn production practices in Van Buren County. Participants in the project will benefit by:
• Gaining better understanding of their farm’s resource efficiency• Learning how potential management changes can affect their profitability• Becoming more aware of conservation practice funding opportunities• Receiving a 50 percent discount on Van Buren Conservation District rental equipment• Participating in a dinner and discussion to review project results
Participation in the project is voluntary and protected as data sources will remain anonymous.
Conservation tillage plays an important role in soil use efficiency for this corn field and many other operations.
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