Landon Baumgartner 0:00
Here to talk about the 590 standard going into the 2026 cropping year and a little bit beyond. We have Daniel Smith, the Nutrient and Pest Management Program Manager at UW Madison Division of Extension. And then we also have Sara Walling, the water and agriculture program director at Clean Wisconsin, which is a statewide group focused at least in part, on advocating for clean water throughout the state. And I wanted to kind of pick both your brains on a few things regarding the 590 standard, since you both have extensive experience in the process of not only having that standard be implemented on the ground, but the process of developing it and making it what it is here in the state. So Wisconsin has had a relatively organized structure for conducting nutrient management planning in Wisconsin since the early 90s, undergoing occasional revision and retooling along the way. What do you think nutrient management in 2026 and beyond looks like for Wisconsin farmers? We know our past, we can revisit that literature. We can revisit our own history. But you know, the future may look a little bit different. So what do you think that looks like? And that can start with either of you.

Sara Walling 1:11
Well, I think our nutrient management standard in the state and expectations for our farmers will always center around using the best science to inform our crop management practices and what we try to incorporate into the requirements of our state’s 590 nutriment management standard, because it has so many implications, certainly for a farm’s profitability, but also for the environmental footprint of our agricultural industry in the state.

Dan Smith 1:38
Yeah, absolutely so when we think about nutrient management planning, essentially, we’re tasking farmers with combining their on farm nutrients, in most cases, and especially in our dairy systems, where we have a lot of manure, a lot of legume credits, and then looking at our off farm inputs that we’re purchasing and getting to a really efficient level, that’s going to help the farm remain profitable and become, hopefully more profitable into the future, but also Reduce that farm’s environmental impact, hopefully as well, the more that we look to refine these standards, the more we’re looking at how farms are improving and adopting new strategies like cover cropping, more advanced nutrient management practices in general, like manure application techniques and moving that into, as you said, beyond 2026 hopefully farmers will find some really cool, innovative ways to continue improving too through this,

Sara Walling 2:23
I’d add to that that I think that, you know, nutrient management, it’s been around for quite a while now, or, you know, 20 plus years of really focused nutrient management efforts in the state. And through that time frame, you know, we’ve seen a lot of shift in the ag industry and farmers have really come a long way in embracing nutrient management and its principles in their day to day decisions and operations and so that, I think, is really telling for what 2026 and beyond will look like. Because I think that that motivation to, you know, really understand the crop management systems that they are implementing is going to continue to grow with this next generation of farmers coming into our state’s ag operations.

Landon Baumgartner 3:07
So Dan, you talked about, you know, the technologies and the management practices that have come a long way since this first started. Sara, you talked about, sort of the embrace of the concept on a more kind of social scale, what is one or two things that we can bank on sticking around from our history with this as is, and what general practices or nutrient concerns do you foresee gaining greater attention, requiring more or maybe even different work from Wisconsin? In regards to this, you know, one or one or two things that are going to stay the same and one or two that may actually be something to watch.

Dan Smith 3:44
Well, in Wisconsin, we’re really lucky to have snapplus, the nutrient management planning tool from the university, and that tool allows planners, agronomists, farmers, to look at this across their farm and make the best agronomic management decisions they can. I think that that is just going to continue to improve, and I realize that’s going to be the point of some of these other episodes that you’re going to have the specialist on from from those folks too. But I think there’s a lot that we can look at as far as using that tool to play around with different scenarios on the landscape, to say, Hey, maybe I want to plant a cover crop after my corn grain. How many tons of soil Am I possibly losing? What’s my phosphorus index? But also it allows us to play around with crop rotations, to say, well, maybe on this piece of land, I want to plant wheat instead of corn grain. Then I have a wider window to apply manure. I also could plant a cover crop after that, with a diverse mix.

Sara Walling 4:34
I would say that I think, you know, nutrient management and the focus has been for the last couple of decades, at least, especially on minimizing phosphorus losses to surface waters. And while that’s been, you know, really important and a necessary component of nutrient management, I think that, you know, that’s that’s trying to address that kind of the visible impact of nutrient runoff to water systems. And I think there’s going to be greater focus on also taking a look at the invisible potential for contamination, which is nitrogen, because so many of our practices that we’ve really been working to incorporate into our crop management systems to date have again been trying to deal with that surface runoff, surface nutrient loss component. And I think more and more focus is going to be put on farmers to also get a handle on nitrogen losses and leaching because of the implications for groundwater systems and rural public health.

Landon Baumgartner 5:33
So Wisconsin’s a big ag state. Obviously, we are surrounded by a lot of other big ag states. So as far as Wisconsin goes, what are we doing really well when you place us next to other peer, ag states, I always like to, you know, judge performance of, you know, of sort of a public, you know, service, or sort of a public investment practice, as compared to what So, I guess, what are we doing really well when you compare us to our neighbors or fellow ag states?

Sara Walling 6:05
Well, I’ve had the opportunity to work on agricultural policy issues and nutrient management in particular across all the great lake states and a couple of the roles that I’ve had in my career. And so being able to compare what we’re doing here in Wisconsin and what our farmers are willing to take on compared to other states like Michigan and Ohio, has been really enlightening for me. And to that end, I think what we do really well, and our farmers need credit for, is they’ve really been willing to talk to each other over the last several years. I think the expansion of the producer led watershed protection grant program is a great example of that, and being willing to kind of socialize ideas and become more accepting of alternative practices through mechanisms like that have really kind of pushed us over the top and allowed some of those alternative practices to get socialized to the point that other people wanted to give it a try and really reduces that risk for those farms. So I’d say that’s one of the components. The other thing is, you know, as Dan had mentioned, is we have SnapPlus, that’s a tool that no other state in our region can lean on to be able to ensure that they’re all all agencies, all farms of all types and sizes are all on the same page when it comes to what’s required in a nutrient management plan, and having the ability to figure out whether or not you are complying with erosion rates or your phosphorus index, getting a chance to be able to play with crop management and crop rotations to maximize your environmental risk reductions, and, you know, really try to deal with some of the sensitive issues that each farm uniquely has.

Landon Baumgartner 7:47
I’ve talked to some other extension agents who have visited other states, and they use the word amazed when they show their colleagues in other states SnapPlus, because they’ve never, like heard of it or seen anything like it before.

Sara Walling 8:01
Well, you also see because of that, I think all of the agencies and the you know, academic institutions like UW all really being able to work together on this common approach too. And I think that really has that SnapPlus is a is really invaluable in that whole relationship of how our agencies are able to work with each other on regulatory and incentive based programs to try to accelerate adoption of best management practices through nutrient management planning.

Landon Baumgartner 8:33
Dan, you’ve also been around other states, around the Midwest and neighboring states, visiting and talking with people and working in your in your history. What do you think Wisconsin is doing really well when you place us next to our peer ag states.

Dan Smith 8:44
yeah, I’m gonna 100% agree with Sara and the education component the farmers share with each other through the producer led watershed groups, through the demo farm networks, getting together, and that peer to peer learning seems invaluable. I don’t think a lot of other farmers in other states necessarily have those same opportunities. Think they all want to have those opportunities, but they just don’t have those easy, facilitated, producer led groups who are on those watersheds to do that.

Landon Baumgartner 9:08
Yeah, even going back to some of the stories that I’ve heard when I talk with farmers who implemented their conservation practices that they still tout to this day, a decade, two decades, three decades ago, that there’s always some component in there about either their hesitation to do it because of that social acceptability aspect of it, you know, I like that word, you know, that you used earlier, Sara, when you kind of it all hinges on something becoming either something that at least one person is able to take on, and then it sort of becomes socially acceptable for others, too. In general, that seems to be a, you know, this barrier that once it’s broken through, it can really, like start to have a domino effect in some really good ways. So, well, thank you Dan and Sara for joining us on this episode of field notes today. We hope to have you back for maybe some future ones on nutrient management and other topics too. Thank you both. Thank you. Thanks, Landon.

Will Fulwider 10:06
Thanks for listening. This has been field notes from UW Madison extension. My name is Will Fulwider regional crops, educator for Dane and Dodge counties. A big thank you to Joe Ryan for creating our theme music and to Abby Wilkimacky for our logo. If you have any questions about anything you’ve heard today or about your farming practices in general, reach out to the extension agriculture educators serving your region.