The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Financial and Nutrient Reduction Tool (ACPF FiNRT) is an ACPF-compatible tool that provides information about estimated costs and nitrate reduction outcomes from ACPF-generated conservation scenarios.
The use of the ACPF FiNRT tool enables conservation planners to more effectively evaluate opportunities and tradeoffs for Best Management Practices (BMPs) across the agricultural landscape, while also providing insights into the potential outcomes of various conservation scenarios.
Explore the possibilities with the beta version of the tool, now available in both Iowa and Minnesota. You can jump right in, not only by accessing the toolboxes, but by downloading demo watersheds to see how the tool works in real-world scenarios. This hands-on approach makes it easy to get started and discover new applications in conservation planning.
Download the Tool
The team is currently in the early stages of adding additional states to the tool. If you are interested in more detailed information, reach out to the ACPF National Hub Team at: acpfsupport@iastate.edu
Download the Toolbox for IA Download the Toolbox for MN ACPF FiNRT Toolbox Steps
Download Demo Watersheds
How it Works
The tool uses financial and expected field-scale nitrate loss to estimate the total long-term cost and cost effectiveness of user-driven conservation plans.
- Financial data for direct costs of BMPs were created by calculating long-term, annualized costs for BMP installation and management at the state level. Financial assessments for calculating direct costs incorporated enterprise budgets and standard discounted flow techniques.
- Opportunity costs associated with BMPs that require removing land from row-crop production were calculated using state-relevant, area-weighted productivity indices associated with soil data and land rent relationships.
- The tool quantifies the nitrogen requirements for each field, based on 6-year land-use data, and evaluates the proportion of that nitrogen likely to be lost from the field as nitrate via leaching. Based on BMP placement, nitrate reduction efficiencies for each BMP were applied to estimate nitrate reduction by BMP, field, and at the watershed scale.
Tool Outputs
The outputs from the tool include information such as opportunity acres and costs, direct costs, treated area, nitrate load and load reduction potential from conservation practice implementation, load reduction at field and watershed levels, total costs (direct costs + opportunity costs), and cost efficiency (cost per lbs. of N reduced per individual conservation practice and scenario). Output information can be examined at the BMP, field, or watershed level.
As an example, the image on the left displays the ACPF FiNRT analysis on the Middle South Fork Watonwan River watershed in Watonwan County, Minnesota. The map displays how ACPF was used to site areas where nutrient removal wetlands, bioreactors, and saturated buffers would be suitable. Table 3, below displays the FiNRT results between scenario 1 - placing rye cover crops on all 10,116 ha of corn/soybean land in the watershed, and scenario 2 - which used the ACPF to illustrate a strategic conservation approach.
| Scenario | Nitrate reduction (kg (%)) | Total yearly cost (2021 US$) | Average cost of nitrate reduced (US$ kg-1) | Fields with BMPs | Land removed from cultivation (ha) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1: total (cover crops only) | 167,041 (51) | 2,136,962 | 12.81 | 362 | 0 |
| S2: total | 91,902 (28) | 1,675,454 | 12.17 | 130 | 391 |
| Wetlands | 79,959 (24) | 1,584,152 | 23.82 | 17 | 353 |
| Bioreactors | 5,420 (2) | 53,573 | 10.30 | 96 | 0 |
| Saturated buffers | 6,524 (2) | 37,729 | 11.06 | 17 | 38 |
Note: The N-load reductions assume that stacked conservation practices have a multiplicative effect. Total cost includes both direct and opportunity costs, where applicable. The last three rows show a breakdown of the best management practices (BMPs) included in S2.
Bravard, E.E., Zimmerman, E., Tyndall, J.C. & James, D. (2022). The Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework Financial and Nutrient Reduction Tool: a planning tool for cost effective conservation. Journal of Environmental Quality, 51(4), 670–682.
Bravard, E. E., Zimmerman, E. K., Tyndall, J. C., & James, D. (2024). Welcome to the new frontier: Introducing Extension to the next generation of conservation planning tools. The Journal of Extension, 62(4), 9.
