ATHENS, GA, October 1, 2024 — State Conservationist Terrance O. Rudolph of the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces a Fiscal Year 2025 statewide federal assistance opportunity for agricultural and forest producers, through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). This sign-up that concludes on November 15, 2024, will utilize 2018 Farm Bill and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding.
On June 25th, the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District’s Taylor Sinquefield and Abby Bodiford spoke to 134 4-H members about the importance of soil health in relation to water conservation at the 17th annual 4-H2O event.
Federal, state and local stakeholders convened on March 27 to address the growing issue of, and innovative solutions to address, feral swine in Georgia. The event was hosted by the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District (the District) and held at the Jones Center at Ichauway in Newton, Georgia.
The Flint River Soil & Water Conservation District is pleased to announce the 2019 Soil Stewardship theme: “Life In The Soil: Dig Deeper.” Soil Stewardship Week will be officially celebrated April 28to May 5, 2019, and is a fun and educational learning experience for all students! Soil Stewardship Week helps remind each and every citizen of the power of each person to conserve natural resources and improve our world. This year marks the 64th Anniversary of NACD Soil and Water Stewardship Week!
The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is now accepting applications for the position of Project Director. The District’s Project Director will be responsible for the implementation, management, reporting, and coordination of ongoing District projects. Additionally, the Project Director will be expected to formulate and develop new projects that align with the District’s mission.
A new version of Irrigator Pro will be available for free in the upcoming 2019 crop season. A team of partners has been working to update the Irrigator Pro platform to increase adoption and accessibility for growers. Now, Irrigator Pro is available to download as a smartphone application in the Apple iOS and Google Play stores. A new cloud-based website platform will also launch in 2019.
The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District is sponsoring Agricultural & Environmental Education Grants. More information and the grant application are available at flintriverswcd.org/education.
State Conservationist Terrance O. Rudolph of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Marty McLendon, chairman of the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) announced today that a sign up for the Climate Resiliency in Georgia, Florida and Alabama project is under way. The deadline for eligible producers inGeorgia to apply is April 20, 2018.
The Flint River Soil & Water Conservation District is pleased to announce the 2018 Soil Stewardship theme: “Watersheds... Our Water, Our Home.” Soil Stewardship Week will be officially celebrated April 29 to May 6, 2018, and is a fun and educational learning experience for all students! Soil Stewardship Week helps remind each and every citizen of the power of each person to conserve natural resources and improve our world.
2017-2018 Agricultural and Environmental Education Grants applications available at flintriverswcd.org/education. Deadline: January 5, 2018.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently announced awards for the 2017 cycle of funding for the Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) Program. The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District, based in southwest Georgia, will lead one of 33 projects selected nationwide for funding. CIG is a competitive grant program administered by NRCS that advances the development and implementation of conservation-driven technologies and practices.
The Georgia Association of Conservation Districts (GACD) recently held their annual meeting at Lake Lanier Islands in Buford, Georgia. The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District, comprised of 9 counties in southwest Georgia, received the distinguished honor of being named District of the Year. The District of the Year award was established by GACD in 2001 to recognize the conservation district in Georgia which best plans, implements, and reports a conservation program during the year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced recently the selection of 88 locally-led conservation projects across the United States through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District, comprised of 9 counties in southwest Georgia, was selected to lead a project focused on strengthening climate resiliency for farmers and landowners in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District continues to follow the cutting-edge path of agricultural innovation for conservation-driven solutions to natural resource challenges. With other pilot projects currently in progress, we have partnered with an innovative start-up company based in Dallas and London Nwave Technologies.
Advanced irrigation scheduling is a key component of the District’s water conservation efforts, and many of our projects focus on ways to increase accessibility, lower costs, and boost widespread adoption of this tool. The highest cost for a soil moisture sensor is related to the telemetry and transmission of the data to a server that allows the data to be accessed by the farmer or consultant. Precision Agriculture telemetry requires connected sensors to be able to send small amounts of data over long distances using very little power. Existing wireless communications technologies like WiFi and Bluetooth LE are low power, but their range is very limited. On the other hand, there is mobile technology, which is long range, but power-hungry and inefficient for small packet transmission.
Nwave’s low-power wide area network (LPWAN) communications technology and hardware was designed specifically to transmit small data packets from sensors, at long range using very low power. Using Nwave’s technology devices can transmit data securely over distances of 10-30 miles in rural areas, with power usage so low that they can operate on a single battery for up to 10 years. This significantly reduces both Capex and Opex for large-scale deployments, opening up vast opportunities for irrigation optimization and yield forecast.
The capacity for this type of technology to be integrated into existing soil moisture sensing systems that are part of our current projects is critical to our long-term conservation objectives. A telemetry range of 10-30 miles would make a significant and positive impact on our sensor networks, allowing our partner team to have more sensors per base station. This year’s pilot project has sensors and Nwave communications technology installed at the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Peanut Research Lab (NPRL) in Dawson, Georgia and in Colquitt, Georgia near our Spring Creek project sites. Sensors are installed in fields located anywhere from approximately 3 – 15 miles away from the base stations.
Universal design of Nwave’s Agricultural Data Logger provides easily configurable interface to read data from any digital or analog sensor on the market. This feature allows researches do simultaneous data acquisition from numerous sensors and benchmarking their performance in the same field environment.
Research groups at the NRPL and University of Georgia are evaluating live data and working with Nwave and the District to determine the route for wider adoption of this technology on irrigated landscapes.
We appreciate the opportunity to work with Nwave and pursue innovation that will benefit both farmers and the environment.
The Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) was awarded $50,000 to build technical assistance capacity for urban agriculture conservation projects on Sunday, July 17, by the National Association of Conservation Districts. NACD granted a total of $2 million to Flint River SWCD and 41 other districts across 25 states.
One of the highlights of our year has been working with local teachers who were awarded our first Environmental and Agricultural Education Grants. The District received stellar proposals from all over southwest Georgia, and selecting the winners proved to be a major challenge as all the projects were thoughtful, creative, and experiential.
Each year, the Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District partners with the Georgia Southern University Center for Wildlife Education to bring wildlife to the classroom in local southwest Georgia schools. This year, the District sponsored shows at Terrell Academy, Pataula Charter Academy, Pelham Elementary School, and Shiver Elementary School.
The Flint River Soil & Water Conservation District is pleased to announce the 2016 Soil Stewardship theme: “We All Need Trees”. Soil Stewardship Week will be officially celebrated April 24 to May 1, 2016, and is a fun and educational learning experience for all students! Soil Stewardship Week helps remind each and every citizen of the power of each person to conserve natural resources and improve our world. This year marks the 61 st Anniversary of NACD Soil and Water Stewardship Week!
© 2022 Flint River Soil and Water Conservation District
