Best Management Practices
Ross Orner showing off his no-till corn field. PHOTO: Brendan McLaughlin, Nitrogen News
In the case of Pennsylvania's producers, BMPs range from the core conservation practices (no-till, buffers, cover crops and nutrient management plans) to more sophisticated versions of these four or coupling of multiple technologies - like is the case with some of the regional treatment systems that bundle digesters with energy production and even wastewater treatment. For many of the Commonwealth's producers, implementation of BMPs has been a part of their farm management scheme for years if not decades. For other operations, there is still much room for improvement and innovation in getting practices on the ground.
The chief goal of this website area is to ensure that producers - and the conservation practitioners who are working with them - have access to the research and findings of Penn State- and collaborating scientists who seek to develop and improve BMPs.
The resources listed in this section include journal articles, reports, websites, webinars and other links to guide the viewer in finding resources on nutrient- and sediment- based BMPs for different segments of the industry.
Pennsylvania has developed a premier and nationally recognized inter-agency program team and website for ensuring the best available training and resources for the state's nutrient management professionals.
A YouTube video by WPSU.
Dr. Paul Patterson and his colleagues with the Penn State Poultry Extension Nutrient Management are revolutionizing win-win scenarios in collaboration with poultry producers and agribusiness by cultivating systems that utilize locally grown feedstock (willows and miscanthus) that provide multiple environmental and economic benefits as vegetative shelters, odor and emission barriers, feedstock for energy systems, and litter materials for growing poultry.
