Best Management Practices (BMPs)
are designed to save farmers money while maintaining optimal yields.
The BMP CHALLENGE programs use local university BMP recommendations
along with local crop advisors to ensure that the BMP CHALLENGE programs
meet the needs of the farmer. With BMP and below BMP rates, any
one year can result in less than maximum yields, though net savings
can be positive.
The BMP CHALLENGE programs work to give
farmers an opportunity to test reduced nutrient and tillage
rates on their fields, without worrying about loss to their
income. BMP CHALLENGE can work directly with farmers, through
watershed/conservation districts or through other organizations, to
reduce nutrient and sediment outputs to local waterways and to educate
farmers on BMPs. Currently, these programs can be implemented in
19 states: California, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.
The BMP CHALLENGE is a
collaborative project of Agflex,
Institute of North America, and American
Farmland Trust (AFT). Since 1980, AFT has helped preserve more than a million acres
of working farmland. AFT's Agricultural
Conservation Innovation Center began the BMP risk management
project in 1996 with a broad survey of BMPs, cropping systems and
analyses of economic risk as a barrier to BMP adoption, including
nutrient management and Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
The BMP CHALLENGE is supported
in part by grants from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation
Service, Altria Group, Iowa Department of Economic
Development, McKnight Foundation and the Great Lakes
Read more about the BMP CHALLENGE goals and progress -
USDA NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant Final Report, May 2011: Improving Conservation and Ag Economics with Water Quality Credit Trading and the BMP CHALLENGE
Progress Reports (2006-2009): Improving Conservation and Ag Economics with Water Quality Credit Trading and the BMP CHALLENGE
Progress Reports (2010-2012): BMP CHALLENGE Across the Corn Belt and Rapid Adoption of Conservation Tillage in California Through Improved Technical Assistance and Managing Risk
CHALLENGE is supported in part by the following: