PROJECT TASKS

Agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs)

Neshanic River watershed has the highest percentage of agricultural lands in Raritan River Basin (Reiser, 2004). Agricultural land use inventory was conducted by the project team with volunteers to understand the details of agricultural uses on agricultural lands. This was accomplished by driving all public roads within the watershed and observing and recording how the fields were used. Built upon the Raritan Watershed Agricultural Committee, the Neshanic Farmer Group was established to evaluate current farming practices and BMPs. The information regarding farming practices includes the crop or grass types, crop rotation, tillage, fertilizer and pesticide application, and harvest methods in the watershed.

Various agricultural BMPs were reviewed and the following were selected to be used in the watershed to achieve the pollutant loads to the Neshanic River: cover crops, conservation buffers, prescribed grazing, livestock access control to the streams, contour farming, integrated crop management, and animal manure management. The costs of implementing those BMPs in the watershed were estimated based on the New Jersey NRCS cost-share rates for those BMPs in the 2010 Agricultural Water Enhancement Program. The reductions in pollutant loads to the streams achieved by those BMPs are estimated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and the reduction rates in NRCS Conservation Practice Physical Effects report and agricultural BMP literature.

    

A Damaged Stream

An Agricultural Field

Combined with publicly available geographic information system data such as Land Use/Land Cover and aerial imagery from public domains such as Google Maps and Microsoft Live Maps, the field level land use information such as types of crops and animals was collected through the land use inventory. Since the watershed was assessed on several occasions, the land use information allowed speculating the crop rotations in fields. Animal types and numbers were also noted in pasture at the time of observation.  Reasonable guess was given to the land uses of fields that were simply not able to see from public roads. Agricultural operations in the crop and hay fields were characterized by 14 different farming systems. The land use conditions and the farming systems were used to establish input files to SWAT to simulate the water quality impact of land uses in the watersheds. For each of agricultural BMPs recommended in the plan, a detail sheet was developed to document its implementation costs and expected water quality effects. Recommendations are also given where those agricultural BMPs should be prioritized for implementation.

Progress and Status :

  • Agricultural land use inventory was conducted in 2007 and 2008.
  • Neshanic Farmer Group was formed. Three meetings with the group were conducted in September 2007, February 2008 and April 2011. The project team also visited individual farmers during the course of the project.  
  • The baseline and alternative farming practices were assessed and completed by July 2009
  • Agricultural BMPs was selected, refined and completed by March 2011

Results and Outcomes

Combined with publicly available geographic information system data such as Land Use/Land Cover and aerial imagery from public domains such as Google Maps and Microsoft Live Maps, the field level land use information such as types of crops and animals was collected through the land use inventory. Since the watershed was assessed on several occasions, the land use information allowed speculating the crop rotations in fields. Animal types and numbers were also noted in pasture at the time of observation.  Reasonable guess was given to the land uses of fields that were simply not able to see from public roads. Agricultural operations in the crop and hay fields were characterized by 14 different farming systems. The land use conditions and the farming systems were used to establish input files to SWAT to simulate the water quality impact of land uses in the watersheds. For each of agricultural BMPs recommended in the plan, a detail sheet was developed to document its implementation costs and expected water quality effects. Recommendations are also given where those agricultural BMPs should be prioritized for implementation.


The Map Sheet Used in Agricultural Land Use Inventory

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