Soil conservation and nutrient management have taken center stage as the major management practices that producers and consultants need to adopt to reduce agricultural nonpoint pollution. For some producers the implementation of these recommendations will require only minor changes in their farming systems, while others will need to make major changes in practices ranging from feed management, manure storage and handling, nutrient applications, and tillage to potentially their entire cropping system. Two key questions must be considered as we move forward on the requirement that producers adopt these systems:

• Will the adoption of nutrient management plans and soil conservation plans to tolerable soil loss levels achieve the state and federal water quality goals?
• How much money and time will it take before society knows if the adoption of these practices will achieve the water quality goals?