Division of Extension
Areas where the natural topography causes runoff water to come together in a temporary stream are particularly vulnerable. Grassed waterways are a classic conservation practice that can help protect these sensitive areas while safely moving water off the field.
This article shares highlights from a social indicator survey project designed to understand the level of farmers’ self-perceptions of their ability to improve water quality and major programming and incentive needs from farmers to change farming practices.
The 360 RAIN system allows for leachate and manure spreading while a crop is growing to uptake the nutrients during warmer, drier months. Opening up the summer spreading window has the potential to improve water quality risks as well as take the pressure off spreading large amounts of manure in the non-growing season.
Since 2004, programs like Discovery Farms have been working with farmers in Kewaunee County to better understand how practices like cover crops and no-tillage can help keep nutrients on fields and out of waterways, positively impacting water quality.
To evaluate how land use and agricultural management affect water quality, Discovery Farms performed research on varying management systems in two western Wisconsin watersheds. Our main goal was to better understand how agricultural land management decisions affect soil and nutrient runoff.
In April 2026, commercial nitrogen fertilizer prices increased approximately 30% since fall 2025. Fortunately, there are nutrient management choices farmers can make to minimize financial impacts of this sudden price increase.
The goal of this study was to improve understanding of the factors that influence runoff generation during non-frozen ground periods in small agricultural watersheds in southwestern Wisconsin where the landscapes are controlled by dolostone bedrock in order to provide agricultural producers with a manure management tool.
Farms near Lake Michigan in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin were facing a tough question: how much are agricultural fields contributing to water quality problems in the lake? Algae blooms in nearby bays were raising concerns, and phosphorus from farm fields was suspected as a key factor. To get real answers, Discovery Farms partnered with Saxon Homestead Farm (SHF), a fifth-generation, pasture-based dairy operation, to monitor water quality from 2004 to 2007.
Do you know how much soil and phosphorus is leaving your fields during a rain event, or how much difference your tillage choices make from one year to the next? A seven-year study by Discovery Farms set up water quality monitoring stations at the edges of fields across two western Wisconsin watersheds to answer those exact questions with real numbers from real farms.
Farming on steep, hilly land is tough. Keeping soil and nutrients out of nearby streams is even tougher. But data from Bragger Family Dairy in Buffalo County, Wisconsin shows it can be done, and the lessons from this farm still matter today.
If you farm on steep slopes in Wisconsin, you’ve likely watched good soil wash away after a hard rain. That runoff carries more than dirt — it carries phosphorus and nitrogen that your crops need and that nearby streams don’t. A conservation tool called a grade stabilization structure (GSS) may be one of the most cost-effective ways to slow that loss down.
Wisconsin farmers know that what happens in the field does not always stay in the field. Rain and snowmelt carry sediment, nutrients, and other materials off farmland and into streams, tiles, and groundwater. But how do you know exactly how much is leaving, and when?
