Using edge-of-field monitoring to characterize water quality: A farmer cooperative case study in northern Missouri

Abstract

Edge-of-fieldwater quality monitoring was conducted in cooperation with private landowners through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative, a landscape conservation program first offered through the USDA-NRCS in 2010. The study objective was to quantify effectiveness of individual conservation practice or practice combinations on water quality on corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] watersheds. Water samples from northern Missouri farms were collected and analyzed by runoff event for sediment (total suspended solids [TSS]), N, and P to evaluate the effects of crop production, residue types, and conservation land treatment on runoff. The presence of living vegetation in the winter, whether established as a cover crop or cash crop, significantly reduced the sediment loads (p