Cory Vander-Ploeg

What are you doing to practice and promote soil and water quality?

We're doing 100% no-till and cover crops and trying to improve water infiltration rates and prevent runoff. Trying to get that water in the ground instead of across the ground and into the streams. All the things with the no-till and the cover crops - you get the earthworm tunnels and the decaying rye roots and all that to promote the soil aggregation and allow that water to infiltrate better.

What is being done in your county to support soil and water quality?

There might be programs, but we haven't really used any of them. We've just been doing everything on our own. We do get a little bit for the cover crop programs, but other than that, we've just been doing it on our own.

What could be done with more public funding for soil and water quality?

I think money could be better spent with some training, maybe field days and stuff with guys more so than just trying to hand out money for these programs that have no real purpose I guess. The acre-based payments are necessary once you get into it, but what could go along with it is training and seeing what other people are doing and how it works for them. Because a lot of people don't want to try things themselves like I do.