Improving Water and Soil Quality with Conservation Buffers

In a time when clean water and healthy soil is as important as ever, conservation buffer technologies represent new approaches that deserve wider application. Conservation buffers are living filters, credited with increasing the effectiveness and lowering the cost of programs to protect soil and water quality. Although still under used by landowners, conservation buffers are important components of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation assistance programs that offer landowners attractive financial incentives to adopt the practices. To promote the merits of buffers and enhance their adoption, maybe it’s time we looked at what we know about buffers; discuss where more research is needed; and translate how buffer research can be more effective in establishing agricultural policies and conservation plans.