Men In Field
In the Chesapeake Bay, there is enormous opportunity to reduce nutrient loss from agriculture and improve water quality by aligning the financial interests of farmers and environmental stewardship. Nitrogen (N) is expensive. Farmers who use it more efficiently can improve their profits and minimize loss of N to the Bay. The lynchpin that makes this work is adaptive management. Adaptive management allows farmers to evaluate nutrient recommendations in cooperation with their peers, scientists, agricultural service providers, and consultants to make field-specific improvements that: 1) generate significant reductions in nutrient runoff, and 2) increase profits. Farmers typically make nutrient management decisions based on a generalized recommendation (algorithm) that is not field specific and that is largely disconnected from economic analysis.
In comparison, adaptive management enables farmers to compare the economic impacts of different management options based on field-specific information, including comparisons to the more generalized recommendation. To adopt an adaptive management strategy, farmers need access to new evaluative tools such as the cornstalk nitrate test and inexpensive aerial imagery and they need a process to take the information from these evaluative tools and feed it back into field-level management decisions. Equally important, they need a network that facilitates discussion, exchange and comprehension of the data.
The Bay Farms On-Farm Network significantly enhances the current approach to nutrient management by enabling farmers to fine-tune generalized recommendations to specific field and farm conditions, thereby greatly increasing the implementation and impact of nutrient management plans. This project builds from the ongoing work using adaptive management of the Bay Farms program in PA and extensive work with adaptive management by the Iowa Soybean Association’s (ISA) On-Farm Network. Bay Farms’ farmers reduced their N use by 27 pounds per acre and ISA’s farmers reduced their N use by one-third after participating for two or more years, with 80% of participating farmers making changes (Data available online at http://www.isafarmnet.com/nitrogen.html).
Bay Farms Project
Goals and Outcomes: The Bay Farms On-Farm Network will improve N use efficiency for corn production, decrease N application rates leading to reduced runoff and leaching, increase profitability, and improve implementation of nutrient management plans (NMPs). Specifically, the project will deliver an average reduction of N use (manure and fertilizer) of 25 lbs/acre on 400 corn fields per year (1,200 over three years) and 4,800 acres per year (14,400 acres over 3 years, average field size 12 acres) and more than 150 farms per year. The N reduction on these enrolled acres will be 360,000 lbs, but we anticipate the
project will deliver 25 lbs N/acre reduction on more than 29,000 acres per year for a total annual reduction of 725,000 lbs N. Our goal is to perform sampling on acres and fields that are representative of the farm’s total number of corn acres so that the results will be transferable to all of the farm’s corn acres. Profitability will increase an estimated $12.50/acre (25 lbs N at $0.50 per lb).
Our cornerstone output will be the establishment of an association of farmers for continued improvement in farming practices in the Chesapeake Bay area. The network has two main functions. First, it creates and enhances farmer-to-farmer connections, discussion, and community around the intertwined issues of N use efficiency, data collection and management, and economics. Second, it coordinates and manages the collection and analysis of field specific data on N status (CSNT, PSNT, aerial imagery, and replicated strip trials), creating a strong feedback loop to return the information to the farmers and strengthening their nutrient management efforts. Outreach and education beyond those engaged directly in the On-Farm Network are critical as well.
Man In field
Status: The Bay Farms On-Farm Network began as the Lancaster Farms project in 2004, expanding from 24 farmers in the first year to 115 farmers in PA and 65 in Virginia in 2009. In 2009, the project received renewed funding from NFWF as well as a Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative grant from PA NRCS, which will enhance the project’s ability to leverage EQIP to expand enrollments and impact. In addition, we are working with NRCS leadership to move NRCS towards a more adaptive management approach to nutrient management. Specifically, we are working with NRCS to develop a technical note for NRCS’s Nutrient Management Standard (#590) to incorporate key principles of the On Farm Network approach into the standard. This standard is the basis for virtually all nutrient management work and funding to farmers not only in the Bay but nationally.
Challenges and Lessons Learned: Over the course of the project since 2004, it has become increasingly clear that the engagement of farmers through small discussion groups and looking to farm-specific data within the watershed to determine efficient nitrogen application rates are critical both to improving efficiency and engaging farmers in ways that will result in more thorough and effective implementation of nutrient management plans. This presents a real challenge to expansion given the limited availability of resources for technical assistance through most federal and state programs. While financial assistance funding has increased considerably, resources for outreach, education, and farmer engagement has not. As a result, a major focus of the project is working with agencies and nongovernmental partners to identify ways to support the infrastructure needed to take adaptive management to scale.
Horses
Readiness for Scale Up: There are two main components to taking the On-Farm Network for Adaptive Management to scale: 1) making cost effective nitrogen evaluation tools available to farmers, and 2) creating and managing the infrastructure to collect, analyze, and discuss data at the individual farm and aggregate levels. The first – making tools such as the cornstalk nitrate test, GPS, replicated strip trials, aerial imagery of fields, and other evaluative tools available to farmers – is relatively simple and straightforward. Today, NRCS and many state agencies provide financial assistance for use of these tools through cost share and incentive programs. The job ahead on this front is reaching out to those states or regions where these tools may not be well known or used to any significant degree,
educating agency leadership and staff on their value and use, and moving programs to incorporate them into their mix of practices. Today, we have NRCS national leadership support for greater use of these tools through programs like the EQIP and CSP and growing interest by more and more state agencies to assist farmers in adopting nitrogen evaluative tools.
The second component – the infrastructure for collecting and analyzing data, coordinating across multiple farms and watersheds, and fully engaging farmers in understanding the data and being a part of the decision making process in the context of environmental and economic considerations – is more challenging and represents a greater paradigm shift for USDA and other public players. As a result, expanding the infrastructure needs for the On Farm Network provides a critical opportunity and need for public-private partnership. USDA, state agencies, cooperative extension, and conservation districts provide a ready-made infrastructure with a presence in virtually every county and a well-established means of interaction with farmers. Getting to scale must look beyond government agencies to the private sector, in particular crop consultants (who are often farmers’ most trusted advisors), grower organizations, conservation organizations, farm bureaus, and others. These non-governmental, private sector farm advisors, leaders, and experts can not only fill the gaps existing in the governmental structure and approach, but also fuel expansion of the On Farm Network as new, highly beneficial services to be sold or provided to agricultural clients and members.
Project Partners: Environmental Defense Fund, TeamAg Inc, Chester County Conservation District, Pennsylvania State University, PA Cooperative Extension, Virginia Grains Producers Association, VA Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, University of Connecticut, VA Department of Conservation and Recreation, Iowa Soybean Association