Questions or comments about the administration or content of the list should also be directed to John Vickery. The objective of this project is to facilitate the adoption of environmental impact assessment in the selection and management of pesticides in row crop production. The approach is to integrate environmental criteria with other, non-environmental decision factors. The environmental focus is ground and surface water protection. The project area for 1998 is the Minnesota River Basin in southern Minnesota, a major corn and soybean producing area.
Herbicides are the primary pesticide inputs.
The ratings are in the form of qualitative categories, representing the relative likelihood that a pesticide will leave the site of application via runoff or move down through the soil below the root zone. These ratings are primarily based on physico-chemical properties. A rule-based protocol is used to adjust the ratings so that the procedure is responsive to the effects of case specific conditions such as the method of pesticide application, the depth to the water table, field slope, and the probability of rainfall. The ratings can be adjusted in each of the three steps of the procedure-pesticide, soil, and interaction. The maximum adjustment is limited to one class in each step.