TY - JOUR T1 - Looking for agricultural water quality protection practices: Saturated buffers JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 36A LP - 37A DO - 10.2489/jswc.72.2.36A VL - 72 IS - 2 AU - Jim Gulliford Y1 - 2017/03/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/72/2/36A.abstract N2 - Water quality protection practices have become increasingly important as farmers seek to reduce nutrient loss from their fields into receiving streams, lakes, and rivers. These practices are valuable tools for farmers to meet nutrient reduction goals to protect local, regional, and national water resources. In general, farmers have responded well to developing nutrient management programs to use nutrients efficiently and effectively. In-field nutrient management such as 4R nutrient stewardship has helped farmers increase nutrient efficiency on their farms. However, weather and precipitation uncertainty each year make it impossible to perfectly match nutrient management with crop utilization. In addition, the solubility of nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) makes it impossible to control with in-field management practices alone. For these reasons, edge-of-field practices are being developed to intercept NO3 leaving fields, and saturated buffers are a new and emerging practice to integrate into farm operations to reduce NO3 loss.A saturated buffer is a NO3 reduction, water quality protection practice that intercepts tile drainage before it outlets directly into a stream (or drainage ditch) and diverts a portion of the drainage into a buffer strip that parallels the stream (figure 1). The practice features a control structure or box that directs a portion of theā€¦ ER -