During the February meeting of MFA’s corporate board of directors, in addition to conducting our regular business, we received a visit from John Hoskins and Lowell Mohler. John Hoskins is director of the Missouri Department of Conservation. Lowell is the commissioner designated to represent agricultural interests on the Conservation Commission. He’s formerly an executive with Farm Bureau, he was the state director of agriculture, and he owns and operates a farm outside of Jefferson City in Cole County.

Like many of us in agriculture, I was pleased with the appointment of Lowell Mohler to the commission. He brings a broad spectrum of agricultural knowledge to the commission on agriculture’s business, crop and livestock sides. He has real-world experience in the business of agriculture. I’m sure the visit was one of many in the Conservation Department’s attempt to reach out to agriculture. After all, more than 90 percent of Missouri land is owned by private landowners; so too 85 percent of forest land in the state.

Recognizing those statistics, the Conservation Department created the Private Land Service several years ago. Efforts are underway right now to boost the number of employees in the service. The Private Land Service is structured to help private landowners reap the value of sound conservation practices. It’s an outreach program designed to bring conservation issues into everyday discussions in agriculture. Many of the topics discussed during our board meeting were very familiar to those of us in agriculture.

Chief among them was wildlife control. It’s not news to anyone that over the past 20 years we’ve switched from repopulation to control. Department officials are holding meetings to explore and address conservation issues. Those meetings are past due. Farmers have paid far too great a share of maintenance costs for the exploding deer population. Damage to crop fields, tree farms, orchards and commercial nurseries continues at an alarming pace. Both of these Conservation officials are aware of the issue and are focusing the department on control solutions.

  Because of scenarios such as wildlife populations high enough to pose real economic threat to farmers, for years there has existed an uneasy and sometimes adversarial relationship between production agriculture and the Conservation Department. It is my hope that individuals like Lowell Mohler will go a long way toward rectifying this situation. We must realize that agriculture and conservation will always have areas of disagreement. But we have far more in common than in opposition. We must both find ways to advance those interests.

After all, as cliché as it sounds, farmers are the real environmentalists. We’re on the land every day, but we’re practical realists, too. And we deal daily with government agencies whether it’s the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources or the Missouri Conservation Department. The spirit of cooperation is alive and well between farmers and these agencies despite the frequent friction. Still, it pays immediate dividends in today’s world for farmers to be skeptical of intent.

Fads quickly come and go. Agricultural practices are designed for the long term. But traditional practices can change, replaced by new, efficient techniques, technology and practices. We can always improve, especially if that improvement helps the natural world while improving profitability and enhancing stewardship.

Many opportunities exist for those of us in agriculture to develop a constructive, working relationship with the Conservation Department. Take for example the habitat buffer issue. By enrolling field edges into what’s referred to as USDA’s continuous CRP new habitat buffer, farmers are eligible for annual CRP rental payments, $100 per acre sign-up bonus and up to 90 percent cost-share. There are no ranking procedures or competition. There is tremendous potential to offset declining quail populations.

If you want more information on this new program, contact your nearby Farm Service Agency and ask about CP33. Over the past 50 years, quail populations have been in decline throughout Missouri. Many people have offered many different solutions. But we must move beyond the obsession with different sides pointing fingers at fescue or predators.

What needs to be accomplished is successful restoration. Farmers and ranchers can be a large part of the solution. MFA’s Ron Utterback, vice president of crop protection, farm supply and seed, serves on the Quail and Grassland Bird Leadership Council. Ron, by the way, is an excellent quail hunter. He has a personal interest in re-establishing the game bird. We all do.

A positive working relationship between agriculture and conservation is a worthy goal, one we should all move toward. Again, we have more in common than in opposition. But it’s a relationship that will take time to build. Trust is the main factor.

I would encourage you to contact the private lands specialist in your area. You can find that individual by visiting the Conservation Department’s web site www.mdc.missouri.gov or by calling (573) 751-4115.