Ok, you are a farmer on a small family farm in Ohio. You have now expanded your acreage, decided how you will use all of your acres and whether or not you will use chemicals. You have purchased your chemicals (if you are a conventional farmer) and your seed. You have purchased your machinery. You are all ready to plant your crops! Well done!
But wait...Whoa! You are having some serious soil erosion problems that you need to fix if you are going to have healthy crops! You are out of money, but need to solve this problem. Your local bank will give grants to farmers who provide excellent written explanations why they need financial help and explanations for how they will use the money to solve long-term problems.
YOUR TASK:
Read about erosion issues you are having, then develop a plan to solve the problems based on information given in the packet. Finally, write a letter to the bank explaining your problems and how you will fix them if they supply you with a grant to purchase supplies. Be convincing! You are betting the farm on it!
Erosion is a process that removes soil layers and carries them away from farmer's fields to bodies of water or other land. Erosion results in the loss of valuable soil and its nutrients that are necessary for crops to grow.
There are three primary kinds of soil erosion: wind, water, and tillage:
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In areas where the land is especially flat or dry, wind erosion is a problem. As wind blows it spreads soil particles across the land.
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Water erosion may occur gradually during rainfall or when winter snow melts in fields. It can also happen suddenly during floods.
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Tillage erosion is mostly caused by the way a farmer tills the land. The kind of equipment a farmer uses, how often the farmer tills the fields, and how the farmer manages the fields during the winter months affect how much soil may be lost. Heavy machinery, frequent tilling, and lack of soil cover during winter months contributes to soil erosion
If the slope of the land is steep, all three kinds of erosion become more of a problem.
Although water and wind erosion are caused primarily by natural elements, the farmer's tillage practices are also important.
Without soil you won't have crops....without crops you won't have a farm. Soil erosion can "run away with your farm," so you must figure out a way to stop it! Never fear! Since erosion has long been a big problem for farmers, they have developed many ways to deal with it. The kind of methods farmers use to farm their land and deal with soil erosion is another way that family farms differ.
Carefully read each of the soil erosion prevention techniques in your packet. Then, using what you have learned, provide a plan to solve each of four problems you are having on your farm. Your problems are explained on the back of this sheet. Consult the packet for possible solutions. Then write

Below you will find four scenarios that describe what is happening throughout your fields. Use what you have learned about soil erosion control methods to come up with what you think is the best solution in each situation. Consider what resources you will need.
1.
Your fields to the southwest of the farmstead are relatively flat. You notice that the ditches between your fields and the road are becoming clogged with soil from the fields.
The erosion problem is especially bad in the farthest SW corner where the field slopes slightly down towards the road. Because the ditches are filled with silt, rainwater has nowhere to go and this makes the road a mess for your farm machinery, bicycles, pedestrians, and cars! Contour farming really won't help in this situation because the slopes aren't so steep. What are two things you can do to stop the run-off?
2.
To the immediate east of your farmstead there is a depression where your two sixty acre fields meet. Last fall you had problems with an excess of rainwater accumulating in that depression. This run-off carried with it soil from those fields. What would be a good solution to this problem?
3.
You have one large seventy-five acre field directly to the east of the field that is extremely hilly. You discovered that last fall's heavy rains carried a lot of valuable topsoil from this field into the flatter, fifty acre field to the north. You had planned to plant only corn in that seventy-five acre field this spring, but you may want to rethink this. As you prepare to plant this spring, what might you do with this field instead?
4.
As you notice these soil problems all over your farm, you realize that every type of land is vulnerable to erosion. You have used some methods that work best for specific kinds of fields, but you also want to come up with a plan that you can apply to all of your land.
What are a couple of things you can do on a regular basis to cut down on erosion even more?
Soil erosion problems are often worse in monoculture fields. Why do you think this is?

1.
Windbreaks :
Some farmers plant trees along the borders of their fields to cut down on wind erosion. This method is most often practiced in flat areas, but is useful in hilly regions as well.
2.
Cover crops :
Another method grow during the cover crops such cover and
3.
Grassed waterways : to stop soil erosion is to plant crops that will most erosive fall and spring months. Winter as fall rye or winter wheat act as a ground protect the vulnerable soil from eroding.
In some fields the land forms natural depressions where run-off water goes. To keep the soil in these depressions from running away with the water, farmers plant grassy strips. Excess water is absorbed by the grass rather than acting as an erosion agent.

4.
Contour plowing/cultivation :
Cultivation is the process of loosening up the soil between the rows of a growing crop. Some farmers plant and cultivate their crops to follow the contours of a field.
Contour cultivation produces furrows that are perpendicular or at an angle to the slope of the field. The irregular surface of the field breaks up the flow of water and makes it more difficult for water to erode the soil.
5.
Strip cropping :
Farmers may decide to alternate a field with strips of different crops or fallow. Strip cropping may be used in flat areas but it also is a kind of contour farming when strips are planted across the slope of a field.
Contour cropping of corn, alfalfa and wheat.
Photo by Larry Lefever
6.
Forages in rotation:
Forage crops such as alfalfa and hay can be included in a rotation to cut down on erosion. In areas where the land has steep terrain the practice of strip cropping forage crops and crops such as corn or wheat is a common way to slow erosion.
7.
Conservation tillage :
If farmers leave the soil bare after they harvest a crop, they are asking for trouble! Most farmers today will practice conservation tillage where they leave stalks and leaves of the harvested crops on their fields. This layer protects the underlying soil from wind and rain during the fall and winter until a new crop is planted in the spring. One kind of conservation tillage is chisel-plowing which mixes crop residue into the soil. This leaves the ground partially covered from the wind and rain. Below you will find descriptions for two common types of conservation tillage practices. There are other methods that farmers use too, though!

1.
No till :
No-till farming means that farmers leave all of the last crop's residue in the soil while planting the new crop.
A road sign promotes no-till farming. Agriculture and the Environment, 1991
Yearbook: 38
2.
Ridge-tillage :
Farmers may use special machinery to form the soil into ridges and then plant the seeds on top of the ridges. The soil and residue from the previous crop between the ridges are not disturbed during planting and cultivation. Since this plant and soil material is not broken loose by the machinery, it is less likely to erode.
Soybeans growing in corn residue with no-till farming.
Agriculture and the Environment,
1991 Yearbook: 17
A farmer cultivates his field with a special plow used for ridge tilling. Agriculture and the Environment, 1991 Yearbook: 183

8.
Terracing:
On extremely steep slopes, farmers often alter the shape of the land by building a series of terraces, which prevent the water from running down the steep slope and provide more surface area for farming. Terracing is considered a costly investment because it takes time to build up the slopes and uses expensive resources like concrete.
Sources of ideas and information: http://www2.kenyon.edu/projects/farmschool/types/tillage.htm http://my.hrw.com