Best Management Practices

The future of farming depends on our ability to maintain our natural resources, such as soil, water and air. This page was designed to provide access to information on Best Management Practices (BMPs) with the goal of reducing degradation of water resources by agricultural practices.

BMPs focus on management of inputs to provide for economic, environmental and agronomic efficiency in agriculture. Examples of BMPs include practices for managing nitrogen application, irrigation, livestock wastes, and pesticides. Vegetative and tillage practices, such as contour farming, cropping sequence and windbreaks and structural practices, such as terraces, grade stabilization and sediment control basins are other good examples of best management practices.

Problems occur when nutrients from fertilizers and animal wastes are applied to farmland in quantities that exceed the amount used by the crop or the amount that can be held by the soil. Those excess nutrients can runoff into bodies of surface water or leach through the soil to the groundwater. Effective nutrient management, in terms of application rates and timing, can reduce the potential for such pollution.

BMP Programs

• Nitrogen Management

• Irrigation Management

• Pesticide Management

• Livestock Waste Management

• Windbreak Management

Much of this information is made possible with help from the University of Nebraska Extension and the University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

For more information on all of these practices contact the Lower Elkhorn NRD or your local Extension Educator.