ABSTRACT:
Farm management and financial impacts of three phosphorus (P) nutrient management strategies outlined in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (1999) Unified Strategy for Animal Feeding Operations—soil test crop response (STCR), environmental soil P threshold (ESPT), and P Index (PI)—were evaluated on ten Pennsylvania farms. For each farm, a nutrient management plan (NMP) writer and project economist developed one nitrogen-based and three P-based NMPs and associated partial budgets. Greater management and financial restrictions occurred on high animal density (> 2 animal equivalent units ac−1) and multiple production enterprise farms. Although NMPs for the PI were more expensive to develop, writers and farmers found it the most flexible and practical strategy. Variable P-based NMP impacts indicated the need for a strategy such as the PI that accounted for multiple farm management factors. First-year total NMP implementation costs (across all ten farms) were $61,690 for the STCR, $47,862 for the ESPT, and $45,380 for the PI.
Footnotes
Jennifer L. Weld is a soil scientist, Andrew N. Sharpley is a soil scientist, and William J. Gburek is a hydrologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Pasture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit (PSWMRU) in University Park, Pennsylvania; Robert L. Parsons is an extension assistant professor in the Department of Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont; Douglas B. Beegle is a professor of agronomy in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania; and William R. Clouser is Western Regional Nutrient Management Program Coordinator with the State Conservation Commission in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
- Copyright 2002 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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