The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) evaluates conservation trends and effects on cultivated cropland through the Conservation Effects Assessment project (CEAP). CEAP uses natural resource and farmer survey data along with physical process modeling to estimate the environmental impacts of conservation practices on cultivated cropland. The first set of farmer surveys was conducted in 2003-06 (CEAP I). Now, comparison data from farmer surveys conducted in 2013-16 (CEAP II) make it possible to estimate shifts in conservation adoption and effects between the CEAP survey periods. Between the two survey periods, acres receiving manure nutrients increased substantially. While soil testing increased, increased manure application rates and load-to-loss disparities indicate continuing challenges. Along with manure nutrient losses to the waterways, losses of pathogens, antibiotics and other contaminants are also a problem that must be addressed with the increased usage of manure. Texas A&M AgriLife is currently addressing these issues through on-the-ground research aimed at developing conservation practice protocols to help reduce and/or eliminate these manure contaminants helping to reduce the impact on soil and human health.
An application for continuing education credit for Certified Crop Advisors (CCAs) and members of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS) will be submitted.
Presenters include:
- Dr. Lee Norfleet, USDA-NRCS (retired)
- Dr. Eunsung Kan, Texas A&M University
- Evelyn Steglich, USDA-NRCS
- Tibor Horvath (moderator), USDA-NRCS
Handouts (PDF format) will be available the day of the webinar at the live webinar information page. Find out more about this webinar and future webinars by the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community (LPELC).
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