Agricultural Best Management Practices

Surface and Ground Water Protection

  1. Conservation tillage
  2. Integrated pest management
  3. Irrigation management
  4. Manure management
  5. Proper application of chemicals (nutrient management)
  6. Riparian buffer zones
  7. Soil and water testing
  8. Water and sediment control basin
  9. Well plugging (for decommissioned wells)

Erosion and Sediment Control

  1. Conservation tillage
  2. Contour farming
  3. Cover and green manure crops
  4. Grazing systems
  5. Irrigation Mananagement
  6. Riparian buffer zones
  7. Strip and ally cropping
  8. Terraces
  9. Water and sediment control basin

Livestock

  1. Alternate shade source
  2. Alternate water and supplemental food
  3. Animal mortality facility
  4. Composting
  5. Fencing riparian areas
  6. Grazing systems
  7. Manure management
  8. Riparian bufffer zones

Crops

  1. Composting
  2. Conservation tillage
  3. Contour farming
  4. Cover and green manure crops
  5. Crop rotation
  6. Integrated pest management
  7. Irrigation management
  8. Proper application of chemicals (nutrient management)
  9. Riparian buffer zones
  10. Soil and water testing
  11. Strip and ally cropping
  12. Terraces

Agricultural Bibliography

  • Allan. 2004. Landscapes and riverscapes: the influence of land use on stream ecosystems. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 35: 257-284.
  • Agouridis et al. 2005. Livestock grazing management impacts on stream water quality: a review. 41: 591-606.
  • Dance and Hynes. 1980. Some effects of agricultural land use on stream insect communities. Environmental Pollution Series A 22: 19-28.
  • Moore and Palmer. 2005. Invertebrate biodiversity in agricultural and urban headwater streams: implications for conservation and management. Ecological Applications 15: 1169-1777.
  • Renard et al. 1993. Agricultural impacts in an arid environment. Hydrological Science and Technology 9: 145-150.
  • Zedler. 2003. Wetlands at your service: reducing impacts of agriculture at the watershed scale. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environmnet 1: 65-72.