Water Quality

Watershed Management on Your Farm

A Producers Guide to Clean Water and Profitable Farming!

Best Management Practices or BMP's are specific agricultural practices which protect water quality. These site specific practices reduce the movement of sediments, nutrients, and pesticides from fields.  Please review and implement the practices that work best for your farming operation. By doing so, agriculture can increase its efforts to ensure a safe water supply for all to enjoy, and you can realize efficiencies on your farm.

• Evaluate Fields Before Selecting a Pesticide.
• Review your fields for physical characteristics which can influence the movement of pesticides to surface and ground water.
• For surface water, look for these features:
  • Field slope, soil texture, gullies, ditches, ponds, streams, buffer strips, and waterways.
• For groundwater, look for these features:
  • Existence and condition of active and abandoned wells; location of
     wells in relation to storage, mixing, loading, and application sites;
     and soil texture.
• Develop a field map and note the location of wells, ponds, reservoirs, and
  permanent and intermittent streams. Identify the points where runoff
  usually enters the stream.
• Review Labels for Application Rates and Requirements for Use.
• Read all pesticide labels prior to selection and application. The selected
  product should not only target pest(s) identified in that field but factor in
  the BMP information regarding water quality.
• Follow Label Requirements for Setbacks.
• When mixing, loading, or applying pesticides observe required setbacks
  from potential pathways of water contamination including well heads,
  streams, lakes, and rivers.
• Know Your Soil Type And Field Layout
• Take a soil test and use the correct product rate for your soil type,
  organic matter, pH and pest levels. Factor in field slope and relationship to
  water.
• Calibrate Spray Equipment Regularly.
• Examine spray nozzles and replace worn tips. Uniform coverage can
  eliminate excessive rates, poor control and the need for re-treatment.
• Keep Accurate Records
• A history of pesticide applications and weed maps by field and crop will
  provide the basis for rotating crops, products, and/or adjusting rates for
  specific soils and pests.
• Consider All Alternatives.
• Growers can choose from a long list of new herbicides with fewer
  environmental risks from runoff. Check for crop safety and runoff potential.
• Practice Field Scouting.
• Use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods to demonstrate when
  pest populations exceed economic thresholds. Use spot spraying for
  escapes--areas of high weed density--after identifying species and stage
  of growth.
• Evaluate the Economics of Your Present Program.
• Eliminating 100% of weeds is often not economically justified; a few
  weeds at harvest may not cause significant yield losses. Landlords,
  bank managers, and operators need to work together to make decisions.
• Consider Split Applications.
• Use a combination of soil-applied products, post-emergence pesticides,
  band application and mechanical removal where appropriate.
• Keep Your Eyes on the Weather.
• Research has shown heavy rainfall in the few days following applications
  may result in significant losses of pesticides, nutrients, and soil to
  surface water. Do not apply when weather conditions favor drift from
  targeted areas. Follow label recommendations before applying pesticides
  in the fall and/or to frozen ground.
• Rotate Crops and Use a Combination of Pest Management Practices.
• Crop rotation prevents problems with herbicide-resistant weeds and
  herbicide buildup. To minimize pesticide resistance, select products with
  different modes of action. Product diversity can result in lower
  concentrations of any one substance being found in drinking water supplies.
• Incorporation.
• Incorporation is a good practice in some instances although it will reduce
  overall plant residue coverage. Incorporation can lower herbicide runoff
  potential dramatically by placing the material below the soil surface
  where it can bind to soil. This makes it much less likely to runoff as
  most soil-applied herbicides leave the field in the runoff water. Light
  incorporation into the top two inches of the soil benefits water quality.
• Practice Conservation Tillage.
• No-till and other conservation tillage systems dramatically reduce surface
  water runoff and increase water infiltration. Increased organic matter and
  microbial activity combine to aid in the degradation of pesticides.
• Reduce Soil Compaction.
• Studies have shown fields with soil compacted by farm equipment results
  in greater runoff of nutrients and pesticides.
• Rinse and Recycle Containers.
• Triple or pressure rinse immediately after use. Store empty containers
  where they won't collect water and take to an agrichemical dealership
  participating in the Illinois Department of Agriculture's Pesticide Container
  Recycling Program. Using new environmentally friendly packaging or
  refillable containers is a good start to reducing point source contamination.
• Implement Conservation Practices.
• Surface water can be protected from pollution by contour farming, terraces
  grassed waterways, narrow-row cropping, strip cropping, filter strips, and
  cover crops. When combined with conservation tillage and crop rotation,
  these BMP's slow runoff water and greatly increase water infiltration.
• Establish Filter Strips.
• Vegetative filter strips and setbacks between farm fields and surface water
  are effective in slowing surface runoff and increasing infiltration of nutrients
  and pesticides. These are most beneficial when runoff is distributed over a
  large surface area where it can infiltrate, degrade slowly and be taken up
  by plants.
• Nutrient Management Practices.
• Nutrient Management practices are increasingly important. Fertilization
  should be based on soil tests, realistic yield goals, and guidance provided
  in the University of Illinois Agronomy Handbook. Always take credit for
  nutrient sources such as manure and previous crop in determining the
  required application rates of commercial fertilizer. Establish and follow a
  manure management plan which is in line with the Livestock Waste
  Management Act guidelines.
• Fertilizer Application.
• Consider the methods and timing of application of nitrogen and phosphate.
  Surface applied nutrients can be lost with surface runoff. Anhydrous
  Ammonia applied in the fall before the soil temperature gets below 50º F.
  can convert to Nitrate Nitrogen and move down with soil water and be lost
  in field tiles or impact groundwater. Calibrate application equipment to
  ensure proper rates and adjust for uniform field application. Clean-up
  fertilizer spills and manage on-farm storage and handling to prevent
  accidental spills that would cause environmental contamination.
• Wildlife Opportunities.
• Best Management Practices offer a host of wildlife benefits resulting from
  increased and improved habitat.
  
  For more watershed management information, visit:
  
  The Council on Best Management Practices (CBMP) www.cbmp.uiuc.edu
  The University of Purdue's website at: www.ctic.purdue.edu.
  Trees Forever at: www.treesforever.org
  Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association at: www.ifca.com