NEBRASKA CITY - Alexa Davis of the Nebraska Department of Natural Resources outlined Nebraska’s new nitrate reduction incentive at the News Channel Nebraska newsroom.

She said the state Legislature passed the Nitrate Reduction Incentive Act earlier this year.

Davis: “It’s essentially paying producers an incentive payment to reduce their nitrogen applications to their field by 40 pounds or by 15 percent, whichever is lesser.”

The inventive funds go through NRDs based on priorities, such as wellhead protection.

Davis: “So the NRDs are more like the boots on the ground with this program. The producers will sign up through their NRDs, they’ll apply to be in this program and the producers will work the NRDs to figure out the best way to reduce their nitrogen. We left is pretty open that producers can pick what they want to do. They can use a nutrient management tool, a biological or just don’t apply 40 pounds.”

 

 

Producers have until Jan. 15 to fill out a one-page application with the NRD or at the Department of Natural Resources website. Davis said each NRD is taking an individual approach to prioritizing applications.

Davis: “Some NRDs are doing first-come, first serve, others are prioritizing certain areas that have those high water quality issues so if a producer is in there they are more likely to get funding, but it kinds of depends on the NRD. That’s why the producer needs to work with the NRD.”

The program will provide an annual incentive of $10 per acre for farmers who incorporate innovative technology into farming practices that protect water resources.

Davis: “Well it’s important for this program to be successful because it’s new. I mean we’ve never had any kind of program like this in the state that I’m aware of and also, you know water quality has been a concern for Nebraska, but it takes a while for our management actions to impact the groundwater, whether it’s quality or quantity. It’s really important to be a steward of the environment and to make those changes now and for the future generations of Nebraska.”

At the Legislature’s Agriculture Committee in February the program was described a short-term model that puts farmers in the driver’s seat on sustainable technologies.

Davis: “In general I think we do a really good job managing our natural resources. We’re proud Nebraskans and we love that we can have this like flux of groundwater, but sometimes we just need to do a little bit more and this program is an incentive payment to mitigate that risk of trying something new.”

LB1368 was introduced by State Sen. Teresa Ibach, who told the Nebraska Examiner that nitrogen fertilizer is often over applied and leaches into groundwater and streams.