ARS scientists developed the original version in the 1960s to estimate soil erosion by water and to protect farms and rangelands against soil loss. ARS scientists will continue to refine the basic mathematical relationships and expand the database for the equation. SWCS will educate and train farmers, ranchers, land-use managers and agency personnel to help one million land users comply with the soil conservation provisions of the 1995 Farm Bill. SWCS also is continuing to distribute the latest input data developed by ARS and USDA's National Resources Conservation Service. With Cargill, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, to develop a newly isolated microorganism that could help protect silage from spoiling when the silo is opened to remove the silage for feeding dairy cows.
Farmers already inoculate silage with microorganisms to speed fermentation.
But inoculants now on the market don't protect against damaging yeast and fungal growth when silage is exposed to air. ARS and industry scientists isolated a strain of Lactobacillus buchneri from alfalfa silage. This organism produces compounds that inhibit yeast and mold growth in corn silage. With Summit Plant Laboratories, Inc., of Fort Collins, CO, to develop a way to commercially produce sugarbeet clones. No sugarbeet clones are commercially available.