Water News Archive

Friday October 3, 2025

Livestock Facility Inspections: Do I need one? If so, what should I expect?

Inspections collect information about livestock facilities and are how the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) determines whether the facility is in compliance with regulations. There are two different kinds of inspections for livestock operations. Initial inspections help NDEE determine whether a permit is needed. Routine inspections allow the NDEE representative to make sure permitted operations are in compliance with their permit.
Thursday September 25, 2025

Calculating the Value of Nutrients in Manure

manure emoji with cash in its eyes
“How much is this manure worth?” This is a common question from both livestock farmers who are supplying manure and crop farmers who are utilizing it. To answer this question, it is important to understand the difference between gross value and net value. The gross value of manure reflects the equivalent commercial fertilizer value of the nutrients contained in the manure. The net value considers the impacts of application method, transportation, and cropping system nutrient needs as well as intrinsic values that are much more difficult to put a number on. Therefore, this article will focus on determining the gross value of nutrients in manure.
Wednesday September 24, 2025

Practical Manure Management Tips for Small Farms: Protecting Water, Soil, and Community

photo of cattle grazing on pasture
Small farms play a vital role in food production, environmental stewardship, and rural communities. But small farms can also have big negative impacts on their neighbors if they are not managing their nutrients, animals, or soil in ways that protect local air and water quality. Fortunately, with good planning and practical tools, even resource-limited farms can manage manure effectively and protect water and soil quality while reducing odor and improving fertilizer value.
Friday September 5, 2025

Flushing Products Other Than Toilet Paper Can Cause Big Problems Down the Line

SepticSmart Commode infographic

With SepticSmart Week 2025 coming up the week of September 15-19, there is no time like the present to have a “Flushing 101” review. Whether you live in a rural area and have your own personal onsite wastewater system or your house is connected to a municipal wastewater system, everyone needs to be conscious of what we flush down the toilet. Regardless of what type of wastewater system your home is hooked up to, minimizing solids in our wastewater will improve the overall system performance. 

Wednesday August 20, 2025

What’s in Your Manure? Keeping Plastic and Other Junk Out of Your Fields

Plastic wrapped around planter closing wheels
If you've ever looked out over a freshly fertilized field and noticed a tangle of net wrap or a bit of old plastic poking out of the soil, you're not alone. Recent work on my own farm reminded me of something that might be bugging you too: finding plastic and other junk in livestock manure and worse, seeing it show up in the field.
Friday August 15, 2025

Pasture and Forage Minute: Silage Inoculants, Fall Armyworms, and Managing Stock Tank Algae

Cattle drinking from a stock tank with visible algae floating on the water’s surface.
From improving corn silage quality to preventing pasture pests and algae-filled water tanks, this week’s Pasture and Forage Minute offers practical tips to protect your forages and livestock.
Wednesday August 13, 2025

August Irrigation Scheduling Should Focus on Using Remaining Stored Soil Water

Corn field receiving irrigation in late season
Ready to stretch your irrigation dollar farther while setting your soil up for next season? A smarter late season strategy taps into your field’s remaining stored water — save on costs, protect yields, and make room for offseason rain. Here’s how to do it right.
Wednesday August 13, 2025

Weekly Irrigation Newsletter: Using Soil Water Tension Sensors to Schedule Irrigation in Nebraska

Close-up of a center pivot irrigation system spraying water over a cornfield, with water droplets captured mid-air and corn tassels visible in the foreground.
With irrigation season winding down, your final decisions are some of the most important — see how these growers are managing their schedules to prepare for harvest.
Tuesday August 5, 2025

Boosting Water Efficiency and Feed Value

Center pivot sprinkler irrigates a lush green alfalfa field under a clear blue sky as plants mature.
Forages vary greatly in water-use efficiency, defined as pounds of forage produced per inch of water applied. In general, warm-season (C-4) forage crops are more water-use efficient than cool-season (C-3) crops. Further, annual forages use water more efficiently than perennial forages. So, legumes — like alfalfa — tend to be less water efficient than grasses.
Friday August 1, 2025

No Sensors? No Sweat. New App Feature Supports Timely Irrigation Decisions

Promotional graphic for the ACREE app showing a farmer in a cornfield using a smartphone with a center pivot in the background. Text reads “Now in the ACREE App — Irrigation scheduling tailored to your field. No hardware needed.” A phone screen displays the app’s irrigation scheduling feature. The ACREE app icon and University of Nebraska–Lincoln “N” logo appear in the lower left.
In April 2025, we launched the first version of our mobile irrigation management app, PLAN. At the time of release, we promised that an irrigation scheduling tool would be made available, specifically designed for producers who don't have access to soil moisture probes. We're thrilled to announce that this scheduling feature is now live and ready for use by all Nebraska producers. This CropWatch article provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to help you navigate this new tool within the app.
Saturday July 26, 2025

Weekly Irrigation Newsletter: Using Soil Water Tension Sensors to Schedule Irrigation in Nebraska

Close-up of a center pivot irrigation system spraying water over a cornfield, with water droplets captured mid-air and corn tassels visible in the foreground.
In 2024, Nebraska Extension launched the Weekly Irrigation Newsletter to share timely insights on irrigation decisions, featuring three growers located in Nebraska. Due to the positive feedback, we are continuing the program in 2025. In each of their corn fields, we installed a set of three Watermark (Irrometer) sensors at 1-, 2-, and 3-foot soil depths to track soil moisture throughout the growing season. A rain gauge was also installed to monitor both rainfall and irrigation events. These instruments are connected to an IC-10 datalogger (Irrometer), which records data at one-hour intervals. With a telemetry system in place, the data is transmitted remotely, allowing for timely irrigation decisions.
Tuesday July 22, 2025

New Weekly Video Series Now Featured in CropWatch Irrigation Newsletter

Close-up of a center pivot irrigation system spraying water over a cornfield, with water droplets captured mid-air and corn tassels visible in the foreground.
The CropWatch Weekly Irrigation Newsletter now includes a new feature: a short video series demonstrating weekly irrigation scheduling in real time.
Monday July 21, 2025

Excess Nitrogen is Not Good and can Impact Plant Water Use and Water Quality

Drawn diagram of a fertilizer bag showing the N-P-K value

Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient. Like most things, too much of a good thing is not good. I recently visited with a gentleman who told me when he purchased a shade tree he was told to fertilize it once a week through the growing season. I’m also asked if trees need to be fertilized. The client is often asking because their lawn service is offering to fertilize their trees at the same time they fertilize the lawn.

Friday June 27, 2025

The Shell Creek Watershed Improvement Group: A Nationally Recognized Success

Meeting participants seated in a U-shaped table arrangement during the Shell Creek Watershed workshop, discussing conservation successes and future research needs
Farmers, community leaders, researchers and extensionists met in March to recap successes of the Shell Creek Watershed Improvement Group (SCWIG). SCWIG has been active for 25-plus years to promote best management practices to improve water quality and reduce flood impacts. The group includes farmers and community leaders who worked with the Department of Environment and Environment (NDEE), Lower Platte North Natural Resources District, several local schools, and other groups and organizations, incrementally growing supporters and funding year over year.
Monday June 23, 2025

Methods of Landscape Irrigation

Vegetable plants watered by drip irriagation
Irrigation is important to all plants, especially as drought continues. We’ve been receiving rain across most of the state but are still in drought. Even when we aren’t in a drought, irrigation is necessary and very important to overall plant health. There are many methods of irrigation, and they all have pros and cons, but any type of irrigation is better than none.
Monday June 16, 2025

Safety Matters: Cultivating a culture of safety

Hierarchy of controls for safety
Farming is among the most hazardous industries, but adopting a strong culture of safety can significantly reduce risks and protect workers. In this article, Jason Oliver of Cornell University discusses how farms can implement consistent safety training and empower all workers to take responsibility for safe practices by drawing inspiration from high-reliability organizations like U.S. aircraft carriers. By addressing one hazard at a time and combining multiple controls when necessary, agricultural operations can enhance both safety and productivity while showing workers that their well-being matters.
Friday June 13, 2025

How is Crop ET Used for Irrigation Decisions?

graphical representation of corn evapotranspiring
Your crop is talking. Crop ET helps you listen. Use crop evapotranspiration to know when and how much to irrigate.
Thursday June 5, 2025

It’s Time for Private Well Maintenance

Private Well Maintenance

Mid-late spring or early summer is the prime time to conduct a private well maintenance check. Winter can be especially hard on outdoor systems; surfaces and landscaping that are subject to the elements. Getting in the habit of inspecting and maintaining your well system in the spring and the fall is a good habit to get into. It will help ensure everything operates efficiently and can potentially save you from shelling out money for costly repairs.

INSPECTION

Thursday May 29, 2025

Managing Corn Irrigation in South-central Nebraska: Insights for 2025 Under New Groundwater Allocations

infographic about irrigation during allocations
Cutting irrigation doesn’t have to cut yield — as groundwater allocations take effect, 2024 field data show high corn yields are achievable within new NRD limits. Now’s the time to adopt proven scheduling tools and strategies to make every inch count.
Wednesday May 28, 2025

Top 10 Items of Importance in a Fertilizer Bag

Apply turfgrass fertilizer
Water and fertilizer go together in many ways. They are both needed by turf and other landscape plants.  They can also be used correctly to achieve positive results and incorrectly to cause pollution or waste precious resources.  In order to minimize the latter, a simple set of questions should be asked before using fertilizer.