PROGRAM INFORMATION

EQIP, WHIP, WRP, CREP, CONTINUOUS CRP and SAFE:  Applications for funding assistance or annual payments can be taken at your local USDA Service Center.  The cutoff date for signing up for 2009 EQIP, WHIP and WRP dollars is Oct. 1, 2008.

NSWCP: Applications for cost-share assistance can be taken any time at your local NRCS office.  Flow meter and non-irrigation applications are reviewed monthly for approval.  Irrigation applications are reviewed in September, December, February and May.  Flow meters cost-shared through NSWCP are required to read in acre-inches and cannot have a resettable totalizer.

NEBRASKA BUFFER STRIP PROGRAM:  Signup is Sept. 15 through Nov. 14, 2008.  For more information, go to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture web site.  Applications can be taken at your local NRCS office or NRD office.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Sept. 18: Improving Crop Water Productivity Conference at North Platte.  Free registration.  Call 308-696-6727 or e-mail llehman@unlnotes.unl.edu.  Link to CropWatch.
Sept. 23: No-till Cover Crop Field Day near Blue Hill. Free registration. For more information, go to No-Till on the Plains.
Oct. 6: CNPPID Board meeting, 9 a.m.
Oct. 14: TBNRD Board meeting, 7:30 p.m.

Harvest Stover: Six Factors to Weigh!

Corn stover is anything but trash.  It's a source of nutrients, cover to protect the soil, a source for fall and winter grazing, etc.  But off-farm interest is growing, such as using stover for roughage to be mixed with wet distillers grain or use in ethanol production.  Here are six factors to weigh before deciding to harvest stover.

1.  Removing residue will violate a carbon sequestration contract.

2.  The amount of residue needed to be retained in order to break even on preserving soil organic carbon depends on crop rotation and tillage.  In a corn-soybean rotation, you need to retain 5.6 tons of stalks per acre if plowing and 3.5 tons per acre in no-tilling.

3.  Crop productivity.  Up to half of the residue can be removed from irrigated fields without destroying the soil.  Dryland fields may need to retain all of the residue to preserve moisture.

4.  Nutrient value.  About half of the nitrogen tied up in corn residue is available for next year's crop.

5.  Highly erodible land.  Removing residue could put the producer in noncompliance with farm programs.

6.  Producer's cost of harvest vs. payments received.

ACROSS THE TRI-BASIN NRD

CNPPID and Tri-Basin NRD Updates

(Subsurface Drip Irrigation, part 2, will be postponed to the next issue)

CNPPID:  At the Sept. 2 board meeting, the directors passed a resolution stating the intention to allocate 6.7 inches of water per acre during the 2009 irrigation season.  Irrigation deliveries will be four two-week runs starting June 23 and ending Aug. 18.  There is a provision in the resolution for delaying the start of deliveries by one week as warranted by crop and weather conditions.  This action is the result of continued low inflows and storage conditions at Lake McConaughy.

TBNRD:  At the Sept. 9 board meeting, the directors voted to designate Union Township (5N-22W) in southern Gosper County as a Phase 3 Groundwater Quantity Management area.  Producers will be allocated 27 inches of water per acre over three years (2009, '10, '11).  the 27 inches can be managed over the three years (example: 8 inches in 2009; 10 inches in 2010; and 9 inches in 2011).  Flow meters will be permanently installed and sealed.  They will be read annually by NRD staff.  Flow meter maintenance is still to be decided by the NRD.

The TBNRD directors also voted to designate Elk Creek Township (5N-23W) in southern Gosper County as a Phase 2 Groundwater Quantity Management area.  Flow meters are required and annual pumping usage must be reported to the NRD.  If groundwater levels in this township do not recover to at or above the 1981-1985 levels using a three-year rolling average, then the directors can designate the township as a Phase 3 area.

Both actions are a result of continued groundwater levels that are below the 1981-1985 average levels.

Stage of Growth:

Corn (Beginning dent (1/4 milk line) to full dent (3/4 milk line) stage):  An early freeze before black layer may halt dry matter accumulation and cause premature black layer.  Freeze-damaged corn could reduce yields by delaying harvest because such corn is slow to dry.

Soybeans (beginning seed (R5) to beginning maturity (R7) stage):  There are some short soybeans at beginning seed in wheat-harvested fields.  A few fields have reached beginning maturity, at which time accumulation of dry weight is basically over.  The plant has reached this point when one pod on the main stem and the seed has lost all of its green color.  The majority of the soybeans fall within the R6 stage.

Irrigation:

Using the atmometers over the last week, corn and soybeans have been using 0.06 to 0.13 inches of water per day.

Lake McConaughy is at 32.6% capacity versus 25.7% a year ago. Inflows to Lake McConaughy are 1,456 cfs compared with 769 cfs a year ago.  Flows in the South Platte River at North Platte are 158 cfs compared with 135 a year ago.  You can track these flows on Central's web site.

Rainfall:
The following rainfall amounts (inches) come from NeRAIN which can be found at NeRAIN.

Nebraska Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN) Crop ET Information
Additional atmometer sites and Weather Station Data can be found on CNPPID's website

Inches of Crop Water Use (ET) = Evaporation x Kc

Crop Coefficients (Kc)

Additional ET Information Sites:

Nebraska Water Management Demonstration Network (NAWMDN) Sites
KRVN radio broadcasts
KRVN.com
Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District
Water Use Hotline: 1-800-993-2507

Check out these web sites:

A pipe hump downstream from a flow meter ensures full pipe flow.  Full pipe flow ensures accurate flow meter readings, which is critical in allocated areas.

"Why are a 'wise man' and a 'wise guy' opposites?" - Anonymous

If you would like to receive this newsletter via e-mail, or have any questions, comments or ideas, feel free to contact Curtis Scheele at the NRCS office in Holdrege or your local NRCS office at the addresses or phone numbers listed below.

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