Healthy soils and clean water lead to viable Indiana farms

BY BEN WICKER, Executive Director
Indiana Agriculture Nutrient Alliance

The Indiana Agriculture Nutrient Alliance (IANA) is dedicated to keeping Indiana at the forefront of proactive nutrient management and soil health practices that improve farm viability and, ultimately, reduce nutrient loss to water. Fourteen partner organizations, including the Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council, have come together to achieve these common goals.

In this article, I want to highlight a few of the resources we have been developing to move these efforts forward.

When it comes to recommending specific practices for reducing nutrient losses on our farms, we have quite a bit of confidence knowing which practices can help and which may hurt, but being able to quantify those water quality improvements can be more of a challenge. This concern led to the development of the Indiana Science Assessment.

This effort pulls together researchers and experts from across the state to determine and agree upon nutrient loss reduction values for commonly used practices using relevant regional data and expert judgment. This information will allow farmers, agronomists and conservationists the opportunity to better assess the relative impact of different practices like cover crops, tillage practices, nutrient timing and placing, drainage water management, and more, and make decisions on what practice options might fit best to meet collective goals on individual farms.

Learn more about the Indiana Science Assessment at www.in.gov/isda/divisions/soil-conservation/ indiana-state-nutrient-reduction-strategy/indiana-science-assessment.

Indiana 4R certification

To the outside world, how fertilizers and manure are managed on the farm is sometimes viewed as a bit of a black box. Unlike tillage practices or cover crops, there is no simple, tangible way to track or measure how nutrients are being used without creating systems of farm level reporting or auditing – not necessarily popular or practical options.

Many farmers utilize trusted advisors, crop consultants or ag retailers to assist them in planning fertilizer management decisions and applications. Out of this, IANA worked with the Agribusiness Council of Indiana to develop the Indiana 4R Nutrient Management Certification Program. 4R Certification is designed for Nutrient Service Providers who sell and service farmers fertilizers to participate in a voluntary review or audit of their fertilizer training, education, application, and documentation to ensure that they are following and recommending best management practices.

The 4R guidelines make certain that the Right Source, Right Rate, Right Time and Right Place are being considered for fertilizer and manure use. This confidential third party audit at the ag retail or consultant level is a way to document those best practices and certify those acres being managed for 4R in a way that does not have to require on-farm certifications.

Learn more about Indiana 4R Certification, go online to www. inagribiz.org/indiana-4r-certification and ask your ag retailer or crop consultant to consider becoming certified.

Want to learn more? Visit www. keepitmidwest.com for more information about IANA and its goals, as well as information about best practices, programs and other opportunities to get involved in ensuring Indiana’s Healthy Soils, Clean Water and Viable Farms.