Coupling precision agriculture with water quality credit trading

This project proposes to develop, test and refine the first-ever quantification protocol for crediting precision agriculture variable rate technology practices in water quality credit trading programs. The project will use data from universities, John Deere and Trimble to compare crop uptake budgets with the amount of nutrients applied and use modeling at the farm-field level and some edge-of-field monitors to account for the fate of excess nutrients. The resulting quantification protocol will be tested and refined with farmers during one-and-one-half growing seasons and also vetted with state permitting agencies in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.