News & Updates

May 2022

Important

Dates

May 30 • Memorial Day (SCD Closed)

June 1 • Cover Crop Destruction Deadline

2022 Governor's Conservation Award winners

The 2022 Governor's Conservation Award winners were recognized recently at the Agriculture Museum in Dover. Winners from Sussex County were Jay Hastings, of Delmar, Del. for agriculture conservation and the Meadows of Beaver Creek, in Milton, for urban conservation. Read More

CONSERVATION PLANNER

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Blaine Hitchens, a Sussex County farmer, plants cover crops to improve his soil health. Cover crops help with nutrient cycling, weed suppression, and reduce inputs. Cover crops also improve water quality,soil productivity, yields and a farmer's bottom line.

Cost Share Reminders

FY 22

Cover crop program participants must self-certify in writing that cover crops are destroyed between March 15 and June 1, 2022.

Failure to self-certify by June 1, 2022, will result in non-payment.

FY 23

Cost Share Sign Up:

June 13 - July 29, 2022

Cover Crops

FY 23 Fact Sheet Coming Soon

3921 Tax Ditch

Eligibility: To be eligible for cost-share application approval, audited financials, and financials to be audited by DNREC, must be submitted to DNREC Drainage Section prior to June 30, 2022.

Don't forget to obtain estimates from contractors for the scope of work and submit invoices for expiring funds.

Weed Wiper Bar: Serving Kent and Sussex! The treatment window is seasonal, contact SCDs Equipment program to learn more.

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FREE soil test for corn growers

Sussex Conservation District (SCD) is now offering free pre-sidedress soil nitrogen testing (PSNT) to corn growers in Sussex County.

SCD recommends performing a PSNT in the spring to determine the nitrogen requirements of an expected corn crop yield.

Fields that have received applications of animal manure are ideally suited for PSNT.

Learn More

FREE

Film Screening & Panel Discussion:

Delmarva and the

Ground for Change

May 12, 2022

6-8 p.m.

Main Street Movies 5

230 E Main St, Newark, DE 19711

This film, about soil health and climate change, follows three different family-owned farming operations on the Delmarva Peninsula who care about and depend on soil.

The University of Delaware will host a screening followed by a panel discussion featuring:

• Kasey Taylor, state conservationist, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

• Rose Ogutu, horticulture specialist, DSU

• Karrah Kwasnik, filmmaker, USDA Northeast Climate Hub

DE Nutrient Management CEU: 1.5

2022 Delaware Envirothon

Charter School of Wilmington Team A is the winner of the 2022 Delaware Envirothon competition held on Thursday, April 28, at the St. Jones Estuarine Research Reserve in Dover.

Atlantic Hurricane Season

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. The peak of the season is in mid-September.

Hurricane Info Sheet

ICYMI

(in case you missed it)

We're on TikTok

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New Investments in the Chesapeake Bay

USDA will invest an additional $22.5 million in conservation assistance in fiscal year 2022 to help farmers boost water quality improvements and conservation in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The new Chesapeake Bay States’ Partnerships Initiative will support Bay-area farmers, including here in Delaware, building on a $1.1 billion investment made by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service over the past decade. USDA is also announcing a new task force – jointly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – to better quantify the voluntary conservation efforts of farmers in the Bay watershed.