Agricultural best management practices for Conesus Lake: The role of extension and soil/water conservation districts

Small sub-watersheds of the Conesus Lake catchment were the site of a project evaluating the ability of agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) to maintain soil and nutrients on the landscape and to reduce the impact of agriculture on downstream aquatic systems. Local agricultural agencies, with participation of local farmers, joined with scientists to focus attention on watershed issues, to develop and foster a sense of stewardship among the farming community, and to assist and coordinate collaboration among academic researchers, governing bodies, and the agricultural community. Cornell Cooperative Extension served as a liaison and as a resource and assisted in the development and implementation of voluntary BMPs in selected sub-watersheds of Conesus Lake. We discuss our approach to working with producers, the selection of watersheds for management, and our decision-making process for implementation of BMPs. Decisions to establish traditional structural and nonstructural management practices on sub-watersheds of Conesus Lake were based on field assessments, soil testing, the Phosphorus Index, and the software package Cornell Cropware. For example, the use of soil testing and the Cornell Cropware software allowed the cooperating farms to apply fertilizer only as needed for optimum crop production. Farmers achieved cost savings because previous plans had not given enough credit to soil reserves, manure, and sod crop nutrients. Low-cost voluntary practices based on well-established agricultural management practices have been combined with cost-shared (structural) practices in Conesus Lake watersheds to mitigate the impact of agricultural runoff on water quality and to improve cost efficiency of agricultural operations.