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MO NRCS: Edge-of-Field water quality sign-up

A specialist with the Missouri Natural Resources Conservation Service says they have found that cover crops are good at helping reduce runoff by almost a third, “If you think of all the fields where nutrients and sediment are coming off into our water bodies, if we can reduce that by 30% that’s quite significant.”

Lauren Cartwright says Missouri has 19 stations monitoring nutrient and sediment runoff from farms and there’s money from the NRCS to expand the voluntary program through the EQIP program, “We’re going to capture water as it leaves the farm and do some testing on it and see what’s in that water as it leaves the farm. And, then compare that to water that’s leaving the farm after maybe you install a conservation practice and what change that is in the water quality.”

Carwright says it’s a nine year commitment, “But it does allow us the time to do the data collection to give us, hopefully, some kind of significant result.”

Missouri farmers can apply for the water quality stations through July 14th. The program is also available in Arkansas, Kentucky, New York and Washington.

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has $2-Million dollars for the pilot program.