- State Conservationist Garry Lee

Happy holidays to NRCS-Michigan along with our conservation partners and customers. 2023 was a productive and challenging year. All of you should be proud of your contributions to helping conserve the natural resources of our state. Below is a holiday message from Chief Cosby.

Team NRCS,   

The days are short, the temperatures are dropping, and the calendar year is coming to a close. This is a time to rest, recharge, and reflect on the past year, and to set some goals for the coming year.  

As I reflect on 2023, I feel humbled to have the opportunity to work for you in my position of Chief of NRCS. This agency and its mission of helping people help the land has been my life’s work, and I am honored to work for the best 11,000 people in federal service who share my same dedication. As I spend time with my grandchildren this holiday season, I feel grateful that we are working to protect the natural resources that they will grow up to enjoy. Thank you. 

NRCS Chief Terry Cosby 

~

I hope that all of you can recharge as Chief Cosby advised. Early in the new year we are planning an announcement for producers to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program. USDA is increasing the minimum annual payment to producers in the Conservation Stewardship Program from $1,500 to $4,000 for fiscal year 2024.

The increase will address inflation and other challenges faced by small scale, underserved, and urban producers and improve equity in the program by making participation more financially beneficial for smaller operations. The new minimum payment amount will be available for new and renewed CSP contracts.

Along with CSP, an early 2024 announcement is planned for Environmental Quality Incentives Program funding for seasonal high tunnels and for producers transitioning to organic. Both of these EQIP initiatives will be available to producers statewide.

It took a lot of hard work and entrepreneurship for Craig and Kim Denny to become full-time farmers. The couple both worked on the farm but worked off-farm jobs to make ends meet until 2012, when they decided to start growing vegetables as well as corn and soybeans.

Craig is the fifth generation of his family to farm the same 300 acres near Saranac in Ionia County. With the addition of rented ground, they farm about 450 acres consisting of a corn and soybean rotation along with 60 acres of vegetables including three seasonal high tunnels.

Getting into the vegetable business was a deliberate plan to generate enough income on the farm to eliminate the need for second jobs. Their plan was assisted by the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives (EQIP) program that helped pay for the first of eventually three, seasonal high tunnels.

In addition to participating in EQIP, the Dennys’ had their farm environmentally verified through the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP). When NRCS District Conservationist Tamara Buitenwerf was looking to find potential applicants for the NRCS Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) she started with a list of MAEAP verified farms in Ionia County. She worked with the Dennys on some EQIP projects after arriving in Ionia County and thought they would make good candidates for CSP.

CSP differs from EQIP in that producers enroll all of their land in the program, including crop land as well as any forest, pasture, or orchard land, that are part of the farming operation. Participants receive annual payments based on their acreage and conservation practices and must incorporate additional conservation “enhancements” over the span of their 5-year, renewable contract. Participants receive additional financial assistance to implement the conservation enhancements they select.

Even though all of the participants land is enrolled in CSP, the participant can decide on how many acres to implement an enhancement and on what fields. This allowed the Dennys to experiment with new practices like conservation tillage and cover crops mixes incrementally.  Craig had already utilized cover crops to improve soil health, using CSP he planted a mixture that included clover and turnips. Even more impactful was experimenting with conservation tillage methods.

He tried no-till but was not comfortable with it. Through CSP, he began strip tilling, starting with 74 acres. Strip-till is a conservation tillage method where only the seed bed is tilled prior to planting instead of conventional tillage where the entire field is disturbed. Strip tillage reduces erosion and improves soil health by disturbing less soil.

Craig has been happy with the results of strip till and added additional acres in subsequent years utilizing CSP enhancements. He now strip tills all of his corn ground, including sweet corn. Crop residue makes it more difficult to use strip tillage for beans, he said. Strip till reduces his fuel costs, wear and tear on equipment, and labor. Craig has seen no loss in yields and believes his strip till corn did better than conventional till in the dry 2023 growing season.

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t see a benefit,” Craig said of switching to strip till.

Switching to strip till would have been harder to do without the assistance provided through CSP, Craig said. “It was kind of a stretch for us, we’ve never been a no-till farm.”

The labor Craig saves using strip-till is put to good use as the Denny’s vegetable business has grown to include an on-farm market store and bakery with up to 15 employees at the peak of the growing season.  

The Grain Train Natural Foods Market, Oryana Community Co-op, the Kalkaska Economic Development Corporation and Crosshatch have partnered to support the local food and farm economy by providing microloans for farmers and food entrepreneurs.

Zero‐interest microloans of $500 ‐ $10,000 are available to farms and food businesses. Business owners can visit crosshatch.org/micro‐loan to apply by Feb. 7, 2024 (no fee to apply). Selected loan applicants will receive notification and funds in early March.

The project aims to enhance an existing local food or farming venture or to help start a new one in Northwest Lower Michigan. The ideal candidate will propose an idea that would boost a farm or food business and elevate the region’s local food system. Applicants using sustainable practices are strongly encouraged, but proposals are not limited to particular practices or scale.

For more information, including eligibility areas for microloans, visit the Crosshatch website.

On July 7, USDA and its partner vendors announced the opening of the application period for Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which directs USDA to provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021. The opening of the application process is an important step in delivering on USDA’s commitment of providing financial assistance to those who have faced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs. The application process is open now and will close on January 13, 2024. Borrowers will have the option to apply for assistance online via 22007apply.gov or through a paper-based form.

Details about the program, including an application and e-filing portal, are available at 22007apply.gov. The website includes an English and Spanish language application that applicants can download or submit via an e-filing portal, information on how to obtain technical assistance in-person or virtually, and additional resources and details about the program. Applicants can also call the free call center at 1-800-721-0970 or visit one of several dozen brick-and-mortar offices the program has set up around the country. Locations are provided on the program website and vendors will update the local events schedule with more information as it becomes available. It is important to note that filing an application is FREE and does not require a lawyer.

Farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination by USDA in its farm loan programs prior to January 1, 2021, and/or are currently debtors with assigned or assumed USDA farm loan debt that was the subject of USDA discrimination that occurred prior to January 1, 2021, are eligible for this program. 

Under the planned timeline, applications will be reviewed in November and December, with payments reaching recipients soon thereafter. Importantly, applicants should know that the application process is not on a first come, first served, basis. All applications received or postmarked before the January 13, 2024, deadline will be considered.

To support producers throughout the application process, USDA is ensuring that organizations with extensive experience conducting outreach to farm organizations are able to support individuals who may be eligible for the program. These groups include AgrAbility, the Farmer Veteran Coalition, Farmers’ Legal Action Group, Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Intertribal Agriculture Council, Land Loss Prevention Program, National Young Farmers Coalition, and Rural Coalition. 

In standing up this program, USDA has become aware of some lawyers and groups spreading misleading information about the discrimination assistance process, pressuring people to sign retainer agreements, and asking people to fill out forms with private and sensitive information. The official application process and filling out an application is free and does not require a lawyer. 

For more information, please visit 22007apply.gov.  If you want to get weekly updates on the program’s events and progress, there’s a button there to subscribe to a weekly newsletter. 

Rebekah Jackson -  GIS Specialist, East Lansing

Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.
Education: B.A. History - University of North Georgia,  M.A. Anthropology - Georgia State University
Family & Pets: Husband and two dogs
Hobbies & Interests: Hiking and exploring new places

Larissa Lapak – Soil Scientist, Area 4 Flint

Last Position: Food Purchasing Coordinator, Mid-Michigan Community Action Agency
Hometown: Birch Run
Education: B.S. in Crop and Soil Sciences - Michigan State University; currently pursuing M.S. in Agricultural Leadership, Communication & Education - University of Missouri
Hobbies & Interests: Kayaking, cooking, crafting, thrifting, and gardening

Brady Marwede - Natural Resource Specialist, East Lansing

Last Position: Contractor as HELWC Specialist
Hometown: Alpena
Education: Bachelor of Science, Environmental Studies, Geography - Central Michigan University
Hobbies & Interests: Spending time in the outdoors exploring, road tripping, hunting and fishing, playing baseball in the GCBL, golf

January

5 - Crops Day 2024, 8 a.m. registration, The Center Auditorium - Adrian, for more information go to lenaweeconservationdistrict.org/events

6 - Organic Intensives Conference, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., MSU Plant and Soils Sciences Building - East Lansing, for more information go to canr.msu.edu/events

9 - Winter Webinar Series - Field Botany to Front Yard, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., online via Zoom, for more information and to register go to docs.google.com or contact District Forester Ellie Johnson at ellie.johnson@macd.org or call 231/866-0103

17-19 - Grow-Urban Agriculture Conference, online via Zoom, for more information go to canr.msu.edu/events

23 - Winter Webinar Series - Wet Spots in the Wood: Conservation of Vernal Pools in Michigan, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., online via Zoom, for more information and to register go to docs.google.com or contact District Forester Ellie Johnson at ellie.johnson@macd.org or call 231/866-0103