USDA releases tool to estimate phosphorus loss

Date:07-01-2014

A tool developed by USDA scientists can help farmers model phosphorus loss in runoff and determine ways to reduce these losses.

The tool, "Annual Phosphorus Loss Estimator (APLE)," was developed to reduce widely variable state-by-state phosphorus indices. APLE is a spreadsheet program that predicts field-scale phosphorus loss in runoff for a whole year.

The program also can be used in many different states to quantify field-scale phosphorus loss and soil phosphorus changes over 10 years for a given set of runoff, erosion and management conditions.