Kansas Sorghum Project
Kansas farmers have limited technical capacity to quantify the effectiveness of farm practices in improving soil health and water quality. This project, conducted in partnership with NRCS and titled “Community and market partnerships to leverage the creation and application of a technology platform, KansCAT, for conservation of soil and water systems in Kansas,” consists of three objectives aimed at addressing this problem. We propose to
I) deploy a database for storing and assessing practice information,
II) increase literacy of farmers and conservation partners using this information and
III) leverage conservation practices for value in carbon-focused ethanol markets.
Engagement Targets
Notes: (1) Minor fluctuations in the number of retained growers is expected from year to year. These fluctuations may be due to year-over-year crop rotation effects or other factors beyond the control of the project. Enrolled acres represent the total number of acres on an individual farm in a specific year. The ability to report enrolled acres is based on the Fieldprint Project Standard requirement that individual growers enrolled in projects enter at least 10% of the acres managed for a specific crop. (2) Entered acres represent the actual number of enrolled acres for which data is entered in the Fieldprint Platform for analysis.
Objectives
The project saw approximately 20 sorghum growers adopt higher levels of conservation and quantify all aspects of the change.
The engagement component of the project saw the development of talented new leaders, including one who now serves as inclusion and diversity director for the National Sorghum Producers Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities, where she employs learnings gleaned directly from this project and the Fieldprint Calculator component of it.