Soil and Water Quality An Agenda for Agriculture (1993) / Chapter Skim
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3 A Systems Approach to Soil and Water Quality Management
3 A Systems Approach to Soil and Water Quality Management
Pages 107-144
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From page 107... ...
LINKAGES AMONG OBJECTIVES Inherent links exist among soil quality conservation improvements in input use efficiency, increases in resistance to erosion and runoff, and the wider use of buffer zones. These links become apparent only if investigators take a systems-level approach to analyzing agricultural production systems.
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From page 108... ...
1 ~ ~ LINKAGES AMONG PROGRAMS A broad range of programs at the local, state, and federal levels seek to solve the environmental problems associated with agricultural pro FARMING SYSTEM PLANNING Development of an integrated farming system plan begins with an inventory of farm resources. This inventory is meant to provide the data to answer some of the following questions: · Are there opportunities to improve pest, nutrient, or soil management through crop rotation?
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From page 109... ...
All of these local, state, and federal programs have specific objectives that address soil erosion; nutrient, pesticide, or irrigation water management; and protection of wetlands or other environmentally sensitive lands. The objectives of one program can conflict with, complement, or reinforce the objectives of other programs at the farm level, where the programs are ultimately implemented.
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From page 110... ...
increases the flexibility to adant Programs and policies to changing resource or market conditions. ~ ~ v ~ Variability Directing national policy toward solutions that improve soil and water quality has been made more difficult because of the geographic variability in the resources and enterprises that characterize agricultural production systems in the United States.
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From page 111... ...
111 ~ ~ to ~ - ~ ~ ~ ~ o cn U )
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From page 112... ...
Win-Win Opportunities Systematic analysis of input use, cropping systems, and tillage practices increases the likelihood that opportunities to simultaneously improve financial and environmental performance will be identified. Accounting for on-farm resources, such as nutrients from legumes or manures, can lead to improvements in nutrient management that reduce costs as well as improve soil and water quality.
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From page 113... ...
Failure to recognize and manage these inherent linkages increases the likelihood that trade-offs between protecting soil versus water quality, protecting surface water quality versus groundwater quality, or reducing the loadings of one pollutant versus another will impede progress toward overall improvements in soil and water quality. Integrated Farming System Plans Integrated farming system plans are the best mechanism available now for implementing a farming systems approach at the farm level.
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From page 114... ...
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From page 115... ...
It is possible that a single producer could be required to implement · a conservation compliance plan stipulating erosion control measures for those fields that are highly erodible; · a cost-sharing agreement with the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service of USDA stipulating the management practices required to maintain a specific structure, such as a terrace or grassed waterway, for which the producer receives cost-sharing dollars; · a water quality plan tied to receipt of incentive payments under the Water Quality Incentives Program; and, increasingly, · a nutrient management plan to meet the requirements of state water quality regulations. The effectiveness of these programs and plans will be increased if they are based on a single integrated farming system plan that balances multiple objectives and ensures that single-objective best-management practices designed to reduce erosion, improve nutrient and pest management, or improve the management of irrigation water, for example, are not working at cross purposes.
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From page 116... ...
The first step toward implementing a farming systems approach to improving soil and water quality should be to replace current single-objective plans required to receive financial assistance through the Agricultural Conservation Program, Water Quality Incentives Program, and other programs with integrated farming system plans. Receipt of cost-shar~ng dollars should be conditional on the development of an integrated farming system plan that clearly specifies how the WIN-WIN OPPORTUNITIES: A SYSTEMS APPROACH ON A PENNSYLVANIA DAIRY FARM Lanyon and Beegle (1989)
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From page 117... ...
The planning and implementation requirements for the Water Quality Incentives Program already approach this recommendation. In the long term, the implementation of an integrated farming system plan should be requiredfor producers in regions where soil and water quality problems are severe regardless of their participation in federal farm programs.
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From page 118... ...
Such standards are needed whether voluntary or nonvoluntary approaches to the development and implementation of integrated farming system plans are used. USDA and the EPA should convene an interagency task force to develop planning standards that can be used as the basis for implementation of the Resource Management System by the Soil Conservation Service of USDA and as guidance for state governments that meet the requirements of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (PL 100-4)
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From page 119... ...
can provide information from which to develop standards for input management plans. The management measures developed to implement the 1990 Coastal Zone Management Act Reauthorization Amendments are another source of information.
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From page 121... ...
This is the approach taken in the 1990 Coastal Zone Management Act Reauthorization Amendments (PL 101-508) , which requires the development of an enforceable program of management measures to control nonpoint source pollution in coastal areas.
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From page 122... ...
Use of Models Substantial advances have been made in mathematical modeling and computer simulation modeling of agricultural nonpoint source pollution problems that can help develop standards for integrated farming system plans. These modeling efforts range from simple conceptual mass balances to sophisticated research models.
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From page 123... ...
Models of Nonpoint Source Pollution A wide array of models address agricultural nonpoint source pollution. Many of them have been calibrated and validated with soil columns in the laboratory and intensively monitored plots in the field.
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From page 124... ...
Many of the data needed to develop and implement integrated farming system plans are available only if producers keep good records of their management practices and yields. Record keeping should be an essential component of integrated farming system plans.
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From page 125... ...
Public Sector J The Soil Conservation Service, in cooperation with the Cooperative Extension Service, should undertake an accelerated training effort targeted at federal, state, and local government personnel and at producers to develop and implement integrated farming system management plans. The technical capacities of county Soil Conservation Service, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, county Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and other personnel to develop and implement integrated farming system plans are variable.
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From page 126... ...
126 I Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture TABLE 3-2 Ranking of Information Sources by Surveyed Farmers Percentage of Farmers Ranking Source as First or Second Most Importanta Weed and Tillage Fertility Insect Control Information Source First Second First Second First Second CES staff CES publications, meetings, or field days SCS or CD staff SCS or CD publications, meetings, or field days ASCS staff 2 2 ASCS publications, meetings, 1 1 or field days 5 8 3 4 4 5 3 2 9 6 3 5 <1 10 1 2<1 <1 <1 1 1 10 1 1 0<1 Staff and publications of 1 11 1<11 other public agencies Farm organization staff 2 22 221 Fertilizer dealer 28 956 16186 Herbicide or insecticide 5 142 124018 dealer Fertilizer or pesticide 1 2<1 434 applicator Other farmers 17 208 23627 Family member 10 138 1069 Nonprofit, educational, 1 1<1 10<1 or environmental organization Farm magazines, journals, and 8 132 12211 radio and television programs Other 5 15 342 No response 5 101 1NANA NOTE: CES, Cooperative Extension Service, USDA; SCS, Soil Conservation Service, USDA; ASCS, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, USDA; CD, county Soil and Water Conservation District; NA, not available. aMean of reported percentages of farmers surveyed in Whitman County, Washington; Butte County, California; Renville County, Minnesota; Livingston County, Illinois; and Dooly County, Georgia.
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From page 127... ...
Such an expanded agenda cannot be implemented unless it is targeted at well-defined problems and farm enterprises. The inability or unwillingness to target policies, whether voluntary or nonvoluntary, only at areas where the need to improve soil and water quality is greatest or only at those farm enterprises responsible for soil and water quality damages is a major obstacle to efforts to make soil and water quality programs more effective.
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From page 128... ...
The targets identified by using this information may not be as refined as policymakers and program managers might like, but even crude targeting will help reduce the costs and increase the effectiveness of current programs to improve soil and water quality. Soil and Water Quality Monitoring Most efforts to target programs where they are most needed have been based on identifying those geographic regions where soil degradation and water pollution are most severe.
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From page 129... ...
A few of these efforts are described below. Soil Quality The USDA has developed criteria and data to identify highly erodible lands, that is, lands that are most vulnerable to accelerated rates of
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From page 130... ...
Water Quality Several efforts have been made by federal agencies and state and local governments to identify priority areas for water pollution control. The EPA is currently assembling data from assessments of nonpoint sources of water pollution that were conducted by each state under the provisions of the 1987 amendments to the Federal Water Quality Protection Act (PL 100-104)
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From page 131... ...
to the process of identifying targets will help in three ways: by identifying problem farms within priority areas identified by soil and water quality criteria alone, by identifying changes in the management of farming systems that should be sought within priority areas, and by identifying the barriers to adoption of improved farming systems that need to be overcome. Problem Fawns The Secretary of USDA and the Administrator of EPA should initiate a multiagency effort to assemble currently available data on production practices and enterprise characteristics to identify problem farms within priority areas for soil and water quality improvements.
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From page 132... ...
Monitoring Progress Tracking changes in production practices provides a way to monitor programs in the absence of adequate soil and water quality monitoring. Nutrient mass balances, for example, can be calculated and monitored in the absence of adequate data on nutrient loadings to surface water or groundwater.
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From page 133... ...
Refine Strategies to Change Producer Behavior Analysis of data on production practices and enterprise characteristics when programs are being designed is essential for adapting national policies to local realities as the national policies are implemented (Rogers, 1983~. Analysis of production practices and enterprise characteristics helps program managers understand the diversity of reasons that may account for a producer's decision not to adopt an improved farming system (Nowak, 1983, 1985; Nowak and Schnepf, 198~.
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From page 134... ...
National data on soil and water resources such as the National Resources Inventory provide useful information for large regional scales but are not dense enough for use in the county, watershed, or smaller scale applications required to implement a systems approach at the local level. Data available at the local level, such as that found in soil surveys, are often difficult to link with other data sets that have been assembled for different purposes, such as participation in federal farm programs or cropping histories assembled by county offices of USDA's Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service.
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From page 135... ...
Similar improvements in data collection, particularly the collection of systematic data on production practices, are needed to implement a systems approach to developing and directing national policy. The Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, and the Soil Conservation Service should assemble currently available information to provide baseline information about production practices and agronomic behaviors.
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From page 136... ...
The Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, and the Soil Conservation Service should assemble all currently available data on production practices and agronomic behaviors. This information, if assembled in one place, would be very helpful for the direction of policy.
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From page 137... ...
Tables 1-1 and 1-2 in Chapter 1 list the soil and water quality programs administered by the USDA, and the new initiatives passed as part of the 1990 Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act (PL 101-624~. New USDA programs such as the Water Quality Incentives Program, the Wetland Reserve Program, and the Environmental Easement Program signal the increasing importance of water quality in USDA programs.
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From page 138... ...
138 / Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture WE FLY Want 50ME 0~ T 0~ OF MESS DAYS is_ 1 it\ ~ "Most important and least done about it" (February 6, 1936~. Credit: Courtesy of the ]
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From page 139... ...
State nonpoint source control programs, coastal zone programs, and the initiatives in the 1990 Food, Agricultural, Conservation, and Trade Act are important opportunities to address all four objectives proposed in this report: conserving and enhancing soil quality, improving input efficiency, increasing resistance to erosion and runoff, and making greater use of field and landscape buffer zones. Improved management of nutrients, pesticides, animal waste, or irrigation water is listed as an objective in all 16 demonstration projects and 74 hydrologic unit area projects that are part of USDA's Water Quality Initiative (U.S.
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From page 140... ...
Only part of those funds were expended to control agricultural sources of pollution. The Agricultural Water Quality Protection Program was implemented under the Agricultural Conservation Program as a costshared practice called the Water Quality Incentives Program.
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From page 141... ...
Most of the technical assistance provided by the Soil Conservation Service to producers since passage of the 1985 Food Security Act has been dedicated to helping producers determine whether their croplands are subject to Conservation Compliance, Sodbuster, or Swampbuster and to helping producers plan and implement conservation practices required under these programs (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1992~.
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From page 142... ...
Expenditures for the Water Quality Incentives Program in 1992 represented only 0.1 percent of expenditures for either pesticides or fertilizers and 0.03 percent of Commodity Credit Corporation expenditures. Special consideration should be given to revenue sources such as taxes on agricultural chemicals, fuel, heavy tractors, moldboard plows, irrigation water, and other inputs that can be related to soil and water quality degradation from agricultural production practices or to transfers from Commodity Credit Corporation programs to soil and water quality programs.
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From page 143... ...
(Soil Conservation Service Technical Assistance, $478.0 million; Agricultural Conservation Program CostShare, $194.4 million; Water Quality Incentives Program, $6.8 million; Environmental Conservation Acreage Reserve Program, $1,786 million; Conservation Reserve Program, $1,740 million; Wetland Reserve Program, $46.4 million; commodity programs, Commodity Credit Corporation, $18,300 million)
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