Excerpt
THE British are civilized, friendly, open, and willing to share technical information. A team of three SCS employees learned that during a visit to the United Kingdom (UK) to review the impact of farming operations on water quality. The September 1992 trip was arranged with assistance from the USDA, Office of International Conservation. Elesa Cottrell, state conservationist, Delaware; Willie Ruffin, soil conservationist, Conservation Planning and Application Division, Washington, D.C.; and Cecil Currin, state conservationist, New Jersey, lodged with farm families to observe operations and take part in family activities.
The team visited farms, colleges, research institutions, regulatory authorities, and research projects. Four things that stood out were the warm hospitality, different terms for everyday things, increasing regulations on farming operations, and privatization of many activities that we think of as typically carried out by state or federal governments. Our team stayed on farms where the barns and houses are older than our Constitution, yet the farm equipment and milk parlors were modern and well managed. Imagine coming to the end of a cool, damp day (typical in September) and knocking on the door of a 400-year …
Footnotes
Cecil B. Currin is the state conseruationist in New Jersey.
- Copyright 1993 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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