Chester, MD (January 24, 2024) – The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association is offering cost-share enhanced nutrient management practices. Cost-share of $20 per acre is available for testing biofertilizer products or adding an additional split of nitrogen. Agribusinesses are eligible to receive $500 per farmer for providing technical assistance to the farmer and delivering data for economic analysis.
We ask that farms be located within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and comply with core nutrient management requirements. Farms must enroll a minimum of 40 acres. For more eligibility information please visit our website at 4rMidAtlantic.com/cost-share.
For the biofertilizer cost-share, farmers will be asked to complete three different nutrient prescriptions on their corn crop. Eligible biofertilizers are those that claim to supplant nitrogen sources and make recommendations to reduce overall nitrogen application rate. The first strip will include the farmer’s typical nutrient management program without a biofertilizer, the second strip will include their typical nutrient management program with a biofertilizer, and the remainder of the field will include a reduction in nitrogen rate with the biofertilizer. Farmers are able to purchase and test the product they wish to trial.
For the split nitrogen cost-share, farmers will be asked to add an additional split of nitrogen to a portion of their 2024 corn crop, with the same total pounds of nitrogen across the field. This split can be performed at any point in the growing season as long as it is a new practice on the field.
The 4R Alliance will be collecting data from both trials to evaluate corn yield and nutrient use efficiency. The data will be aggregated with no identifying information or location shared publicly. Funding for the cost-share is being provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
For more information contact Jenell Eck McHenry at jenell.mdag@gmail.com or at 443-262-6969.
Queenstown, Maryland (October 20, 2023) – The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association is honored to administer 30 vouchers to Certified Crop Advisers (CCAs) who partner with farmers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The voucher is good for $1,000 of technical support from a CCA to provide data management, coaching, and advanced nutrient management plan development until July 2024. Funding for the vouchers is provided by the Campbell Foundation.
The Mid-Atlantic 4R team has found that one barrier to growing 4R farming practices in the watershed is data management. The voucher program proposes to provide technical assistance directly to providers to help farms understand the language and data used to identify and implement precision agricultural practices and enable them to make more informed nutrient management decisions on their farms.
A pilot voucher program was performed in 2021 for farmers in Harford County, Maryland. “I saw an opportunity to engage with more farmers, maybe with other farmers that I hadn’t been able to really engage on the next level of nutrient management technology,” said Agribusiness partner in 2021. “And I’d stress that implementation is not a requirement. We can do the work to set it all up, but you don’t have to do everything we suggest. But showing them some of the success we’ve had with some of the different tools, I think really started opening some farmer’s eyes. It takes some of that risk away.”
The vouchers will be limited to five per agribusiness until December 31, 2023. On January 1st, any remaining vouchers will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. If you are interested in the voucher program, complete this online form for our team to contact you, or contact Jenell directly. Jenell McHenry can be emailed at jenell.mdag@gmail.com or called at 443-262-6969.
More information and protocol about the program can be found online here.
Elkton, Maryland (September 29, 2023) – The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association held it’s first-ever 4R Symposium on August 31st at Cecil Community College in partnership with the Delaware Maryland 4R Alliance and Pennsylvania 4R Alliances. The symposium featured four great presentations showcasing fertilizer efficiency and 4R research (Right Source, Rate, Time, and Placement of fertilizer applications).
Dr. Tom Bruulsema, Chief Scientists with Plant Nutrition Canada drove 10 hours to join the first-ever 4R Symposium to present on “Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Responsible Plant Nutrition.” Responsible plant nutrition includes five aims and six actions. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is one of a number of sustainability indicators. NUE can be impacted by conservation practices and crop management. Farmers most typically recognize the partial factor productivity (PFP) from which is yield divided by fertilizer. The typical value of PFP in corn is 40 to 80 lbs/lb. It has been proven that when you improve NUE, you are applying less Nitrogen, so the upstream cost is reduced and impact of potential loss is reduced. Check off Dr. Bruulsema’s full presentation online here.
Eric Rosenbaum, Co-Executive Director of Pennsylvania 4R Alliance presented Split Nitrogen Results from 2021 and 2022, funded by the Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association with Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Funds awarded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction grants. Farmers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed added a split of nitrogen to their management practices using cost-share. In theory the same total pounds of nitrogen were applied across each field, but a control strip was implemented and one additional application was made to the majority of the field. In 2021, through 26 farms and 3,595 acres Pennsylvania averaged 17.6 bu/A yield increase which equated to a $88 per acre return on investment, while Maryland averaged a 19.2 bu/A yield increase which equated to $96 per acre return on investment. In 2022, there were 21 farms with 4,213 acres enrolled. Pennsylvania saw a 13 bu/A increase and Delaware/Maryland saw a 4.3 bu/A increase. With two years of on-farm trials, we have seen a revenue increase with a decrease in fertilizer cost, increase in nitrogen use efficiency and phosphorus removal. This cost-share was available in 2023 and results were forthcoming. There is funding available for the 2024 corn crop season if you are interested please contact our team. In depth information can be found online here.
Dr. Nicole Fiorellino, the Assistant Professor and Extension Agronomist for the University of Maryland covered “Utilizing On-Farm Trials to Evaluate 4R Practices and Beyond.” An on-farm trial is any kind of research that is executed on a private farm or in partnership with a farmer. This differs from a research education center by having farmer involvement, utilizing farmer equipment creating commercial sized plots and requiring fewer treatments. In theory this allows for more variability, timing challenges, as well as a greater likelihood of lost data; however, this can also provide more realistic data for farmers. For 2023, the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board funded an on-farm trials coordinator jump-start the Maryland on-farm trials program. The goal is to gather data across Maryland’s geographical region, produce data more rapidly to answer producer questions, and test claims of commercially-available products. Another value to these trials is to allow farmers first hand to see results and possibly make management decisions changes. In relation to 4R practices, farmers are able to be involved or network with farmers involved as most research generally supports the benefits of 4R practices. Learn more about University of Maryland’s on-farm trials work here. The full presentation is available here.
To wrap-up the day. Dr. Leanna Nigon, Director of Agronomy and Research with The Fertilizer Institute joined us to talk about “Integrated Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers into 4R Practices.” The goal of 4R Nutrient Stewardship is to improve the environmental, economic, and social outcomes, which ties into Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers (EEFs). EEFs are fertilizer sources that are targeted at making nutrients available at the right time, when the crop needs them. They are used to slow or control the release of Nitrogen from day to weeks or months or used to slow down the conversion to nitrate from days to weeks. The benefits include reducing nitrogen loss, improving nitrogen use efficiency, regulating the nitrogen supply in the soil, improving crop health, while increasing production, profitability, and being environmentally sound. You can view the full PowerPoint presentation online here.
Thank you to all those who came for the first-ever symposium and to all of our sponsors. The 4R partnership was honored to have high quality presentations in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed as we continue to ensure that every nutrient application is consistent with the 4Rs – the right source, applied at the right rate, at the right time, in the right place. All with the focus on increasing implementation to benefit the economic, environmental, and social well-being of our region and our farmers.
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Thank you to our 2023 Symposium Sponsors!
Decision Ag Solutions
Growmark FS
Harry R. Hughes Center for Agro-Ecology
Horizon Farm Credit
Keith Campbell Foundaton
King Crop Insurance
MARBIDCO
Maryland Department of Agriculture
Nagel Crop Insurance
Pivot Bio
Timac Agro
Windsor Group LLC
Major Funding Provided By:
Corteva Agriscience
Environmental Tillage Systems
Mosaic
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation – Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund
Queenstown, MD (August 7, 2023) – As regional affiliates of the Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association, the Delaware Maryland 4R Alliance and Pennsylvania 4R Alliance will be co-hosting the first-ever 4R Symposium. Join our teams for free on August 31st at Cecil College in North East, MD for 4R farming presentations.
Invited Presenters and Topics:
Dr. Tom Bruulsema with Plant Nutrition Canada – Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Responsible Plant Nutrition
Eric Rosenbaum with Rosetree Consulting – Splitting your Nitrogen Fertilizer – what the yield results tell us
Peyton Harper with The Fertilizer Institute – 4R Program Offerings and Resources
Dr. Nicole Fiorellino with the University of Maryland – On-Farm Trials
Dr. Leanna Nigon with The Fertilizer Institute – Realizing Economic and Environmental Outcomes with the 4Rs
Save your seat and reserve a free lunch by RSVPing online here. Nutrient Management and Certified Crop Adviser credits will be available for Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.
The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association works to provide education to farmers on the economic and environmental benefits of implementing 4R nutrient stewardship practices while communicating to non-agricultural audiences by documenting on farm 4R successes and environmental outcomes.
If you are interested in sponsoring our event, please contact our team at thompsonagconsulting@gmail.com for a sponsorship packet to see all that we have to offer.
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The Delaware Maryland 4R Alliance is a collaboration between agribusinesses, farmers, government agencies, conservation groups, and scientists working to ensure that every nutrient application on Delaware and Maryland farms is consistent with the 4Rs. Learn more about DEMD 4R’s work here.
The Pennsylvania 4R Alliance collectively works with farmers to deliver science-based systems that improve crop productivity through increased nutrient use efficiency and reduce losses of nutrients to the environment. Learn more about PA 4R’s work here.
