Sustainability Improvements in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Sustainability Improvements in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Tim Hushon, the Sustainable Ag Tech Director at The Mill, has spent a large majority of his life supporting farmers in making sound agronomic decisions and exploring new techniques to advance efficiency. At The Mill, a family-owned independent ag retailer based in Maryland with one location in Pennsylvania, Hushon works with growers to advance the sustainability of their operations.

Hushon's experience with The Mill began before he could even drive, with his father bringing him into the store to help load bags of feed and seed, as well as greet customers. Eventually, that progressed to working around one of their agronomy facilities, helping support all aspects of the operation - from ride-a-longs to loading and delivery. When a Sales Agronomist role opened up around 8 years ago, Hushon jumped on the role and spent three years there until, in 2019, The Mill launched the tech side of its business, called Decision Ag Solutions, with Hushon leading its efforts.

"Technology is advancing so quickly in the agriculture space," Hushon says. "We decided that we needed someone who could wake up and think about that every day - how can we help farmers be more sustainable and how can we help farmers utilize these different technology pieces in their everyday life."

In his role today, he is partnering with growers, taking the data that they have collected, including yield data, and using information systems and models to help them make more informed fertilizer decisions.

The majority of the growers he works with reside in Maryland and are very conscious about what is happening in their community and in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, driving their interest in making improvements to be more sustainable on their operations.

"Many of the farmers in this area understand that they are part of the solution, and many of them want to leave the land better than how they got it for the next generation," says Hushon. "The vast majority of the sustainability practices they want to implement are smart decisions because they positively will impact their bottom-line long term."

Tim Hushon
Sustainable Ag Tech Director
The Mill "The Fieldprint Platform is one of the industry recognized things for sustainability reporting. It gives The Mill and our growers some options for different opportunities to consider for practice changes, and it's been really great to see those growers move forward with some of them." Tim Hushon
Sustainable Ag Tech Director
The Mill One of the many conservation practices Hushon has seen and helped farmers implement is cover crops. Cover crop adoption in Maryland is very high, mostly because of the state's cost-share program. However, given The Mill's reach outside of the state, Hushon has been happy to see that adoption of cover crops spreads beyond Maryland state borders.

"One of the cool things has been watching those Maryland-based farmers who also farm up into Pennsylvania, which does not have the same type of cover crop support, take cover crops onto their Pennsylvania farms," remarks Hushon. "They've seen the benefit in Maryland and have been able to take those learning and insights into an area where they aren't getting a direct payment for it."

Additionally, Hushon and The Mill help famers use the Truterra Sustainability Tool, a tool fully integrated with Field to Market's Fieldprint Platform®, to track, aggregate, and report environmental outcomes for on-farm stewardship practices in the Truterra Chesapeake Bay Wheat Project.

"The Fieldprint Platform is one of the industry recognized things for sustainability reporting," says Hushon. "It gives The Mill and our growers some options for different opportunities to consider for practice changes, and it's been really great to see those growers move forward with some of them."

"The most rewarding part of my work has been celebrating the success of a farmers' work - helping them put together a plan, act on it, and see the rewards of the practices or technologies they implemented," Hushon adds. "When farmers are prosperous, that brings prosperity back to the community."

"The vast majority of the sustainability practices they want to implement are smart decisions because they positively will impact their bottom-line long term."

Tim Hushon
Sustainable Ag Tech Director
The Mill