Northwestern Missouri Farmers Build Water Resilience with Help of NRCS Programs

Jul 02, 2025

By Brooke DeCubellis

Nestled in northwest Missouri’s Grand River watershed, local communities are making strides to balance the ebb and flow of water availability in the region through a number of efforts supported by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) including financial assistance and easement programs.

Drastically different hydrology than the southeastern portion of Missouri – which is home to the water-rich Ozarks – can lead to both seasonal flooding and drought in the Grand River watershed. Mandi Bird of Bird Farms in Daviess County, Missouri spoke to NRCS Chief Aubrey J.D. Bettencourt about how she worked with the local USDA Service Center to find the right conservation practices to boost her operation’s ability to raise registered purebred Simmental seedstock cattle.

“It was like I had a team of experts with local knowledge and experience that helped me to brainstorm ideas to set up my grazing system – they worked with me to help maximize my forages and profit,” Bird said.

She and her husband Dillon attended NRCS Grazing School in 2019, a program designed to educate producers on how to manage grasslands effectively to benefit livestock and the environment. These schools cover topics like rotational grazing, soil health, plant identification, and more.

The Birds decided to incorporate the lessons they learned from the school into their own operation, applying for a grazing system partially funded through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). With NRCS’ help, they were able to install pipelines and two livestock drinkers which gave them the ability to subdivide their farm and integrate rotational grazing into their operation.

Source : usda.gov

Video: Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard

On Friday, April 24, 2026, from 12 noon–1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s (PDA) Agricultural Business Development Center (ABDC), presented this webinar in the Understanding Agricultural Law Educational Series, a course designed to develop subject matter literacy and competence on fundamental issues of agricultural law for attorneys and business advisors who work with or represent agricultural or rural clients but may not necessarily specialize in agricultural law:

“Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard”

The Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, or advanced biofuels. Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and later expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the RFS is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This webinar provides an overview of the legal authority and structure for the RFS program and explain how it works, including the program’s system of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) and categories of renewable fuels. Additionally, this webinar addresses EPA annual volume requirement rulemaking and associated recent legal issues.