nutrient management in wisconsin: education, on-farm research, training 2
TRANSCRIPT
Dennis FrameProfessor, UW-Extension
Co-Director UW–Discovery Farms
UW-Discovery Farms
On-Farm Research/Monitoring Activities & Findings
Special Projects Environmental Training
Core Farms
Discovery Farm?
Discovery farms are real-life Wisconsin farms in different geographic areas facing different environmental challenges.
Our goal is to better understand and reduce the sources of phosphorus, nitrogen, and other pollutants that may impair the surface and groundwater.
Farms participate for 5-7 years
Mission Statement
The Discovery Farms Program will develop on-farm and related research to determine the economic and environmental effects of Best Management Practices on a diverse group of Wisconsin farms;
The Discovery Farms Program will develop on-farm and related research to determine the economic and environmental effects of Best Management Practices on a diverse group of Wisconsin farms;
and educate and improve communications among the agricultural community, consumers, researchers, and policy-makers to better identify and implement effective environmental management practices that are compatible with profitable agriculture.
About UW-Discovery Farms
6 Core Farms
3 Special Project Farms
21 Monitoring Stations
Steering Committee
Education and Outreach
Locations of Discovery Farms
Projects 1 Beef 1 Swine – odor 3 Poultry-stacking
2 dairy – grazing
1 dairy -grazing/organic
6 dairy - confinement
Different Physiographic Hydrogeologic Settings
Surface & tile monitoring
…the brains of the operation
What else are we collecting?
Meteorological data: precipitation, wind speed and direction, air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, soil moisture and temperature
What have we learned?
Identified critical risk periods Snowmelt, rain on snow/frozen ground Non-frozen soils that are close to saturation.
All farms/farming systems have losses.
Tile drainage a major contributor in areas
Sediment losses are lower than expected.
Timing – Critical Runoff Periods
Mean-Monthly Runoff
Mean-Monthly Runoffas a Percentage of
Annual RunoffRunoff
FrequencyTotal
Precip
Mean-Monthly Runoff as a Percentage of Total
Precip
October 0.07 3% 23% 2.32 3%
November 0.02 <1% 15% 2.22 1%
December 0.04 1% 35% 1.73 2%
January 0.10 4% 50% 1.68 6%
February 0.41 16% 58% 1.48 28%
March 0.87 34% 100% 2.22 39%
April 0.11 4% 54% 3.42 3%
May 0.32 12% 38% 3.70 9%
June 0.48 19% 42% 3.83 13%
July 0.07 3% 42% 3.90 2%
August 0.07 3% 19% 3.55 2%
September <0.01 <1% 19% 2.76 <1%
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Frozen GroundMean
Average annual yields of total phosphorus, by farm and year, 2003–2008.
Distribution of event-mean total P concentration 2003 - 2008
How much phosphorus?
How much phosphorus?
So now what?
Discovery Farms is wrapping up a number of sites.
Organizing and writing up the results from the first nine projects
Move toward linking field and stream monitoring
Discovery Watersheds
In-stream and in-field water quality monitoring
Providing information that helps farmers and their advisors to make changes that protect water quality
Identify critical sites (contributors or major sinks)
Engage producers and their advisors in the identification and adoption of practices which reduce losses
Nutrient management
Evaluate fields to identify critical sites
Relate edge-of-field losses to P – Index
Identify fields based on level of risk (timing and location) Low risk Medium risk High risk
Compare critical sites with other methods of identification (LIDAR)
Look for alternative practices on critical sites
Critical Sites
Questions?