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Natural Resources Conservation Service. NRCS. Government Agency . The role of the NRCS is to help farmers in all 50 states solve farm-related pollution problems that affect the health of the natural world. In Vermont, the focus is on keeping the Lake Champlain clean. Dairy Farms in Vermont .
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Government Agency • The role of the NRCS is to help farmers in all 50 states solve farm-related pollution problems that affect the health of the natural world. • In Vermont, the focus is on keeping the Lake Champlain clean.
Dairy Farms in Vermont Some dairy farms create pollution because they don’t handle the manure from the cows in a way that is clean. They allow the manure to pile up and run into streams and then into the lake. This create pollution in the lake – too much phosphorous.
Manure pollution is a big problem in Vermont because of all the dairy farms.
How NRCS helps • NRCS has ways to help these kinds of farms. They send out scientists and experts to the farm to understand the problem and to help come up with a solution. • They also can provide some money to farms so that the problems can be addressed.
Soil scientist work to understand the earth’s crust, the soil that grows food, and how to keep it healthy. NRCS has soil scientists available who can come to a farm and assess the health of the soil.
Lake Champlain • In Vermont, the NRCS is trying to keep pollution out of the lake – chemicals used in agriculture, extra nutrients from animal manures, and soil from erosion.
Last week’s flood – soil erosion from rain. This is where the Winooski river enters the lake.
In this picture, you can see all of the ways that farms can cause pollution. The pollution ends up in the ground water and affects the quality of our drinking water.
Erosion has been a big problem in agriculture and the NRCS is working to eliminate that problem.
NRCS teaches people to grow crops without leaving the soil bare. This prevents erosion. These are soy beans growing in straw. This is called “no till” farming.
In the mid-west USA, where 1,000s of acres are planted at a time, NRCS encourages farmers to plant grass road ways between the fields so that erosion does not occur.
One other solution to pollution is greenhouses. The NRCS would like to see more food produced on a small scale, and in a way that does not create pollution. Greenhouses are one way of doing that. NRCS is giving away money to farmers to build greenhouses.
NRCS has grants (gives away money) for farmers to build greenhouses.
To qualify for the grant: You must be on land that you own or that you have a 4 year lease on. You must be growing food to re-sell, not just for your consumption.
If you are interested in building a greenhouse or learning more about the kind of pollution created by agriculture, please get in touch with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. They are here to help you.The person to contact is Danny Peet at the NRCS office in Williston. Grant money is made more available to people who have been underserved in the past. This means women, people of color, and Native Americans are encouraged to apply. The phone number is (802) 865-7895
