With a renewed focus on our core strengths and values, CTIC is THE credible, reliable source for information and technology for agricultural conservation. Today, we’re talking about more than just conservation tillage.

For nearly three decades, conserving natural resources has been a way of life for Rodney Vorhees, Kansas farmer and CTIC’s newest Champion of Conservation. Integrating conservation practices into his rangeland and pasture operation was first a necessity and then became a passion for Vorhees.

Conservation tillage proponents have long regarded crop residues as a treasure. Now, the energy industry is catching on, too. Growing interest in converting plant material to energy could open new profit opportunities to farmers – but it could also create a tug-of-war over crop residues, pitting potentially profitable energy markets against long-term improvements in soil quality.

Air pollution is often thought of as just a big-city problem – after all, that’s where the cars and the factories are. But diesel-powered farm equipment contributes to air pollution too, as do the trucks, trains and ships that move vast amounts of agricultural goods from farm to market throughout the nation every day.

Recent studies have shown that no-till improves watershed health, that no-till may increase nitrous oxide in the soil, and that no-till combined with poultry litter can increase cotton yields. These studies and other research and technology items are reported in this section.

Restoring Powder Lick Run wasn’t a massive project, but it was full of twists and turns and bumps. And that was the key to its success – putting meander and riffles back into a 3,600-foot reach of a stream that had been little more than a straight, eroding drainage ditch for generations.