Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Overall Accomplishments

Strengthening Networks

1. Identify common attributes and gaps across state nutrient reduction strategies - Review the HTF states’ nutrient reduction strategies to identify the state goals, approaches and common attributes. Highlight opportunities for cross-state information sharing to enhance other HTF state strategies.

Delivery: Wes Burger analysis summarized in PowerPoint posted on HTF SharePoint site.

2. Work within land-grant universities to develop more consistent messaging across disciplines/specialists. A specific proposal is to convene livestock and crop specialists to discuss how they can work with farmers on nutrient management strategies that address water quality.

Delivery:

University of Minnesota

What is the University of Minnesota doing towards a consistent message across disciplines/specialist on the subject of nutrient management and water quality?

The nutrient management team (approximately 15 members) consists of departmental faculty, regional and local Extension educators, and scientists in the areas of soil fertility, drainage, water quality, soil water management, irrigation, manure, and general cropping systems. The team meets 2-3 times a year for the purpose to share and express consistent messages, coordinate group research projects, inform team members of ongoing activities as well as to identify gaps in educational priorities.

Similarly, the U of M Extension Crops Team meets twice a year to provide a forum for exchange of information and provide a platform for consistency of programming among its members. This team of approximately 40 people has state specialists and regional and local educators that have integrated research and educational programs in the area of general crop production, integrated pest management, cover crops,  pesticide safety, soil and nutrient management, water quality, and soil health. .

Education programs at the University of Minnesota:

Nitrogen Smart is a training program exclusively for producers that presents fundamentals for maximizing economic return on nitrogen investments while minimizing nitrogen losses. The workshops throughout the state deliver high-quality, research-based education so producers can better manage nitrogen. The curriculum was developed by several nutrient management specialists and extension educators.

Nitrogen: Minnesota’s Grand Challenge and Compelling Opportunity Conference. This conference brings the latest in research on nitrogen management. This annual event brings together approximately 250 farmers, agriculture professionals, and people from government and non-government agencies to learn about issues related to nitrogen management and water quality. 

Iowa State University:

Presentations and training on the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy have become commonplace in all Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Professional Development activities. The goal is to make sure livestock, crop, and agriculture engineering specialists hear the same message and can share information on the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy with their clientele. In addition, Iowa State University has incorporated discussions on these topics in all of Agriculture and Natural Resource Extension training.

Conservation Systems Research and Outreach

1. Assist in the optimization of cover crop practice performance as a part of conservation practice systems. Provide analytical and technical assistance for practice design at field and watershed scales, taking into account local and ecoregional conditions and variations; agronomic, economic, soil health, water quality benefits; and validation of results, benefits and challenges.

Delivery:

• Midwest Cover Crop Council (http://mccc.msu.edu/) and NCCC-211 (https://www.nimss.org/projects/view/mrp/outline/17036) are the best sources for land grant university cover crop information.
• Far less research, extension, and farmer adoption of cover crops has occurred in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley than progress that has been made in the Midwest. A recent project, co-led by Mississippi State University and the University of Kentucky and funded by USDA-NIFA, is underway to expand research and extension of the environmental, agronomic, and economic impacts of cover crop implementation in the Mid-south/Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Beth Baker (SERA-46 and Mississippi State University) is a co-PI on the project and will lead water quality monitoring and extension on the project to improve adoption and optimization of cover crops in the Mid-South.

2. Translate science regarding the issues and solutions in tile drained areas into accessible information for states to adopt into policies to address nutrient use and movement, particularly where corn is the main crop and where N movement is the main issue in the broad landscape. This item has been referred to NCERA 217, Drainage design and management practices to improve water quality. Members of NCERA 217 have agreed to accomplish this within 12-18 months.

Delivery: C1400 Ten Ways to Reduce Nitrogen Loads from Drained Cropland in the Midwest (University of Illinois Extension, 2016) posted to HTF SharePoint site; Phosphorus issues referred to SERA-17.

3. Create a network of watershed practitioners and farmer leaders to strengthen the implementation effectiveness of nutrient management strategies that reduce nutrient movement.

Delivery:

• Received funding from USEPA and others to support the development of the items in this section
• Developed draft needs assessment expanding upon previous work in watershed leadership to incorporate a new analysis on 1) farmer and farm advisor leadership in watershed management, and 2) recommendations for training and other support for these important leaders in watershed management
• Planned a Great Lakes to Gulf Watershed Leadership Summit for farmer, farm advisor, extension, federal, state, and local agencies, and NGOs. The summit will take place on Feb 21-22, 2018.
• Engaged two pilot watersheds – one in Ohio and one in Arkansas – to help us begin building out the network on local watersheds. These local pilots are helping us understand how to effectively bridge scales – from local to the Mississippi River Basin – when it comes to watershed leadership.
• Received complementary funding from the Environmental Defense Fund and Walton Family Foundation to explore and share best practices for “getting to scale” – achieving the extent of watershed management networks and resources necessary to achieve nutrient-related watershed management goals.
• Developed a preliminary literature review and hosted a workshop to gather input for a “getting to scale” white paper that will be available in May, 2018.

Monitoring and Tracking of Progress

1. Consider current social, economic, and public policy research and opportunities/needs for expansion.

• Implement a social indicators system that will guide, evaluate and advance implementation of strategies to reduce nutrient loss from agricultural lands across the 12 HTF states. This process would consider the input of numerous stakeholders, as well issues derived from hypoxia- and water resource management-related literature, such as the Social Indicator Planning and Evaluation System (SIPES) Handbook. Once baseline date is collected, it will be used to inform education and outreach in high priority watersheds. “Post-programming” data collection will follow to evaluate program impact and inform the next generation of outreach.
  • Form subcommittee including SERA-46, NC1190 (ERS has a member), and others, including a request for HTF participation
  • Develop a social indicators framework strawman and seek funding for a social indicators system development, including identification of needs at state and basin-wide levels

Delivery:  Phase 1 – Refining and improving existing social indicators to guide, evaluate, and accelerate implementation of state-level nutrient reduction strategies through a regionally inclusive and consistent expansion of the use of SIPES/SIDMA tools throughout the MARB. The following Phase 1 activities have been completed through funding provided by EPA and GOMA:

1. Established and facilitated active work group that includes members of the SERA-46 and NC-1190 Committees, HTF Coordinating Committee, GOMA Water Resources Team, and social and environmental scientists from the 15 HTF and GOMA states.
2. Facilitated numerous webinars and conference calls culminating in “Applied Research Symposium:  The Social Dimensions of Nutrient Reduction.”

            iii. Developed and released “Social Indicators to Accelerate the Implementation of Nutrient Reduction Strategies Synthesis Report.”

1.   Established website:  Human Dimension in Water https://h2o.ssrc.msstate.edu/

Collaborations/Sponsored Projects/Publications as a result of SERA-46 involvement

Multi-State:

As an outcome of a Soil and Water Conservation Society Conference- “Nutrient Management and Edge-of-Field Monitoring”, a special issue of Journal of Soil and Water Conservation comprised of presentation manuscripts was developed. The special issue directly aligns topics of interest and priorities of SERA-46, and SERA-46 members contributed to the special issue (Mike Daniels (University of Arkansas) helped organize the effort and Beth Baker (Mississippi State University) contributed original monitoring research). This special issue is expected to be published in January 2018 and will be a product that directly serves priorities of SERA-46.

Illinois (Laura Christianson):

“Serving as one of the Illinois representatives on the multi-state SERA 46 committee has resulted in my leveraging time invested in service activities to yield grant funding. I am leading a multi-state collaboration, stemming from SERA 46 activities, to develop a nutrient loss reduction measurement and tracking framework for the US Hypoxia Task Force (funded by Walton Family Foundation, 2016-2018, $344K).”

Enhanced distribution of Ten Ways to Reduce Nitrogen Loads from Drained Cropland in the Midwest document among Mississippi River basin state pollution control agencies and federal agencies.

Indiana (Otto Doering):

Publication

Doering, Otto. 2017. Economic and Policy Issues of Phosphorus Management, in Advances in Soil Science: Soil Phosphorus. Edit. Rattan Lal and B.A. Stewart. CRC Press, Boca Raton. Pp 133-150.

Minnesota (Fabian Fernández):

Publications

Yuan, M., F.G. Fernández, C.M. Pittelkow, K.D. Greer, and D. Schaefer. n.d. Tillage and fertilizer management effects on phosphorus runoff from minimal slope fields. J. Environ. Qual. (In review).

Kitchen, N.R., J.F. Shanahan, C.J. Ransom, C.J. Bandura, G.M. Bean, J.J. Camberato, P.R. Carter, J.D. Clark, R.B. Ferguson, F.G. Fernández, D.W. Franzen, C.A.M. Laboski,  E.D. Nafziger, Z. Qing, J.E. Sawyer, and M. Shafer. 2017. A public-industry partnership for enhancing corn nitrogen research and datasets: Project description, methodology, and outcomes. Agron. J. 109:2371-2388.

Fernández, F.G., K.P. Fabrizzi, and S. Naeve. 2017. Corn and soybean’s season-long in-situ nitrogen mineralization in drained and undrainded soils. Nutr. Cycl. Agroecosys. 107: 33–47.

Mississippi (Beth Baker):

The development of Natural Resource Conservation in Agriculture, a landowner guide to conservation in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Mississippi (Richard Ingram):

Through its Gulf Star Program, the Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) awarded a two-year grant to expand the scale of an EPA-funded SERA-46 project to address social, economic, and public policy research and opportunities. This expansion to the original grant included all of the Gulf Coast states not covered in the EPA grant (i.e., not Hypoxia Task Force member states). The leveraging of these resources would ensure that all states throughout the MARB and across the northern Gulf will work together to develop and implement consistent, correlatable measures to track progress in the human dimension of reducing nutrient pollution within the basin and across the northern Gulf.

Multi-State:

As an outcome of a Soil and Water Conservation Society Conference- “Nutrient Management and Edge-of-Field Monitoring”, a special issue of Journal of Soil and Water Conservation comprised of presentation manuscripts was developed. The special issue directly aligns topics of interest and priorities of SERA-46, and SERA-46 members contributed to the special issue (Mike Daniels (University of Arkansas) helped organize the effort and Beth Baker (Mississippi State University) contributed original monitoring research). This special issue is expected to be published in January 2018 and will be a product that directly serves priorities of SERA-46.

Illinois (Laura Christianson):

“Serving as one of the Illinois representatives on the multi-state SERA 46 committee has resulted in my leveraging time invested in service activities to yield grant funding. I am leading a multi-state collaboration, stemming from SERA 46 activities, to develop a nutrient loss reduction measurement and tracking framework for the US Hypoxia Task Force (funded by Walton Family Foundation, 2016-2018, $344K).”

Enhanced distribution of Ten Ways to Reduce Nitrogen Loads from Drained Cropland in the Midwest document among Mississippi River basin state pollution control agencies and federal agencies.

Indiana (Otto Doering):

Publication

Doering, Otto. 2017. Economic and Policy Issues of Phosphorus Management, in Advances in Soil Science: Soil Phosphorus. Edit. Rattan Lal and B.A. Stewart. CRC Press, Boca Raton. Pp 133-150.

Minnesota (Fabian Fernández):

Publications

Yuan, M., F.G. Fernández, C.M. Pittelkow, K.D. Greer, and D. Schaefer. n.d. Tillage and fertilizer management effects on phosphorus runoff from minimal slope fields. J. Environ. Qual. (In review).

Kitchen, N.R., J.F. Shanahan, C.J. Ransom, C.J. Bandura, G.M. Bean, J.J. Camberato, P.R. Carter, J.D. Clark, R.B. Ferguson, F.G. Fernández, D.W. Franzen, C.A.M. Laboski,  E.D. Nafziger, Z. Qing, J.E. Sawyer, and M. Shafer. 2017. A public-industry partnership for enhancing corn nitrogen research and datasets: Project description, methodology, and outcomes. Agron. J. 109:2371-2388.

Fernández, F.G., K.P. Fabrizzi, and S. Naeve. 2017. Corn and soybean’s season-long in-situ nitrogen mineralization in drained and undrainded soils. Nutr. Cycl. Agroecosys. 107: 33–47.

Mississippi (Beth Baker):

The development of Natural Resource Conservation in Agriculture, a landowner guide to conservation in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.