Decode 6

Research Driven Insights: Advancing Ecosystem Service Markets for Sustainable Farming

Ecosystem services encompass the dynamic balance between plants, animals, and the surrounding environment. Ecosystem service markets seek to quantify these complex relationships and offer incentives to producers and land managers for improving ecosystem services.
What’s the relationship between research and ecosystem service markets?
Our expert with the answers is Dr. LaKisha Odom, Scientific Program Director at the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research. In this episode, LaKisha explores:
The intricacies of ecosystem service markets,
The relationship between research and practical applications in farming,
The challenges of quantifying ecosystem services, and
The tangible and intangible benefites these markets bring to farmers.
Dig deeper: Explore these resources to learn more about ecosystem services and their corresponding markets.
What Are Ecosystem Services? (Decode 6)
Ecosystem Markets in EnviroAtlas (USDA)
Ecosystem Services Market Consortium (FFAR)
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

Optimizing Nutrient Cycling for Nutrient Dense Crops

Not all crops are harvested equal. Nutrient cycling—the transfer of nutrients from the atmosphere, additives, or the soil into plants and back again—has a profound impact on the final product: the crops at harvest. What can farmers do to grow the most nutrient-dense crops possible?
Listen in as Joy Youwakim, a soil scientist currently working as a farmer and an agroecology scientist at Biome Makers, sheds light on the pivotal role of soil testing, microbes, and management practices in nutrient cycling and, ultimately, the production of more nutritious crops.
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

Harnessing Farm Data: Practical Strategies for Optimizing Efficiency

Farm data include yields, inputs, soil tests, machinery data, and business info. Keeping it all current and in ship-shape can be tough, but data are becoming a more and more powerful tools every day for you to document and communicate the value of your on-farm practices.
Listen in as Ben Craker, a Portfolio Manager at AgGateway and president of the Ag Data Coalition, walks us through best practices for farm data, whether you’re an old hand at managing your archives or just thinking about ways to get the collection into good shape.
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

Practical Dairy Sustainability Tips for Immediate Impact

We’ve talked a lot about big changes on the horizon for dairy production in the last few episodes. This week, we’re digging into some practical on-farm tweaks dairy farmers can make to instantly impact their sustainability.
Listen in as Tara Vander Dussen, a fifth generation dairy farmer and environmental scientist, talks us through hands-on sustainability tweaks for dairy farms. Water, electricity, and manure management are all candidates for small changes that can make big impacts to the whole farm’s overall environmental impact.
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

Muck to Money: Unraveling Anaerobic Digesters for Dairy Farms

Anaerobic digesters turn manure and other organic waste products into biogas and "digestate," a nutrient-rich product that farmers can use to add nutrients to fields.
Digesters get a lot of hype, but how do they work? And when are they economical choices for dairy farms to install?
Listen in as Lauren Ray, an agricultural sustainability and energy engineer at Cornell CALS PRO-DAIRY, walks us through how digesters work and when they break even for farms that install them. As a bonus, she'll also describe the top things you should ask if you're thinking about working with a developer to install a digester.
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

Curbing Enteric Methane with Feed Additives: Opportunities & Costs for On-Farm Use

A new feed additive is in the regulatory pipeline in the United States, well on its way to FDA clearance. It's called 3-NOP, and it's already in use in Europe under the name Bovear. This feed additive for dairy and beef cattle can cut enteric methane emissions by as much as 30%, and can make dairy and beef producers eligible for carbon markets. But how do feed additives like 3-NOP work? And are they cost effective?
Listen in as Dr. Ermias Kebreab, a professor at University of California Davis and Director of CA&ES at the World Food Center, gives us an overview of how feed additives work, the current options on the market, and a sneak peek of research in the pipeline that could help reduce emissions of this potent greenhouse gas.  
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

What We Know (& Don’t Know) About Enteric Methane Emissions

When we think about emissions from dairy and livestock emissions, cow burps are at the top of the list. Those burps release methane, a greenhouse gas with 28 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Today, we're breaking down how enteric methane is formed in the guts of ruminant livestock, and new technologies that are helping us cut emissions.
 
Listen in as Dr. Sara Place, an associate professor of feedlot systems at Colorado State University AgNext, describes how enteric methane forms and ways we can reduce emissions. 
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

Understanding (& Reducing) Dairy Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Dairies in the United States are responsible for about 2% of our greenhouse gas emissions. Where do those gases come from, and how can we reduce them?
Listen in as Dr. Frank Mitloehner, a professor and air quality specialist in cooperative extension at the University of California-Davis, walks us through the sources of GHGs on the dairy farm. 
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.

Virtual Fence for Cattle Herd Management: Learning Curves & Opportunities

A virtual fence uses GPS collars and towers to create invisible movable barriers for cattle. It's an exciting technology--can you use it for intensive grazing? Keep cattle off sensitive streambeds? Save on hard fence costs? The possibilities are endless, but putting the technology into practice has a real learning curve. 
Listen in as Anna Shadbolt, a research associate at Colorado State AgNext, talks with Andy Lawrence, a fourth-generation rancher in Colorado, about their experience using virtual fence with Andy's herd over the summer of 2023. 
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.
 

Measuring Soil Water Potential to Maximize Farm Water Use

Deciding when to irrigate can feel like half art, half science. Visual inspections, weather reports, and soil moisture can give you a pretty good idea when your crop needs more water, but soil water potential could help you make even better use of your valuable water. Soil water potential is, in short, the amount of energy it takes for plants to pull water out of the soil, and it's the real limiting factor for how much water in the soil your crops can use.
Listen in as Leo Rivera, research scientist and Director of Outreach at METER Group, describes how measuring soil water potential can help you make the best use of your limited water resources.
Curious about carbon and ecosystem services and want to learn more?
Check out Decode 6. We're you're source for unbiased, science-based, bite-sized information about carbon and ecosystem services.