Water News Archive

Wednesday May 28, 2025

Top 10 Items of Importance in a Fertilizer Bag

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.
Tuesday May 20, 2025

Webinar: Optimizing Irrigation and Nutrient Management

How much can irrigation and nitrogen management impact yields? In the 2024 TAPS contest, the difference was 68 bushels — find out why in a new webinar from UNL’s Center for Agricultural Profitability.
Monday May 19, 2025

Groundwater regulation impacts on Nebraska land values

With new regulations being implemented in Nebraska because of falling groundwater levels, you may be wondering how they will impact the value of agricultural lands in those regions. Ag economists from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln and Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute analyzed what has happened historically. Their findings: Land values were unaffected by groundwater allocations. Neither allocations or well moratoria had any significant effect on the value of land that had already been developed for irrigation. Well moratoria reduced the value of dryland acres by 9%.

Thursday May 15, 2025

Early Season Irrigation During Drought

In a dry spring like 2025, early irrigation may be needed — but applying too much water too soon risks losing nitrogen and rainfall storage. Learn how soil moisture monitoring and timing can protect yields and inputs.
Wednesday May 14, 2025

Preparing for the 2025 Irrigation Season: Assessing Your System, Scheduling Tools and Soil Moisture Conditions Prior to First Irrigation

With unrelenting drought this growing season, early preparation of irrigation systems and the right scheduling tools could be the difference between high yields and costly water stress.
Friday May 9, 2025

From Manure to Mapping: Exploring Sustainable Livestock Mortality Management at Waste to Worth 2025

Jillian Bailey, an undergraduate researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, explores livestock mortality management through her work in the Animal Waste Management Lab and attendance at the 2025 Waste to Worth conference. She highlights the promise of shallow burial with carbon (SBC) as a low-maintenance, environmentally conscious method for carcass disposal, emphasizing its benefits in leachate control and potential for adaptation using various carbon materials. Additionally, research involving GIS and modeling tools like HYDRUS-1D demonstrates how site-specific risk mapping can guide safer placement of mortality management systems to protect groundwater.
Friday May 9, 2025

From Sandhills to Sustainability: Exploring Aquaculture Innovation at Idaho's Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station

Logan Hafer, a senior at the University of Nebraska, reflects on his academic journey, research experiences with the Schmidt Lab, and active involvement in various agricultural organizations. In April 2025, he attended the Waste to Worth conference in Boise, Idaho, where he was most impacted by a tour of the Hagerman Fish Culture Experiment Station, learning about Idaho's leading role in trout aquaculture and innovative sustainability efforts like plant-based fish feed. His visit highlighted the importance of responsible water resource management and offered valuable insights into sustainable agriculture and aquaculture practices beyond his Nebraska roots.
Thursday May 8, 2025

Ten Ways to Cut Nitrogen Fertilizer Expenses

With urea ammonium nitrate in short supply, Nebraska corn growers must make every pound of nitrogen count — start optimizing your N strategy today with these UNL recommendations and tools.
Friday May 2, 2025

From Manure to Methane: A Student's Dive into Anaerobic Digestion and Sustainable Farming

Alexis Samson, a sophomore agricultural engineering student, attended the Waste to Worth Conference where she expanded her knowledge of manure management, especially in the area of anaerobic digestion (AD). She learned that while AD systems can turn waste into biogas and fertilizer, their cost-effectiveness—especially for small farms—can be improved by incorporating food waste from local sources. Presentations at the conference also highlighted advancements in converting biogas to renewable natural gas (RNG), which offers both environmental and financial benefits for producers.
Friday May 2, 2025

Efficiency’s Role in Irrigation and Nitrogen Use

Advanced tools like soil moisture sensors, variable rate irrigation, and precision nitrogen management are driving gains in input efficiency and on-farm profitability.
Friday April 25, 2025

Drought year causes groundwater level decline

The annual Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Report from the Conservation and Survey Division in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources shows that groundwater levels in the eastern half of the state continue to decline following several years of persistent drought.

Friday April 25, 2025

May is Wildfire Prevention Month: Fire Smart Landscaping

Wildfires have been headline news not only in Nebraska but across the country. It’s comfortable to think a devastating wildfire can’t happen in your area, but it’s better to be aware of the possibility and be prepared. Learn the aspects of Fire Smart Landscaping including creating a defensible space, planning ahead for a fire event, and management of the surrounding landscapes to decrease potential fire damage.  
Wednesday April 23, 2025

April Showers and Rain Barrels

April showers bring May flowers. They also bring valuable rainwater to harvest and temporarily store for later use in watering plants. Old fashioned rain harvesting methods, like rain barrels, have made a comeback for this purpose.
Wednesday April 23, 2025

Introducing PLAN: Mobile Irrigation Management App

Unlock real-time, in-field decision-making with UNL's new PLAN mobile app — bringing irrigation insights, crop water use and weather data straight to your fingertips.
Monday April 21, 2025

Calculating the Value of Nutrients in Manure

“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.
Tuesday April 15, 2025

No Matter Where You Live, Submit a Request Before You Dig!

Spring is here and that often means its time start outdoor projects. Whether you are spading in new trees, putting in a koi pond or other excavated landscape features, drilling a new well, or installing a new onsite wastewater system, you want to make sure a ‘Locate Request’ has been submitted to Nebraska811 before digging.

Nebraska811 is the statewide one-call notification center, set up by Nebraska state law. It is the link between people who want to excavate and the underground facility owners/operators.

Thursday April 10, 2025

Using Irrigation Scheduling Tools to Save Water Without Sacrificing Yield

Results from a series of UNL field trials in 2024 that compared traditional irrigation practices with data-driven scheduling tools highlight the potential for smarter irrigation to boost sustainability and reduce costs on the farm.
Thursday April 3, 2025

100 years of Nebraska nitrogen

Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient but increasingly found in our water. Here is a brief history:
Monday March 31, 2025

DAWN Dashboard: A Decision Support Tool for the Corn Belt

Our Nebraska Digital Ag Survey indicated that digital dashboards have been adopted by three out of 10 farmers. Digital dashboards are considered decision support tools that can guide farmers in the decision-making process in their operations with the goal of increasing efficiency, productivity and sustainability of their farms. Data-driven decisions are a key goal for digital agriculture. In this article, we are highlighting the Dashboard for Agricultural Water and Nutrient Management (DAWN), developed by a team of universities as part of a USDA NIFA grant.
Monday March 31, 2025

Nebraska Mesonet Launches Improved, Real-time Weather Data

The Nebraska Mesonet, a critical tool for weather monitoring and data collection across the state, has launched a redesigned, user-friendly website offering real-time weather data. The upgrade comes as the mesonet is growing its network of weather monitoring stations across Nebraska to offer more accurate data.