Building Tools and Technical Capacity to Improve Irrigation and Nutrient Management on California's Central Coast

Project Overview

EW13-025
Project Type: Professional Development Program
Funds awarded in 2013: $39,564.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2015
Region: Western
State: California
Principal Investigator:
Pamela Krone-Davis
Email
Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation

Annual Reports

Commodities

Not commodity specific

Practices

  • Crop Production: fertigation, irrigation, application rate management
  • Education and Training: demonstration, networking

    Proposal abstract:

    Growers on California’s Central Coast have expressed the need for technical assistance in implementing irrigation and nutrient efficiency as a top priority for supporting sustainable agriculture and addressing mounting water quantity and water quality concerns in our region. This project directly addresses the critical need for agricultural and resource conservation professionals across California’s Central Coast to coordinate and build technical capacity to ensure delivery of the most up-to-date, comprehensive and consistent information in a timely and relevant manner. The Project Partners, including 8 Resource Conservation Districts, the NRCS, the Central Coast Agricultural Water Quality Coalition, UCCE, the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Foundation and private consultants identified the increasing need to synthesize and make available Irrigation and Nutrient Management (INM) tools, develop standard protocols, and transfer skills. This project will improve our collective capacity to assist growers with critical INM aspects of sustainable agriculture. Growers will benefit from the resultant broad suite of resources to target unique needs of diverse grower communities.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    Our long-term goal is to support sustainable agriculture and healthy Central Coast waters and watersheds through regionally consistent deployment of irrigation and nutrient management tools and technical assistance that meet grower needs.

    By the end of the two-year project we will meet the following short-term objectives:

    1.Improve access to INM tools by developing an online clearinghouse of INM tools and resources.
    2.Improve consistency of INM services available to growers across the region by developing a standardized set of metrics, measurement tools and operating procedures.
    3.Increase INM Professional technical capacity to serve growers through in-field cross-trainings and distribution of materials.

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.