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. 2024 Oct;74(4):729-741.
doi: 10.1007/s00267-024-02008-x. Epub 2024 Jul 2.

Spatial Variation in Agricultural BMPs and Relationships with Nutrient Yields Across New York State Watersheds

Rebecca Schewe  1 , Lidiia Iavorivska  2 , Christa Kelleher  3
Affiliations

Spatial Variation in Agricultural BMPs and Relationships with Nutrient Yields Across New York State Watersheds

Rebecca Schewe et al. Environ Manage. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Agricultural nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus can subsequently be transported to waterways and are often managed through the adoption of best management practices (BMPs). However, we have a poor understanding of how the use of BMPs varies spatially and how BMP adoption might be related to nutrient yields in surface waters. To address this, we performed a survey of agricultural landowners across New York State and compared this with estimates of annual incremental nitrogen and phosphorus yields of agricultural origin from the Spatially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) model. Using these socio-behavioral data and SPARROW predictions, we perform colocation analysis to identify areas where watersheds with high nutrient yield from agriculture are collocated with non-use of agricultural BMPs. This colocation analysis offers a novel methodology for identifying areas where monitoring of waterways and promotion of best management practices could be targeted to achieve the greatest benefits.

Keywords: Agriculture; BMPs; NY; Spatial; Water quality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Anselin Local Moran’s I of incremental N and P yield from agricultural sources
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Local colocation of not using no-till methods and watershed >=1 standard deviation above mean incremental N yield from agricultural sources
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Local colocation of not using soil testing and watershed >=1 standard deviation above mean incremental N yield from agricultural sources
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Local colocation of not using planted buffer zones and watershed >=1 standard deviation above mean incremental N yield from agricultural sources
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Local colocation of not using no-till methods and watershed >=1 standard deviation above mean incremental P yield from agricultural sources
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Local colocation of not using soil testing and watershed >=1 standard deviation above mean incremental P yield from agricultural sources
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Local colocation of not using planted buffer zones and watershed >=1 standard deviation above mean incremental P yield from agricultural sources
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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