Annual/Termination Reports:

[01/15/2010] [03/10/2011]

Report Information

Participants

Tom Morris, UConn; Walter Smith, UConn; Tracy Blackmer, ISA; Greg Binford, UDel; Haiying Tao, UConn; Sylvie Brouder, Purdue; Quirine Ketterings, Cornell; Doug Beegle, PSU; Karl Czymmek, Cornell; Larry Hendrickson, John Deere Corporation; Richard Meinert, UConn; Dan Sullivan, Oregon State U; Jerry Lemunyon, NRCS; Jorge Delgado, ARS; Chris Gross, NRCS; Norm Widman, NRCS; Deanna Osmond, NCSU; Doug Smith, ARS; Patty Ristow, Cornell; Gueorqui Anguelov, U of Florida; Caroline Rasmussen, Cornell; Jeff Melkonian, Cornell; Harold van Es, Cornell; Bianca Moebius-Clune, Cornell; Peter Kyveryga, ISA; Peter Scharf, U of Missouri

(26 attendees)

Brief Summary of Minutes

Annual Meeting held at the Westin Convention Center Hotel, Pittsburgh PA, November 3, 2009, 7-9 p.m.

Tom Morris welcomed the group, reviewed the agenda, and introduced Walter Smith as facilitator. Tom noted that this was the first formal meeting of the Multistate Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group (NEERA 1002) on Adaptive Management for Improved Nutrient Management. He noted that the groups concept was first explored at a meeting in Washington D.C. with representatives from the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Iowa Soybean Association, and university scientists in Washington, DC in August 2008. At that meeting a draft definition of adaptive management was established. The draft definition is: An on-going process of developing improved management practices for efficient production and resource conservation by use of participatory learning through continuous systematic assessment. Participants include producers, agricultural service providers, policy makers, regulators, scientists, and other interested stakeholders.

The group in Washington agreed to meet again at the National Meetings of the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America in Houston, TX in October 2008. Invitations were sent to scientists, extension specialists, extension educators, NRCS personnel and others who may have an interest in the topic of adaptive management for improved nutrient management. A plan of work was developed at the meeting in Houston that included: submit an application to create a NIFA multi-state coordinating committee on adaptive management, and submit two proposals for a joint symposium of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and the Soil Science Society of America on adaptive management at the national meetings of both societies.

A proposal was submitted by Tom Morris to the directors of the Northeast Region Experiment Stations. The proposal was accepted and the multistate coordinating committee NEERA 1002 entitled Adaptive management for improved nutrient management was created. A joint Symposium was completed about adaptive management at the SWCS Conference July 2009 in Dearborn, MI, and at the SSSA Meeting November 2009, in Pittsburgh, PA. The joint symposia were well attended with over 100 members attending at least one or two of the joint symposium speakers at the SSSA meeting and about 35 people attending the SWCS symposium.

UPDATES

Tom noted that Peter Kyveryga (ISA) and Chris Gross (NRCS) would report on Objective 1 and 2 of the NEERA Plan of Work during the technical session.

Jorge Delgado updated Objective 3 by noting the success of the Dearborn joint symposium. He also announced that the SWCS meeting would be held in St. Louis, MO in July, and the SSSA meeting in Long Beach, CA in November next year. A call for papers has been requested for the SWCS conference. He asked if this group wanted to continue with joint symposia at the meetings. Also, in 2011, SWCS is planning to publish a special issue on adaptive management. The SWCS editorial board is looking for proposals.

Tom asked for opinions on the symposia. The group brainstormed ideas for symposia. Harold van Es made the suggestion to conduct a workshop using adult learning processes described by Dr. Bell at the symposium earlier in the day. The symposium would be interactive and target consultants, farmers and other ag service providers. The group agreed that this was a good idea for a joint symposium for 2010.

Tracy Blackmer updated Objective 3. The book on Adaptive Management has been approved by SWCS with boundaries set for nitrogen and corn. Tracy asked for more input from the group.

Tracy updated Objective 4. Website development. It was agreed that we would continue using the Iowa Soybean Associations web site to exchange information and post information about NEERA 1002s work.

TECHNICAL SESSION

1. Peter Kyveryga made a presentation on how data collected in adaptive management programs could be used to set benchmarks for efficient nutrient management. Peter noted that if experiments or evaluations were set up properly at many locations with farmers as collaborators and the results analyzed using categorical statistical analysis, then fertilizer recommendations and nutrient management plans could be evaluated for relative efficiency.

2. Chris Gross opened a discussion session on the development of the NRCS 590 standard and its applicability to adaptive management noting first the scale differences between the two: the 590 standard is strategic and adaptive management is tactical. Chris then noted he wanted to build in flexibility to the 590 standard, and that the flexibility for adapting the national 590 standard is at the state level. He needs the input of this group to continue making the 590 standard flexible for adaptive management. Doug Beegle noted that after the land grant recommendations were made, then adjustments could be made to the recommendations using the data because manure and fertilizer recommendations from the land grant universities are starting points and not end points. There was discussion that state laws and agencies, and even the 590 standard, were not currently flexible enough to allow for adjustments to existing recommendations provided by the land grants. In some cases, using the latest science to improve fertilizer use was penalized by the rigidity of the plan. This problem was seen as a data-driven documentation problem. Field-by-field record keeping is the key to flexibility in recommendations. Chris noted that after adaptive management concepts are incorporated into the 590 standard, he would need help from this group to train district conservationists and other NRCS personnel.

Tom noted that NRCS is working with this group to develop an NRCS Tech Note for including adaptive management in the 590 nutrient management standard. Tom Morris will send the current version of the Tech Note to everyone when the draft copies are completed.

NEXT STEPS

The group agreed to:

1. Hold NEERA 1002 annual meetings at the national SSSA meetings.

2. Use webinars 2-3 times a year to meet and discuss NEERA 1002 business.

3. Work together to develop the Tech Note explaining how to include adaptive management in the 590 nutrient management standard.

4. Have Quirine Ketterings provide a webinar in mid-winter about how she is using adaptive management in her nutrient management program in New York.

5. Find someone else to agree to provide a webinar in the spring or early summer about how they are using adaptive management in their nutrient management program.

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

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Report Information

Participants

Tom Morris, UConn; Tracy Blackmer, ISA; Greg Binford, UDel; Haiying Tao, UConn; Quirine Ketterings, Cornell; Doug Beegle, PSU; Karl Czymmek, Cornell; Richard Meinert, UConn; Dan Sullivan, Oregon State U; Jerry Lemunyon, NRCS; Jorge Delgado, ARS; Chris Gross, NRCS; Norm Widman, NRCS; Harold van Es, Cornell; Bianca Moebius-Clune, Cornell; Peter Kyveryga, ISA; Bill Angstadt, Del-MD Ag Business; Sandy Bell, UConn; Martha Zwonitzer, ISA; Mary Ann Rozum, USDA-NIFA; Timothy J. Healey, Agrotain International; Doug Smith, USDA-ARS

Brief Summary of Minutes

Tom Morris welcomed the group and reviewed the agenda. Tom noted that this was the second formal meeting of the Multistate Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group (NEERA 1002) on Adaptive Management for Improved Nutrient Management.

Tom Morris asked if anyone had suggested changes to the minutes from last year's meeting. Karl Czymmek motioned to accept the minutes from last year's meeting without change. Motion seconded by Bianca Moebius-Clune. Minutes unanimously approved without change.

Review of four objectives of NEERA.

Tom Morris reviewed the four objectives of NEERA 1002. Group has a short discussion about objective number 2, incorporate adaptive management concepts into the NRCS Code 590 Standard for nutrient management. NRCS has posted draft changes to the 590 standard to allow for the inclusion of adaptive management in nutrient management plans. Review and comment period ended Monday, November 1.

Review of Joint Symposium on Adaptive Management in St. Louis at the 65th International SWCS Annual Conference.

Jorge Delgado reported that attendance was good with about 70 people attending. The Symposium was an interactive session, which is not typically done at the SWCS conference. Jorge noted that the SWCS Program Committee praised the symposium in the wrap up discussions after the meeting. There was excellent participation in the interactive sessions. There was a good mix of people with different backgrounds (University, NRCS, Extension, private industry) attending the symposium, and most attendees stayed for most of the Symposium, which indicates that interactive sessions can be successfully implemented in a Conference where interactive sessions are not typically scheduled. Sandy Bell reviewed the topics covered in the Symposium and the adult learning methods that were demonstrated as a preview to the Symposium at the SSSA conference tomorrow, November 3.

A discussion ensued about whether adult learning techniques could be used in an online situation such as a distance learning class. Consensus was that the techniques could work if the web software could host multiple discussion groups at the same time. Tracy thought the system used in Iowa for webinars supported multiple subgroups, but he would need to check the system's capability.

The group agreed to try interactive discussion on at least 1 webinar in the coming year. Tom Morris agreed to explore having an interactive webinar in 2011.

Discussion/decision about Symposium in 2011

Jorge Delgado thanked the committee for working with him to successfully complete two consecutive Joint Symposia in 2009 and 2010 with the SWCS and the SSSA about adaptive management. He noted that it is unusual for a Joint Symposium to be held on one topic for two consecutive years. Jorge will be organizing a Joint Symposium on another topic next year. The consensus of the committee was to skip organizing a Symposium in 2011, but to create a Community for Adaptive Management in the American Society of Agronomy. This would allow the committee to host paper and poster sessions at the National Meetings. Tom Morris agreed to complete the paperwork to create a Community for Adaptive Management in the American Society of Agronomy.

Update about Technotes.

Chris Gross gave a report on four Technotes under development to explain the change in the Code 590 Nutrient Management Standard to allow adaptive management. The four Technotes currently have these preliminary titles: 1) Background on Nitrogen Management (6-7 pages), 2) Evaluation Tools for Nitrogen In-Season and Post-Season, 3) Group Coordination/Participatory Learning, and 4) Steps to Adaptive Management - Making it Work.

Technote number 1 is in final draft form and Chris had copies available for review. The other three Technotes will be available for review as soon as they are completed. Draft copies will be sent by email to committee members for review and editing.

Norm Widman mentioned that the process needs to speed up. Everything needs to be ready by February. Technotes do not need to be published in the Federal Register but they do need to be completed when the standard is completed.

Data from some adaptive management programs is shared in groups of farmers to enhance learning and adoption of new practices. A discussion occurred about how to keep data confidential while still sharing data in groups for enhanced learning. There was a great concern for keeping individual farm data confidential - but also an understanding that sharing in groups was important. Tracy Blackmer said in Iowa they assign each farm a number. Each farmer knows their own number but not others unless they share among themselves. Greg Binford spoke about how MD and DE are collecting data and storing it with private businesses rather than public servers to prevent FOI requests. Tom Morris said that the data from the Bay Farms program in PA is stored on a private consultant's server to maintain confidentially.

Norm Widman encouraged everyone to think about how evaluation could be built into all levels of the adaptive management process because outcomes showing benefits to programs are needed to show results and to gain support for programs. Some committee members thought it would be a good idea to use data collected in an adaptive management program to increase the accuracy of modeling programs like N-Leap.

Education process with NRCS after complete Technotes

Tom Morris was interested to know if NRCS would need help from NEERA 1002 to educate NRCS staff after completion of the Technotes. Chris Gross thought the education would be completed by internal NRCS staff, but did not rule out having NEERA 1002 members help with the education. Norm Widman thought different formats would be used such as: Webinars, Regional Meetings etc. Once the internal education is accomplished the external education with partners and farmers will need to begin, and at that time NEERA 1002 committee members could help.

Web site for NEERA 1002

The committee wants to have a web site to post information about adaptive management. Tracy Blackmer said he could establish a web site for NEERA 1002.

Submit proposals for NEERA 1002 committee work

There was little interest in submitting a proposal for a joint project in adaptive management at this time.

Communications within and from NEERA1002

It was agreed that we would continue meeting once a year at the SSSA meetings, and that we would use webinars to communicate between meetings.

Next steps - activities for next year

Plans for 2011

The group agreed to:

1. Hold the next NEERA 1002 annual meeting at the national SSSA meeting in San Antonio, TX.
   
2. Use webinars 2-3 times a year to meet and discuss NEERA 1002 business. Quirine Ketterings agreed to host a webinar in early Dec or in the winter to explain her program of adaptive management for nutrient management in New York. The webinar will be interactive if possible.
   
3. Review and edit the NRCS Technotes as they become available about adaptive management to accompany the change in the Code 590 Standard.
   
4. Tom Morris will find someone to agree to host a webinar in the spring or early summer about how they are using adaptive management in their nutrient management program.
   
5. Tracy Blackmer agreed to set up a web site for NEERA 1002.
   
6. Tom Morris agreed to complete the paperwork to create a Community for Adaptive Management in the American Society of Agronomy.
   

Accomplishments

Publications

Impact Statements

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