Conservation Clip List is a weekly collection of articles distributed by NACD that provides our members and partners with the latest news in what's driving conservation. If you have a relevant submission, please contact your NACD Communications Team.

Drought in High Plains the worst some farmers have ever seen via ABC News

Drought in North Dakota is laying waste to fields of normally bountiful food and hay crops and searing pastures that typically would be home to multitudes of grazing cattle. Some longtime farmers and ranchers say it's the worst conditions they've seen in decades — possibly their lifetimes — and simple survival has become their goal as a dry summer drags on without a raincloud in sight.

Soil Health – We All Love It, But What Is It Worth? via On Pasture

Soil health gets a lot of air time. But have you ever thought about what it’s actually worth in dollars? That’s the question Tom Buman of Agren decided to answer. What he learned is that we can put a dollar value on healthy soil as well as the cost of erosion.

USDA: Pollinator forage stable, but quality declined in key areas via Capital Press

Diminished forage quality in the Dakotas is associated with fewer acres devoted to crops with high suitability scores — such as sunflowers and berries — and an increase in corn and soybeans, which aren’t as pollinator friendly. In some areas, such as parts of Texas, forage suitability has improved as farmers switched acreage from crops to pasture.

Insect attack! US West is battling crop-killing swarms via KPLC

Farmers in the U.S. West face a creepy scourge every eight years or so: Swarms of ravenous insects that can decimate crops and cause slippery, bug-slick car crashes as they march across highways and roads.

The wild boar business is booming in Texas via CNN Money

Ravenous wild boars run roughshod over Texas, but entrepreneurs have figured out how to turn the land-ravaging pigs into a money-making resource.

House Budget Cuts Ag $10 Billion via DTN/The Progressive Farmer

House Budget Committee Chairwoman Diane Black, R-Tenn., released a fiscal year 2018 budget proposal that calls for a $10 billion cut in programs under the control of the House Agriculture Committee over 10 years. But congressional agricultural leaders raised questions about whether a budget resolution will go into effect and whether it would cut agriculture.

Agriculture, forestry industries have $91 billion economic impact in Virginia via Augusta Free Press

A new comprehensive study shows Virginia’s agriculture and forestry industries contribute $91 billion annually to the Commonwealth’s economy. This represents a 30 percent increase from the most recent study, released in 2013, which showed an annual economic impact of $70 billion.

Queen of forgotten bees: Minnetonka woman is on a mission to save native species via Star Tribune

Most of the public awareness of bee problems is about honeybee issues, such as colony collapse. Holm concentrates on educating about the homegrown pollinators that are suffering — peaceful solitary bees that spend their lives largely alone, building nests in the ground, in crevices and in flower stalks.

USDA Opens More Land for Emergency Haying and Grazing via USDA

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is authorizing the use of additional Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands for emergency grazing and haying in and around portions of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota affected by severe drought. USDA is adding the ability for farmers and ranchers in these areas to hay and graze CRP wetland and buffer practices.

California wildfire spreads rapidly near Yosemite via Reuters

More than 3,000 firefighters battled that fire that has advanced over 70,096 acres (28,366 hectares), an increase of more than 22,000 acres since early Thursday morning. The Detwiler Fire was among 37 large fires across 12 western states as of Wednesday.

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