Fertilizer Management-What do I do with these rankings?

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Fertilizer Storage & Handling
What do I do with these rankings?

Step 1: Begin by determining your overall fertilizer management risk ranking. Total the rankings for the areas you completed and divide by the number of areas you ranked:

__________
Ranking total from previous page

divided by

___________ number of
areas ranked (14 if ranked all)

equals

__________

*Carry your answer out to one decimal place.

Example:
28 ÷11 = 2.25
Use 2.6

Risk Ranking Description

3.6 - 4.0 = low risk	1.6 - 2.5 = moderate to high risk
2.6 - 3.5 = low to moderate risk	1.0 - 1.5 = high risk

This ranking gives you an idea of how your fertilizer management practices as a whole, might be work affecting your drinking water. This ranking should serve only as a very general guide, not a precise diagnosis. Because it represents an averaging of many individual rankings, it can overlook any individual rankings (such as 1's or 2's) that should be of concern. (Step 2 will focus on individually ranked activities of concern.)

Enter your boxed fertilizer management risk ranking in the appropriate place in the table on the front of fact sheet #14. Later you will compare this risk ranking with other farmstead management rankings. Worksheet #13 will help you determine your farmstead's site conditions (soil type, soil depth, and bedrock characteristics), and worksheet #14 will show you how these site conditions affect your risk rankings.

Step 2: Evaluate your rankings for individual activities based on the following.

4's Best: low-risk practices

3's Provide reasonable groundwater protection: low- to moderate-risk practices

2's Possibly inadequate protection: moderate- to high-risk practices

1's Inadequate protection with relatively high groundwater contamination risk: high-risk practices

Regardless of your overall risk ranking, any individual rankings of "1" require immediate attention. You can take care of some of the concerns right away; others could be major or costly projects, requiring planning and prioritizing before you take action.

Find any activities that you identified as 1's and list them under High-Risk Activities fact sheet #10.

Step 3 : Read Fact Sheet #3, Improving Fertilizer Storage and Handling, and give some thought to how you might modify your farmstead practices to better protect your drinking water. Refer to the Reference Organizations for further information and assistance.

University of Arkansas • Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
2301 South University Avenue
Little Rock, Arkansas 72204 • USA
Phone (501) 671-2000 • Fax (501) 671-2209

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Fertilizer Storage & Handling What do I do with these rankings?

Fertilizer Storage & Handling
What do I do with these rankings?