Author: Jenell Eck

2024 4R Symposium Set for September 12th

Posted on by Jenell Eck | Posted in EventsTagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Chester, Maryland (August 8, 2024) – The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association will continue an annual 4R Symposium for crop advisers, agronomists, nutrient management professionals, and agribusiness representatives. This year’s event will take place on Thursday, September 12th at the Maryland Department of Agriculture in Annapolis, MD. The event is free for attendees but, registration is required. You can register online here. 

Doors will open at 9:30 AM with our first speaker at 10:00 AM. There will be four research presentations and a farmer panel. Lunch will be available to all attendees. Participants will hear about research on biologicals, nutrient recommendations for high management wheat, and the new FRST tool. The farmer panel will include Steve Ernst from Washington County, Trey Hill from Kent County, RC Willin from Sussex County, and one more pending farmer from Pennsylvania.

The 4R team will be offering Nutrient Management credits for DE, MD, VA, and PA and Certified Crop Adviser credits for their event.  These are currently pending but will be posted on our 4R website once available under the Upcoming Events tab.

“Last year’s first-ever symposium drew a great audience of those providing nutrient recommendations to farmers. We are pleased to continue this event to keep farmer’s trusted advisors up to date on the latest research,” said Lindsay Thompson, Chair of the DE-MD 4R Alliance.

The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association is a non-profit organization whose members include the Delaware-Maryland 4R Alliance and the Pennsylvania 4R Alliance. We provide information and outreach to farmers, ag service providers, and others about the benefits of 4R nutrient stewardship, as well as practical guidance on how to implement new management strategies. Learn more about our work on 4rmidatlantic.org. 

Covering Cover Crop, Nitrogen, and Markets – Listen During the 4R Summer Webinar

Posted on by Jenell Eck | Posted in EventsTagged , , , ,

Chester, Maryland (July 2, 2024) – The Delaware Maryland 4R Alliance is hosting a summer 4R webinar. Join us on July 15th at 8:30 AM for a wonderful line-up. Registration is free and available here.

The morning webinar will provide Nutrient Management, Conservation Planner, and Certified Crop Adviser credits for all attendees. The credits are currently pending and will be posted on our website once finalized.

The 4R Alliance is excited to welcome Melissa Stefun, a graduate student member of the soil quality laboratory at the University of Maryland for a presentation on N fall application on cover crops. Then Sapana Pokhrel, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Delaware, will be talking about the potential of PSNT in corn nitrogen management in long-term cover cropping systems. Lastly, Brooks York with AgriSompo will talk about market conditions, crop insurance, and future treds the industry might see.

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 – the right nutrient source, applied at the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place. The alliance is focused on increasing implementation of 4R practices to benefit the economic, environmental, and social well-being of our region and our farmers. Learn more about the 4R alliance at 4RMidAtlantic.com.

Register today online at https://bit.ly/4RSummerWebinar24.

Cost-Share to Test Products Available

Posted on by Jenell Eck | Posted in Funding

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.

Mid-Atlantic 4R Voucher Program

Posted on by Jenell Eck | Posted in Funding

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.