Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center
East Lansing, Mich.
A Matter of Balance:
Managing Soil and Crop Nutrient Systems to Protect Water Quality.
Crop nutrients and organic inputs are essential for soil health, crop growth and farm profitability, but cropping systems are complex and rainfall is increasingly unpredictable. Tools for managing nutrients are improving, yet farmers have many questions about how to manage their cropping system to build soil health, and water quality problems associated with sediment and excess nutrients persist.
Research results and on-farm observation has shown that runoff water from rainfall and snowmelt is nutrient-rich. Excessive rainfall carries nutrient-laden sediment from urban landscapes and farm fields, and can quickly enter subsurface drains through natural channels in the soil formed by plant roots, soil fauna, and other natural phenomena.
Conference speakers will include national experts and experienced crop producers who will share experience and insights into how to capture crop nutrients and organic inputs in the root zone for crop use, and to build soil health and keep contaminants from entering waterways.