Pictured left to right: Dennis Busch, Sen. Howard Marklein, Mike Berget, Jason Rowe, Steve Carpenter, Ryan Temperly, and Brain Schilling.
Over 50 attendees gathered for the Lafayette Ag Stewardship Alliance annual meeting earlier this month.
Andrew Pritchard, a senior meteorologist at Nutrien Ag Solutions, shared his insights about the spring and summer weather outlook.
“In terms of temperature, we’re seeing a mild start to the spring with opportunities for some cold shots,” Pritchard said. “We’re also seeing more active patterns for this spring with more moisture and perhaps a chance for a late-season winter storm.”
He explained how today’s models for forecasting weather events are dependable when predicting long-term seasonal weather patterns and short-term (7-10 days) forecasts. However, there can be a disconnect when bridging the gap between short- and long-term forecasts, making them less accurate within the two to four-week range.
UW-Madison NOPP Research Director Monica Schauer shared an update on LASA’s NOPP Project, including the project’s first-year report. The project allows farmers to evaluate nitrogen trials on their farms to help determine the optimal nitrogen rate on corn following soybean and rye cover crops.
“In the first year, we saw a lot of variability from site to site, which is why multiple trials are so important,” she said.
The LASA NOPP project is one of many similar projects throughout the state. It will help inform future nitrogen recommendations.
Farmers for Sustainable Food staff, including Sustainability Project Specialist Marti Viste presented LASA’s 2024 Member Conservation Practice Survey results. With seven years of data, the survey shows the group’s use of various conservation practices, including soil sampling, planting cover crops, utilizing no-till and reduced-till methods, split nitrogen application, low disturbance manure application, and planting directly into cover crops, also known as “planting green.”
“We started with five or six member farms, and now we’re up to 29 farms,” says Steve Carpenter, LASA vice president. “As a group, we look forward to hosting field days this summer and continuing to engage with all those who are interested in sustainable agriculture.”
During the business portion of the meeting, the group held board elections. Jean Stauffacher serves as Secretary. Jim Winn serves as President. Chris Wilson serves on the board. Brian Schilling is an outgoing board member.
Other board members include Vice President Steve Carpenter, Treasurer Ken Norgard, Jim Digangi, Mike Berget, Ryan Temperly, and Jason Rowe. Steve Fleming and Dennis Busch are board advisers.
Learn more: https://lafayetteagstewardship.org/
