Nutrient Management Use at the Rural–Urban Fringe: Does Demand for Environmental Quality Play a Role?

There are relatively few federal regulations that influence U.S. agricultural production. However, local concerns over environmental quality may influence the management practices on farms. A detailed analysis of corn farms yields insight into this relationship and its implications for the use of cropland best management practices. Our findings suggest that increased contact between working farms and suburban and exurban populations likely increase the use of nutrient management plans, a management-intensive conservation practice. However, nutrient management practices were not found to be associated with waters listed as impaired because of nutrient pollution.     

Cost of Meeting Manure Nutrient Application Standards in Hog Production: The Roles of EQIP and Fertilizer Offsets

The Environmental Protection Agency requires concentrated animal feeding operations to develop and implement a comprehensive nutrient management plan. Changes in manure management to meet nutrient application standards will increase production costs. Some of these costs can be offset by savings from replacing commercial fertilizer with manure nutrients, and through financial assistance programs such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). A manure application cost model was used to examine the costs to confined hog farms of meeting nutrient application standards, and the ability of fertilizer offsets and EQIP to reduce these costs.