The Agricultural Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Workgroup coordinates and evaluates agricultural nutrient and sediment reduction measures throughout the program's participating jurisdictions to help restore the health and productivity of the waters within the Chesapeake Bay watershed while encouraging the participation of the agricultural community, local governments, the environmental community, and the private sector.
The workgroup's responsibilities are to:
- Provide recommendations and p romote the implementation of priority agricultural systems, approaches, or conservation practices that, when implemented by individual producers, would contribute to significant progress towards improving water quality by reducing nutrient/sediment loads from agricultural croplands and animal operations.
- Explore methods to establish and expand partnerships and encourage communication between and among the various agricultural, environmental, and business stakeholder groups and the Chesapeake Bay Program's signatory agencies.
- Identify and provide recommendations to the Nutrient Subcommittee on innovative practices that hold promise for further reducing nutrients and/or sediment loads from agricultural lands.
- Assist the Nutrient Subcommittee in revisiting the agricultural portions of the State tributary strategies to ensure that the mix of best management practices chosen are the most suitable to the area, have the greatest potential for implementation, and can effectively reduce nutrient and sediment loss.
- I dentify nutrient/sediment-related research gaps and demonstration project opportunities for funding and recommend funding priorities to fill these gaps.
- Provide information and recommendations to the Nutrient Subcommittee as well as other policy makers and program managers on issues regarding agricultural nutrient and sediment reductions.
- Technically review the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Model Phase 5.0 assumptions associated with how agricultural conservation practice implementation and agricultural nutrient/sediment loads are modeled. Provide comments to the Modeling Subcommittee.
- Review and comment on BMP definitions and efficiencies for agricultural systems and conservation practices. Where feasible, use ad hoc groups of technical experts that can inform the workgroup.
- Stay current on the needs of the agricultural sector and changes in agricultural enterprises, and determine how to meet nutrient management needs in the future.