BLUE WATER FARMS: A WORKING PARTNERSHIP TO REDUCE NUTRIENT LOSSES FROM AGRICULTURAL FIELDS, LOWER GREEN RIVER WATERSHED, KENTUCKY

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service has a number of subsidy programs aimed at protecting the environment while producing row crops such as corn and soybeans. However, there has not been a thorough evaluation of how much these subsidized best management practices improve on-farm nutrient retention. Researchers at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment and the Kentucky Geological Survey have partnered with row-crop producers, the USDA-NRCS, and the Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board to evaluate the effectiveness of BMPs on working, privately owned farms. This partnership, Blue Water Farms, is part of a national USDA-NRCS edge-of-field monitoring program, currently being conducted in 12 states, to evaluate BMPs. The edge-of-field monitoring program promotes voluntary participation from agricultural producers who work with scientists to implement BMPs that are designed to improve soil health and nutrient retention on agricultural fields, and reduce impairment of nonpoint-source water quality. At present, six edge-of-field monitoring stations have been installed in sub-watersheds ranging in size from 3 to 12 acres in the lower Green River watershed, northwestern Kentucky. Discharge and precipitation are currently being measured, and surface-water samples will be collected during runoff-generating precipitation events. Two years of baseline data and eight years of treatment data will be collected for each sub-watershed. Current nutrient management BMPs being evaluated are poultry litter application by broadcast and injection in no-till corn and soybean rotations. Nutrient and sediment loss data obtained from this project are proprietary, but will be used to model nutrient and sediment retention under differing management practices and to educate agricultural producers on conservation practices that are both economically viable and protective of Kentucky’s water resources. Plans are underway to expand Blue Water Farms to 12 additional sub-watersheds in the lower Green River watershed where the effectiveness of BMPs involving cover crops will be evaluated for nutrient retention on agricultural fields.