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Nutrient Management for Sustainable Soil Productivity

Plan Goal

Increase soil quality and crop productivity by applying research-based management of organic and synthetic fertilizers as well as cropping systems while minimizing or eliminating environmental contamination risks.

Situation Statement

All of New Mexico agriculture relies on the addition of nutrients or the careful attention to processes that control soil quality for the sustained release of nutrients for crop production. New Mexico shipped in nearly 183,000 tons of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium materials in 2004. New Mexico is also one of the ten major dairy-producing states. New Mexico dairies generated nutrient rich effluent water and nearly 1.2 million tons of manure containing nutrients for plant use. The New Mexico Environment Department regulates land application of nitrogen from dairies with statutory authority to limit total-N application to 125 percent of what is reasonably expected to be removed by a managed crop. Utilizing dairy wastes as soil amendments on cropland may improve soil quality and increase yields if salinity is controlled or managed effectively. The correct application rate can be estimated with careful attention to crop demand, soil sampling, estimating mineralization potential, accounting for salinity, and assessing the need for additional fertilizers. Failure to account for nutrients can lead to the net movement of mobile nutrients past the crop root zone and eventually into groundwater supplies. This can happen on the farm-scale level but also in urban settings with the addition of purchased organic amendments. Non-mobile nutrients such as phosphorus also become an environmental concern if soil test levels build to high concentrations and are subject to movement to waterways through erosion. Nutrient management is inextricably tied to water management in New Mexico since almost all of the state is irrigated. Soil testing along with an accounting of inputs (water, seed, amendments) and outputs (crops, livestock, soil losses) together with sound agronomic practices can give New Mexicans a better chance of controlling purchased fertilizers and amendments while optimizing their return on investment.

Target Audience and Actions

The target audience is composed of traditional and organic farmers, home owners, dairy producers, extension agents, Natural Resources and Conservation Service employees, New Mexico Environment Department personnel, and private consultants. Information will be distributed through soil test interpretations, extension publications, published scientific studies, workshops, presentations and one-on-one communciation or active demonstrations to interested clientele. Assessment of soil test data will be the primary method of making recommendations to clientele. Nutrient management recommendations will be incorporated into Extension publications, proceedings, and computer software.

Short-Term Objectives

30 percent of clientele submitting soil for nutrient analysis will report a change in nutrient application strategy.

70 percent of personnel participating in nutrient management workshops will pass a comprehensive exam regarding soil fertility and plant nutrition.

Organic producers will demonstrate an increase in awareness regarding soil quality issues that govern long-term soil fertility when surveyed after workshops.

Nutrient management workshop participants will gain an appreciation for where and when crops need nutrients and how irrigation and soil management practices affect their availability.

Medium-Term Objectives

25 percent of clientele using soil test based manure and effluent water application methodology will meet New Mexico Environment Department regulations and/or policy within five years.

New Mexico plant nutrient recommendations will be improved for incorporation into appropriate software or other publications to be used by consultants, extension agronomists, horticulturalists, and USDA-NRCS personnel.

Long-Term Objectives

Ten percent of clientele will resubmit soil samples for analysis within a five year period.

Soil testing will be a routine practice for 20 percent of those using organic amendments as a primary nutrient source.

Irrigation water management will be demonstrated as a tool to improve nitrogen recovery for plant production and minimize leaching.

Evaluation Plan

Short term goals will be realized through testing after workshops.

Follow-up questions after soil test interpretations have been made will be administered to assess changes in behavior regarding fertilization.

Record keeping for database development will allow for the assessment of soil testing as a tool in nutrient management.

Demonstration projects will document long-term objectives for controlling nitrate movement in a soil and for nitrogen recovery in a growing crop.

Workshop participants will be given evaluations to assess knowledge gained and effectiveness of teaching methods.