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NAFA launches initiative to highlight importance of alfalfa, share research
The National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance has launched Regeneration Nation to highlight the importance of alfalfa, the nation’s third most valuable field crop.
Beth Nelson, president of the alliance, says the crop can help farmers build soil health.
“It’s the ultimate regenerative crop and increases biodiversity and enhances ecosystems, it can help the overall return on investment, and strengthen farmer’s environmental footprint,” she says.
She says alfalfa also provides more protein per acre than row crops for dairy rations and helps support milk production.
Nelson says the Regeneration Nation initiative gives the alliance a platform to share research about alfalfa.
“We have recently started the first ever alfalfa checkoff and the National Alfalfa and Forage Alliance manages that checkoff and in addition to that, we’ve secured federal funding for the Alfalfa Seed and Alfalfa Forage Systems Research Program, and we also got an increase in base funding for Agriculture Research Service to focus more attention on their alfalfa project,” she says.
Research is currently underway to increase alfalfa productivity and inclusion in dairy diets to improve milk fat and protein yields and to improve alfalfa-based livestock forage production systems using a lifecycle assessment.
Visit regeneration-nation.org for more information.
Audio: Beth Nelson
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