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Assessing Your Cropland

Why should you be concerned?

Your goal as a producer should be to produce the most profitable crop while protecting or enhancing the land on which it is grown. Achieving this goal will help to ensure the continued use of the land and surrounding resources for future generations. You should be especially concerned about practices that increase soil erosion, reduce soil quality, and increases water runoff. You should also be concerned about the proper rates and timing of fertilizers, manures, and pesticides to meet your crop fields.

What can you do?

The information in this chapter will help you develop practices for your crop fields that will: reduce erosion, reduce water runoff, and improve the quality of your soil. It will help you to balance crop needs with nutrient applications through a nutrient management plan. It will help you to manage your crop pests through a pest management plan. Use this chapter to address questions to which you have answered yes to or do not know in the Assessing Your Cropland section in your "Farm and Home Water Quality Assessment." This chapter will help you develop an Action Plan to establish practices that will protect and enhance the quality of your cropland.

1. Can you see signs of erosion on your fields?

Soil erosion is sometimes difficult to see. Soil erosion occurs when water or wind moves across your fields, picking up soil particles and carrying them away. If you can see differences in soil colors on your fields or if there is evidence of rills or gullies where water has run across your fields, you probably have excess erosion occurring on your fields. If you are unsure of what your erosion rates are on your fields, contact your local NRCS or Conservation District Office to assist you in measuring erosion rates.

2. Is your soil light in color?

Different soils have different colors. Generally, the darker the soil, the more organic matter it has. Organic matter serves to reduce erosion, build soil fertility, improves soil structure, and serves as a buffer for pesticides. Although organic matter takes times to build up in your soil, you can increase organic matter through application of animal manure, cover crops, crop rotations, or incorporating crop residue into the soil. A soil test will show what levels of organic matter are present in your fields.

3. Does your soil crust over after a rain?

Soil crusting may be an indication of poor soil structure. Good soil structure increases the productivity of your soil, increases infiltration, and reduces runoff. This problem is increased on clay soils. Practices that improve soil structure include: conservation tillage operations, crop rotations, and the application of manure to increase organic matter.

4. Has it been longer than three years since you last tested your soil?

A key step in managing your crop fields is to soil test your fields for and nutrient needs (pH, phosphorus, and potassium). You should test your soil at least once every three years and maintain a record of previous soil tests by fields. If you use a more intensive cropping system such as double cropping, you may want to consider testing every year. You may also want to test your water supply for salts and lime.

5. Are crops selected without considering soil capabilities?

Crop selection and management should be based on the capability of your soil. Consider individual soil types when selecting crop species to plant.

6. Has it been longer than one year since you reviewed your nutrient management plan?

Your goal should be to balance crop nutrient needs with fertilizer inputs. The nutrients applied should be based on soil types and crop needs for each crop you plan to produce. The nutrient management plan should address all nutrient inputs such as commercial fertilizer, cover crops and animal manure. Split applications of fertilizer are especially important on sandy soils because nutrients such as nitrogen can leach through the soil, contaminating ground water. Heavier clay soils may lose nutrients to surface runoff.

7. Do you plant the same crop on the same field for more than two years?

Planting a different crop every year is a very important part of your field management. Rotating crops helps to reduce disease, control pests, control erosion, and improve soil conditions.

8. Do you moldboard plow or use more than two tillage passes in one crop year?

Conventional tillage, such as moldboard plowing, increases the potential for soil erosion. Conservation tillage helps to reduce soil erosion and improve soil structure. It also saves energy and reduces production costs.

9. Do you till your fields with the slope of the land?

You can reduce soil erosion by up to 50 percent by farming on the contour instead of farming up and down the slope. Contour farming when combined with conservation tillage and crop rotations can reduce erosion rates by up to 95 percent.

10. Do you depend on a single method of pest control?

A variety of methods can be used for pest control. This may include a combination of the following methods: mechanical (such as cultivating), biological (such as beneficial species), or chemical (such as pesticides). Consider using an integrated pest management (IPM) system on all of your fields. This system involves actively scouting your fields to prevent pest problems from reaching an economic threshold.

11. Are pesticides applied to your fields by a non-licensed applicator?

Certain pesticides can only by legally applied by a licensed pesticide applicator. However, it is a good idea to have all pesticides applied by a licensed pesticide applicator. If you are not a licensed pesticide applicator, contact your local Cooperative Extension Office on how to become one

12. If you apply irrigation water, do you apply water without following a recommended scheduling system?

Application of water through an irrigation scheduling system will reduce costs while reducing contamination risks to both ground water and surface waters.

13. Can surface water runoff from your fields flow directly to adjoining water bodies?

Runoff water can carry nonpoint source pollutants to surface waters such as streams, ponds, lakes, rivers, wetlands, or coastal waters. If your fields border water bodies such as these, you should consider practices to reduce runoff from your fields. These practices should include: filter strips, conservation tillage, crop rotations, and natural buffers.

14. Are cropping decisions made without considering the presence of wildlife?

Most farmers and ranchers want to see wildlife on their farm or ranch. Your conservation plan should include field practices to maintain or enhance habitat development. This could include odd area shrub and tree planting, filter strips, conservation tillage, and crop residue management.

15. Are there any wells on your cropland?

Wells may provide a direct pathway for pollutants such as fertilizers and pesticides to enter your ground water. Any abandoned wells on cropland and other areas of the farm or ranch should be properly sealed. Other wells, such as irrigation wells, should be properly constructed and maintained (see Fact Sheet #1, Accessing the Condition and Location of Your Drinking Water Well).

Worksheet - Nutrient Management Practices
Worksheet - Cropland Pest Management Practices