Agricultural Production Crop Production

Crop Production

The production of crops is the heart of Nebraska's economy. Water is essential to all plant growth. Thus Nebraska's economy relies on a plentiful supply of water to produce crops – in both rainfed and irrigated environments. Several factors involved with producing crops interact with either water supply or water quality issues – or both.

Private Pesticide Training Offered by Zoom for 2023

Laptop in field
Zoom training sessions will focus on pesticides for corn and soybean on March 8 and April 4, and for pastures on March 21.

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Impact of Irrigation Technologies on Water Use: Clarifying Water Withdrawals and Consumptive Use

Lake at sunset
A new Nebraska Extension NebGuide clarifies the concept of consumptive use of water with regard to irrigated crop production and provides guidelines for determining the efficiency of new irrigation technology.

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Reverse Osmosis In-Service: Treating high nitrate concentrations in private wells

RO Funding Flyer

In 2023, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB1014.  This bill took 4 million dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act and allocated it to treating nitrate issues in Nebraska.  1.2 million dollars of that has been dedicated to a Reverse Osmosis Rebate Program that is directed at private well owners. The general idea of the program is that any individual private drinking water well owner can test their water AND if the nitrate concentration comes back above 10 ppm, they might be eligible for UP TO $4,000 support to get a reverse osmosis system to treat their nitrate.

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Nebraska On-Farm Research Network Meetings Begin Feb. 15

Combine in Field, photo by Laura Thompson
Nebraska farmers and agronomists are set to present results of their 2022 on-farm research studies on cover crops, variable rate seeding, starter fertilizer, biological products, seed treatments, variable rate nitrogen management and more.

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Rust-stained irrigation pipes hint at lack of nitrate in groundwater

rusty irrigation piping
According to study from Department of Natural Resources researchers, irrigation pivots stained with rust may indicate the absence of nitrate in the groundwater supplying the pivots. This information can potentially be used to help screen for areas for the potential absence of nitrate and, in an ideal world, could indicate areas at higher- or lower-risk for nitrate contamination before it becomes a problem.

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