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x si - ~r r s s to is e i r e e s re by Les Everett, WRC Farmers face rising costs in every facet of their operations, including commercial. fertilizer for crops. A new series of WRC- managed workshops aims to help farmers reduce fertilizer expenses while at the same time reducing nutrients in runoff from farm fields. "The Economic Value of Manure" workshops will launch across the state in the winter of 2009 with participating farmers and agricultural professionals recruited by local UM Extension staff, county feedlot officers, producer organi- zations, and staff of Soil and Water Con- servation Districts. Participants in the workshops receive instruction in using an electronic spreadsheet that calculates the value of manure as a replacement for commercial fertilizers under a range of application rates and methods, crop nutrient needs, application costs, and fertilizer prices. Paper worksheets will be available for those who do not use com- puters. When doing these calculations, farmers often find that it is more profit- able to apply manure according to crop needs, and usually this results in covering more acres at lower rates than they cur- rently use. They also find that application Conference continued from page 1 private sector. Monday's luncheon speaker, Ja- net Attarian, is Project Director of the Streetscape and Urban Design Program, Chicago Department of Transportation. Using the Chicago Green Alley Project as an example, she focused on the need for the world's cities to adapt to changes driven by climate change and urban migration, and described Chicago's new approach to "green" infrastructure and stormwater management. Marl< Seeley, UM climatologist and meteorologist, opened Tuesday's plenary session with "The Southeast Minnesota Floods of August 2007: In Historical and Future Context" Seeley focused on docu- mentary evidence from these events, and linked that evidence to the mid-continent and local drivers of climate change in Minnesota. Edward Thomas, an attorney at ~~` • - ~ - - ~-` - ^' : r~ 3i'-~ f~ R ~-~' ~. ~ -5 ~I ~.~.'~-r..L ~ -, ~. cif f~ a~~ ~~ ,~ ~~s'~3e.~ r ~e ~ ~lt~ ~~ ~ ~~ q 1 { Farmers observe a field demonstration of manure application methods to conserve nutrients for crops. timing and method influence how much nitrogen and phosphorus is conserved for the crop or lost to air or water. Workshop participants will be polled in the months following the workshops to determine if they have altered their manure management in response to the workshops. Program organizers antici- pate that livestock producers will readjust manure application rates and methods, saving at least ten dollars per acre in fertilizer replacement costs. Michael Baker Corporation, presented "Total Water Resources Management: Bringing Together Wetland, Storm Water, Floodplain, and Water Quality Manage- ment;' at Tuesday's luncheon session. Thomas gave a practical overview of the legal context affecting local watershed management, especially where property damages occur as a result of policy and watershed de- cisions. According to Thomas, k property ~~ ? ~ ~ :f owners and ^~~~~ ~'~ government °~; ; ~~~~ r^, bodies find- '- _ <~ . ~ ' , that measures ~ x ~( taken to pro- _~i_ ~` tect humans ' ..~ from flood '~ ~[' ~ __ The "What's Manure Worth?" spread- sheet authored by Bill Lazarus and Bob Koehler of UM Extension can be down- loaded at: http://www.apec.umn.edu/fac- ulty/wlazarus/interests_manureworth .html. Contact Les Everett at evere003@ umn.edu or 612-625-6751 for more in- formation about this series of workshops. The project is funded by EPA 319 funds awarded through the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. also protect wetlands and preserve and restore water quality. Concurrent sessions included pre- sentations by UM researchers such as "How Do Water Quality Projects Evaluate Impacts and Outcomes?" The Minnesota NPS Project Survey, by Karlyn Eckman, Rachel Walker, and Lilao Bouapao. Posters included, "Reducing Un- certainty and ~ Bounding Vari- - , - _ ability of Stream ~ Ecosystem ~+, Indicators" by .=~ ~ Christine Dolph. ~ , ~ r~' _. r` ~~ For a full listing ~;, ~ ~_ i of sessions and ~ ~- ~ ~ ~ ~ posters, see the ~ , ~ _ ,. Book of Ab- ~ ~~__~ ~ ,,\ ~, %~ stracts at http:// ~ ~ :~ ~ ______ ___ wrc.umn.edu. disasters can Conference participants listen to a concurrent session Minnegram 3 December 2008