Please join us on Wednesday, August 1st at noon for a NFWF Project Spotlight, “Nutrient Management Plans.”

Join NFWF and a panel of Nutrient Management Plan specialists who will share lessons learned from grant projects aimed at engaging farmers and the bay community in Nutrient Management Planning throughout regions of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The presentation will be held as a webinar: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3612640458456824065

The projects being spotlighted are:

  • “Getting Nutrient Management Plans Off the Shelf: Expanding Farmer Participation on the NMP Process” with the University of Virginia and Sustainable Chesapeake, supported by US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program’s Small Watershed Grants Program.
    • Sustainable Chesapeake partnered with the Virginia Environmental Endowment to launch a collaborative effort to better engage farmers in developing and implementing NMPs. One component of the process was convening a Leadership Team of additional partners from across the state: VA Association of Soil Conservation Districts, VA State Dairymen’s Association, VA Cattlemen’s Association, VA Poultry Federation, VA Agribusiness Council, Virginia Tech, VA Department of Conservation and Recreation, and VA Department of Environmental Quality.
  • “USC Integrated Approach to Nutrient Management (NY, PA)” with Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District, supported by US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Grants Program and the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Conservation Partners Program.
    • TCSWCD is working to 1) coordinate planning and implementation of nutrient management plans on multiple farms, 2) integrate the use of nutrient reduction tools such as the precision feed management screening matrix 3) develop capacity in the watershed of trained professionals both in nutrient management planning and use of reduction tools and 4) assist farms with implementation of non-structural BMP implementation such as cover crops, conservation tillage, buffers, and adaptive nutrient management for the purposes of increased adoption of BMPs identified in NMPs on farms in the Upper Susquehanna River Watershed.
  • “Moving Virginia AFOs to Sustainable Phosphorus Mass Balance to Prevent Buildup of Soil Test Phosphorus and Reduce Phosphorus Inputs to the Bay” with Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, supported by US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Grants Program.
    • This project builds on a successful approach developed at Cornell for New York, which ties dairy farm P mass balance with milk production per acre. It proved to farmers that sustainable P mass balance could be attained while maintaining milk production. This project will implement this approach to attain sustainable P mass balance on dairy farms in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and add an important concept of local importance. This project will also include poultry farms, as the Shenandoah Valley has a lot of poultry production and some farms are combined dairy and poultry operations.

Hope to see you there! Please forward on to any partners or contractors you think would be interested in learning more about working with private consultants in the agriculture sector.

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Project Spotlight series is an effort to share lessons learned, challenges and opportunities in implementation through discussions with grantees who have recently completed a grant project. Grantees with expertise in a common topic join together to reflect on their experiences and answer audience questions.

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) has a long‐standing partnership, through a cooperative agreement, with the National Fish and Wildlife (NFWF) to provide direct financial support to accomplish both:

‐ The Small Watershed Grant (SWG) program that promotes community‐based efforts to develop conservation strategies to protect and restore the diverse natural resources of the Chesapeake Bay.

‐ The Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction (INSR) grant program that support efforts with the Chesapeake Bay watershed to accelerate nutrient and sediment reductions with innovative, sustainable, and cost‐effective approaches.