How Windbreaks Are Helping 21st Century Farmers

Have you ever seen a forest outside of a forest? You probably have if you are familiar with windbreaks found, in many cases, on farms.

"And usually those purposes can be thought of as either a conservation purpose, such as reducing wind speed to reduce wind erosion of soil, or for a production point of view such as improving crop yield or reducing crop damage as a result of wind and the soil particles that wind blow about," said Richard Straight of the National Agroforestry Center.

He added producers also plant and maintain windbreaks for aesthetic reasons. Now a partnership between federal, state, and land grant forestry sectors is using innovative tech to inventory windbreaks within the northern and central plains region.

The National Agroforestry  Center's Todd Kellerman said, with this form of mapping, "we can also develop some precision conversation based on this high resolution data set."

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