Blue Water Farms made up of a network of 22 edge-of-field (EoF) water quality monitoring stations on five farms located in the two most productive row-crop areas of the Commonwealth. Voluntary EoF water quality monitoring enables agricultural producers and scientist to quantify the impacts of conservation practices on water quality. Through EoF monitoring, NRCS works with producers and conservation partners (i.e. Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board, Kentucky Agricultural Development Board, University of Kentucky) to measure the amount of nutrients and sediment in water runoff from a field, and compare the improvements under different conservation systems. Data collected from monitoring stations helps producers make informed decisions regarding the use and inputs of conservation practices. These decisions, often called adaptive management, help producers increase economic efficiency while maximizing yields. This information also demonstrates the value of conservation efforts by producers. The objective of this project is to manage, maintain and operate Blue Water Farms according to the standards required by the USDA NRCS which includes collecting water quantity and water quality (nutrients and sediment) data from every runoff generating precipitation event.

The objective of this project is to facilitate the establishment and management of a network of edge-of-field (EoF) water quality monitoring demonstration sites in Kentucky, collectively known as Blue Water Farms. This work will include established partnerships with the USDA NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) eligible producers who wish to take advantage of and participate in the EQIP EoF monitoring standard practice. Voluntary EoF water quality monitoring enables agricultural producers and scientist to quantify the impacts of conservation practices on water quality. Through EoF monitoring, NRCS works with producers and conservation partners (KSPB, KADB, UK) to measure the amount of nutrients and sediment in water runoff from a field, and compare the improvements under different conservation systems.

Manage and maintain 22 edge-of-field monitoring stations according to the USDA NRCS standards which includes collection of water quantity and water quality (nutrients and sediment) data from every runoff generating precipitation event.

Best management practices (BMPs) are promoted and incentivized by the state and federal government to reduce erosion and improve water quality. Many of these BMPs are accepted a common knowledge as to their benefit, however little is known about the actual in-field sediment and nutrient retention post-BMP implementation. To quantify the benefits of BMPs in agricultural fields, the USDA NRCS partnered with landowners via the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to develop long-term water quality monitoring stations at the edge of agricultural producers’ fields to collect surface water runoff and measure the sediment and nutrient loads that are leaving the field. Because the time and effort it takes to manage these monitoring stations according to the USDA NRCS EQIP Standard Practice 201, the University of Kentucky, and the Kentucky Geological Survey work with interested landowners to develop and manage these monitoring stations with the support of the Kentucky Soybean Promotion Board, Kentucky Agricultural Development Board and the USDA NRCS. Through partnerships with 5 landowners in 4 western Kentucky counties, 22 edge-of-field (EoF) water quality monitoring stations have been developed to evaluate the effectiveness of BMPs including injected poultry litter, grassed waterways and cover crops. These long-term projects (8-10 years) are staggered in time from 1-year to 5-years of monitoring duration and are installed on no-till fields in corn-soybean, corn-soybean-wheat, and soybean-wheat rotations. Within each monitored watershed, data and samples are collected from every runoff generating precipitation event according to the requirements of the USDA NRCS EQIP Standard Practice 201. The data generated is submitted to the USDA NRCS Water Quality and Quantity Team where it is merged and analyzed along with data collected from other USDA NRCS EQIP EoF projects across the nation to optimize existing BMPs and improve BMPs across the nation. Locally, the data will be used to evaluate nutrient and sediment retention under varying cropping systems, educate producers as well as state and federal agency staff about effectiveness of BMPs, crop management practices and impacts on nutrient retention. For example, four hands-on field days were held over the past year where 488 participants including youth, agricultural producers and state officials learned about the Blue Water Farms project.

The information collected from this project will help producers make informed decisions regarding the use of inputs (fertilizer and poultry litter) and conservation practices. These decisions, often referred to as adaptive management, help producers increase economic efficiency while maximizing yields. These results will also demonstrate the value of conservation efforts by producers.