Blue Water Farms: Edge of Field Monitoring Kentucky Soils

Twenty-two Voluntary EoF water quality monitoring stations have been established in western Kentucky. These agricultural watershed monitoring stations will enable agricultural producers and scientists to quantitatively demonstrate the impacts of conservation work on water quality. Through EoF monitoring, NRCS works with producers and conservation partners, such as universities, agencies, and non-governmental organizations, to measure amounts of nutrients and sediment in water runoff from a field, and compare the improvements under different conservation systems. The objective of this project is to maintain, operate and manage the established network of edge-of-field (EoF) water quality monitoring demonstration sites in Kentucky, collectively known as Blue Water Farms. This work will include established partnerships with the USDA NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) eligible producers and the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board who have invested in this decade long demonstration project to quantify and highlight the benefits of row crop production Best Management Practices (BMPs) on water quality and to quantify economic gains associated with established BMPs.