are really a, a very

delicate, intricate balance.

You know, there are

a lot of different variables

that influence the health

of any system…

the agricultural practices

that we conduct here have

a direct impact on the

health of the watershed.

And so finding a way

to balance the inputs of

all the different aspects of

these very, very complex systems

is an exceptional challenge.

I think what’s interesting

in Pennsylvania is that

there’s really three main um

things we do

with the landscape.

One of those is

natural land cover, so,

say, forest, water resources,

streams and wetlands.

Um we use land

for agricultural activities.

We use land

for urban development.

Those are our three main

types of land use

in Pennsylvania.

Changes in land use

throughout much of the region

have resulted in

a lot of houses, roads,

impervious surfaces of

various sorts that change

the entire runoff pattern.

Pesticides are applied

in suburbia as well as

agricultural systems.

Uh Pet wastes are

a source of nitrogen,

just as dairy cow and,

and hog wastes are

a source of nitrogen.

And a lot of the

discussion has centered

around nitrogen,

it comes from fertilizer

on farm fields,

comes from manure,

comes from all these

water treatment plants, uh,

comes from people

fertilizing their lawns.

And we, use a lot of

nitrogen and we have

very leaky systems.

So we send a lot downstream.

Susquehanna river basin

alone within that

large watershed is

twenty seven thousand

five hundred square miles.

So there are

a lot of farmers.

There are a lot of

sewage treatment plants

that are going to need

to take actions,

which all require money.

It will take time.

Our real problem is

that we just have

an imbalance of nutrients.

Uh We end up

accumulating nutrients

in areas where animals are.

And what we’ve got

to do is figure out

how to get the whole

system back into a

little better balance.

The air-water interface,

around um animal ag is,

it’s always really integrated

and um we’ve got to

kind of keep track that

what we’re doing

to improve the air

doesn’t end up

going to the water,

and what we’re doing

to improve the water

doesn’t end up

going to the air.

When wetlands are in

a position, say, for example,

between agriculture and

a stream, they do

quite a bit that’s of value.

They play a real role in,

for example um

absorbing nutrients

or transforming nutrients.

They have a, a large role

in nitrogen cycling,

um in carbon storage,

they retain sediment.

Many streams throughout

Pennsylvania, Maryland

and Virginia are

technically considered impaired.

That means that

their water quality is not of,

sufficient value to,

support all their uses.

Pennsylvania has restored about

twenty-two hundred miles of

forest buffers along streams.

Uh, we’ve initiated,

with a lot of other partners,

uh, precision feeding programs

for dairy cows, which has

a tremendous impact on

the nutrient levels on local farms.

A lot of our

extension programs are

designed to try to

give farmers the information

they need to, to improve

the practices on the farm.

We’ve been doing a lot of

research, … and extension work in

how do we integrate uh

nutrient management and

no-till crop production.

Uh They’re both practices

that have been shown to

be beneficial, but yet

there are some issues there

where they conflict with each other.

I love to plow.

And I knew it was wrong.

But I still loved to plow.

Then, I finally went

to the proper training.

It, it turned me around.

And now that I

can see that,

I’ve been going no-till corn,

soil loss on no-till corn

is one ton per, per year,

which is nothing.

And we’re saving soil that way.

Many of the farmers

that we talk to about

conservation practices are

more eager to implement

those practices when they

find out that they can

save money on their own farms.

Conservation practices do pay

because it keeps the soil

on the ground;

it keeps the water clean;

and in many cases

it’ll help them save money,

especially on energy.

The Agriculture and

Environment Center

was established to help

bridge some gaps that

I think the college

has recognized existed

for quite some time.

We’ve got all this

amazing research that’s

taking place around

environmental impacts that

are associated with um

human disturbances and

certainly agriculture like

any other human activity has

um environmental consequences.

There are issues with

water quality that we need

to keep front and center

as we consider um

the critical balance of

maintaining the natural resources

here in Pennsylvania.

The research from Penn State

is influencing the

decisions and policies that

really have an impact

at all levels.

The solutions that we might

derive for the portfolio of

agricultural operations in

Pennsylvania could actually

be quite variable.

It may not be

one-size-fits-all.

But at the root

of the problem,

the science is the same.

A nutrient moves through

soil with certain properties.

And if our scientists

can help to continue

to understand that process,

we can adapt that science

to technologies that, I think,

will have great benefit

to the diverse array of

producers that we have

here in Pennsylvania.