Kansas State University Dan Devlin, Charles Barden, Amanda Schielke

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Heartland Nutrient and Pesticide Management
Making an Impact
Kansas State University - Dan Devlin, Charles
Barden, Amanda Schielke University of Nebraska -
Charles Wortmann, Jamie Benning www.oznet.ksu.edu/
waterquality

• Who We Are
• The Nutrient and Pesticide Management (NPM) Team
  is comprised of research and extension faculty
  from Kansas State University, the University of
  Nebraska, Iowa State University, and the
  University of Missouri. A U.S. EPA Region 7
  representative is a member of the NPM team as
  well, and together they work as part of a
  multi-institution steering committee, which
  includes multiple state and federal natural
  resource agency personnel, and representatives
  from non-governmental organizations. The number
  one priority of the team is to facilitate
  efficient development, evaluation, and
  dissemination of research-based information on
  phosphorus, nitrogen and pesticide pollutants.
  The NPM team promotes best management practices
  (BMPs) to aid in the control of nonpoint source
  pollution of those nutrients and pesticides.
• Our Objectives
• Improve the availability of technical and
  educational resources on nutrient and pesticide
  management to meet the needs of watershed
  planners, technical service providers, and
  producers.
• Address quantitative nutrient and pesticide
  reduction goals, including goals related to TMDL
  implementation, nutrient criteria and nutrient
  trading proposals.
• Improve tools available for developing
  Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans (CNMPs).
• Identify, report, and publicize the
  effectiveness of BMPs for phosphorus, nitrogen
  and pesticides.

• The NPM Approach to Obtaining our Objectives
• Issues. The NPM team addressed P issues in
  2004, N issues in 2005, pesticide issues in 2006
  and is addressing targeting BMPs in 2007.
• Research Roundtables. For each of the priority
  pollutants, the team hosted noon-to-noon research
  roundtables. Attendees included researchers from
  land-grant universities in the Heartland Region
  and researchers from USDA-ARS, EPA, and NRCS.
  The goals of the roundtable were to share
  research findings on N, P, and pesticide BMPs to
  prioritize regional research needs and to
  identify opportunities for collaboration.
• BMP Workshops. Following the research
  roundtables, BMP workshops for each of the
  priority pollutants were held to share research
  findings and provide training on BMPs with
  Heartland Region university research and
  extension faculty, federal and state agencies,
  such as, EPA, USDA-ARS, NRCS, Departments of
  Natural Resources and Environment, and Soil
  Conservation Districts. At each workshop,
  participants also shared and discussed BMP
  implementation strategies.

• NPM Regional OUTCOMES and IMPACTS
• A paper, Phosphorus indexes in four Midwestern
  states an evaluation of the differences and
  similarities was published in the Journal of
  Soil and Water Conservation in October 2005.
• Authors from the four land-grant universities
  and USDA-ARS collaborated to publish a regional
  extension publication, Agricultural Phosphorus
  Management and Water Quality Protection in the
  Midwest. This publication is posted on the
  CSREES National Water Quality website.
• Fifteen authors from the Heartland Region
  collaborated to write a second regional extension
  publication, Agricultural Nitrogen Management
  for Water Quality Protection in the Midwest.
  This publication will also be posted on the
  CSREES website.
• The pesticide research roundtable was held in
  2006, during which a multi-state research group
  was formed. The research group submitted and
  received funding for a CSREES 406 competitive
  grant proposal titled Targeting Watershed
  Vulnerability and Behaviors Leading to Adoption
  of Conservation Management Practices.
• A third regional extension publication
  regarding pesticides is in development.
• Increased communication and collaboration
  throughout the region. Well over 150 individuals
  from throughout the Region have attended NPM
  events. Inter-agency as well as inter-state
  communication has improved.
• The NPM Team has opened communication with
  Haskell Indian Nations University resulting in
  several collaborative grant proposals, two of
  which were funded.
• The NPM Team has built capacity throughout the
  region by contributing to over 15 training
  sessions.
• The NPM Team has leveraged support from several
  USDA- and EPA- funded water resources projects.
• The Nebraska P Index was changed as a direct
  result of the NPM P Workshop (2004) and the P
  Index comparison paper.
• A Focus Group was formed to evaluate the success
  of the NPM Team efforts. The following
  statements were made
• Heartland is the reason that state and federal
  agencies like NRCS and USDA-ARS are meeting with
  university personnel to discuss research.
• The workshops have been very helpful and have
  encouraged interaction among the different
  agencies and universities, it is nice to hear
  what the other states are doing.
• There are all sorts of ties and connections
  here that are well beyond anything that we could
  have done without the projectthese connections
  strengthen grant proposals.
• Field office staff that attend the workshops
  deliver the information to producers, while
  agency personnel deliver the information to state
  and federal policy makers.

2006 Pesticides Workshop, researchers discuss
experiences with monitoring a multi-state
watershed.
Steering Committee brainstorms to establish
objectives and future goals for the NPM Team.
2005 Nitrogen BMP Workshop at Arbor Day Farm,
Lied Lodge and Conference Center, Nebraska City,
NE soil samples taken while sampling the vadose
zone.
Funding is supported by the Cooperative State
Research, Education, and Extension Services, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, under agreement No.
2004-51130-02249 . Any opinions, findings,
conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this
publication are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect the view of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.