These nutrients can feed harmful algal blooms associated with these problems. The Midwest part of the joint program is still going strong, changing the landscape of American farming, often far beyond the Corn Belt. EPA's standards for drinking water call for a maximum of 10 ppm. Basically, they center on the burgeoning field of precision agriculture and split applications of nitrogen fertilizer. Schepers serves on a committee promoting solutions like this nationwide.
Farmers traditionally apply nitrogen fertilizer in the fall based on the results of a soil test.
Fertilizer has been cheap enough that farmers would rather overapply it than risk having an anemic corn crop, says Schepers. The Nebraska scientists developed several ways to monitor, including the use of a portable chlorophyll meter to instantly test plants for nitrogen deficiency. Farmers could combine the meter with a special soil test at planting time and another when the corn is 18 inches tall. More Precise MSEA scientists have documented that crop yields and nitrogen needs within a field vary tremendously. So one of their main priorities was to develop equipment that can apply nitrogen at a variable rate.