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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: normal;">NRCS, March 10, 2022</span><o:p style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></o:p><br>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;">Summary</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></o:p></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: black; line-height: normal;">A new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report shows use of no-till, crop rotations, more efficient irrigation methods and advanced technologies
have climbed in recent years.</span></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; color: black; line-height: normal;">The report from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) demonstrates progress made through voluntary conservation over a 10-year period.
Findings from the report will inform future conservation strategies, including USDA’s efforts to tackle the climate crisis.</span></p>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: normal;"><br>
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<span style="font-size: 11pt; color: black; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: normal;">The
report: “</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: normal;">Conservation
Practices on Cultivated Cropland: A Comparison of CEAP I and CEAP II Survey Data and Modeling</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;">”
was developed by USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). It found significant gains for soil health and soil carbon storage, while also identifying areas where additional and targeted nutrient management strategies are needed.</span></span><o:p style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></o:p></p>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;">Key findings include:</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></o:p></p>
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<li style="font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Farmers increasingly adopted advanced technology, including enhanced-efficiency fertilizers and variable rate fertilization
to improve efficiency, assist agricultural economies and benefit the environment.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></li><li style="font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">More efficient conservation tillage systems, particularly no-till, became the dominant form of tillage, improving
soil health and reducing fuel use.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></li><li style="font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Use of structural practices increased, largely in combination with conservation tillage as farmers increasingly
integrated conservation treatments to gain efficiencies. Structural practices include terraces, filter and buffer strips, grassed waterways and field borders.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></li><li style="font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Irrigation expanded in more humid areas, and as irrigators shifted to more efficient systems and improved water
management strategies, per-acre water application rates decreased by 19% and withdrawals by 7 million-acre-feet.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></li><li style="font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Nearly 70% of cultivated cropland had conservation crop rotations, and 28% had high-biomass conservation crop rotations.</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></o:p></li></ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Because of this increased conservation, the report estimates:</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; color: black;"><o:p style=""><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> </span></o:p></span></p>
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<span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);">Average annual water (sheet and rill) and wind erosion dropped by 70 million and 94 million tons,
respectively, and edge-of-field sediment loss declined by 74 million tons.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> </span></o:p></span></span></li><li style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Nearly 26 million additional acres of cultivated cropland were gaining soil carbon, and carbon gains on all cultivated cropland increased by over 8.8 million tons per year.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> </span></o:p></span></li><li style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Nitrogen and phosphorus losses through surface runoff declined by 3% and 6%, respectively.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> </span></o:p></span></li><li style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Average annual fuel use dropped by 110 million gallons of diesel fuel equivalents, avoiding associated greenhouse gas emissions of nearly 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.</span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);"> </span></o:p></span></li></ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;">Link to article:
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;">https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/newsroom/releases/?cid=NRCSEPRD1891029</span><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;"> </span></o:p></p>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;">Link to report: </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: normal;">https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcseprd1893221.pdf</span></o:p></p>
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