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![NRCS This Week mast head](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090111100309im_/http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/thisweek/images/mastheaddshadow3.jpg)
Expedition Chesapeake Focuses on Farmers
![students review Price farm conservation plan -- photo courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Foundation](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090111100309im_/http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/news/thisweek/images/expcheapeakemed.jpg)
students review Price
farm conservation plan -- photo courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Foundation |
Sixteen FFA students from Virginia are using their high school summer
vacation to paddle down 355 miles of local rivers and creeks to the Chesapeake
Bay and learning first-hand what farmers are doing to protect water quality.
Sponsored in part by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and L.L. Bean, Expedition
Chesapeake students are keeping a daily journal of their 30-day water quality
monitoring effort featured in a web-based
virtual field trip.
Their journey began on June 24th stopping along the way to hear from top experts
as well as conservation award-winning farmers. On their fourth day the FFA
students docked at Julian and Patty Price’s 1,000-acre beef operation where
Virginia NRCS State Conservationist M. Denise Doetzer and other conservation
leaders spoke to them about bay-related challenges and opportunities faced by
agriculture in the Chesapeake watershed.
“Good information is what people need most,” said Doetzer. She used the
Price’s conservation plan to show how NRCS works with farmers to address natural
resource needs. She pointed out conservation practices installed on the model
conservation farm including fencing to keep cattle out of streams, alternative
watering sources, and forested riparian buffers along streams. She noted that
cost-sharing from federal programs such as the
Conservation Reserve Enhancement
Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program can help farmers defray
costs for installing these practices. Other panel members included 2005
Legislator of the Year Allen Louderback, Director of the Virginia Department
Conservation and Recreation Joe Maroon, and President of the Virginia Poultry
Federation Hobey Bauhan.
Your contact is Dastina Johnson,
NRCS public affairs specialist, at 804-287-1609.
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