The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA) Fertilizer Research and Education Program and the Western Plant Health Association recently held their annual Nutrient Management Conference where attendees heard two days of discussions on research as well as practical applications of best management practices. CDFA Secretary Karen Ross highlighted some of the progress made in improving overall nutrient management in California.
“Nutrient management is one of the core functions that happen on the farm every day because it’s such an expensive input and it’s one that everyone wants to use most efficiently,” said Ross. “But there’s a lot of things we’ve learned over the years on how to improve that best use of this particular product.”
In recent years the idea of nutrient management has been become even more important with increasing regulations related to nitrate levels in groundwater. Cooperation between water agencies and CDFA has helped to provide better education and outreach for the development of balance sheets for nutrient management.
“Now we have over a thousand crop care advisors that are certified to be able to do this kind of nutrient education and management,” Ross noted. “So, we’ve got a great infrastructure out there, that really supplements what Cooperative Extension has done historically.”
Listen to the report below.
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