Sustainable Agriculture satisfies human food and fiber needs, makes the most efficient use of on-farm resources and integrates natural biological cycles, enhances the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole, and sustains the economic viability of farm operations. A farm that is able to produce continuously, yet has negative effects on environmental quality elsewhere, does not support...

The Mesoamerican Reef, the second-largest barrier reef in the world, is located in the western Caribbean Sea off the coasts of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Particularly in the south, the surrounding watersheds are steep and the climate is extremely wet. With development and agricultural expansion, the potential for negative impacts to the reef from land-based runoff becomes high. We...

This work describes a simple, passive sampling system for measuring runoff, sediment, and chemical losses from typical agricultural fields. The sampler consists of a 5 to 7 m wide runoff collector connected to a series of multislot divisors. These divisors split the flow into aliquots, providing a continuous sampling during the runoff event. Divisors were located in a wooden box below ground le...

Filter strips are widely prescribed to reduce contaminants in surface runoff from agricultural fields. This study compared performance of different filter strip designs on several contaminants and evaluated the contributing processes. Different vegetation types and widths were investigated using simulated runoff event on large plots (3 m × 7.5 or 15 m) having fine-textured soil and a 6 to 7% sl...

Phosphorus losses from agricultural land can cause accelerated eutrophication of surface water bodies. This study evaluated the use of soil test phosphorus (STP) levels to predict dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) concentrations in runoff water from agricultural soils using laboratory rainfall simulation. The objectives of this study were to determine (i) to what extent STP concentrations ca...

Surface runoff and sediment transport in ̄uence soil quality and the quality of receiving waters. Simulation models are useful tools to describe drainage behavior and sediment yield to develop management strategies for agricultural waters. The objective of this study was to investigate the performance of the Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution Model (AGNPS) and modi®ed versions comparing mea...

Runoff, soil loss, sediment concentration, and particle size distribution of sediment eroded by runoff events were measured between 1976 and 2000 from 5 small agricultural watersheds on Vertisols at ICRISAT Center, Patancheru, India. The effects of storm size and land management system on total soil loss and size distribution of sediment during runoff are discussed. At the beginning of runoff e...

Agricultural pollutant runoff is a major source of water contamination in California’s Sacramento River watershed where 8500 km of agricultural land influences water quality. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrology, sediment, nitrate and pesticide transport components were assessed for the Sacramento River watershed. To represent flood conveyance in the area, the model was improved ...

Irrigation and storm water runoff from agricultural fields has the potential to cause impairment to downstream aquatic receiving systems. Over the last several years, scientists have discovered the benefit of using edge-of-field practices, such as vegetated agricultural drainage ditches, in the mitigation of pesticides and sediment. After demonstrating this practice's feasibility in California,...