A new Nebraska Extension Educator for cropping systems will be taking on a unique role in northeast Nebraska. Jeremy Milander will be working with four natural resource districts to develop an educational program focused on stabilizing nitrate concentrations in the groundwater of the Bazile Groundwater Management Area (BGMA).  The BGMA includes parts of Antelope, Knox and Pierce counties and is in the Lower Niobrara, Lewis and Clark, Upper Elkhorn, and Lower Elkhorn NRDs.

"I will be working with a stakeholder group to implement on-farm field demonstrations funded by a Nebraska Environmental Trust grant.  These demonstrations will have irrigation management, nitrogen management, soil health, cover crops and nitrogen inhibitors, and cropping systems components.  We hope to use these demonstration sites to research and teach best management practices for reducing nitrate leaching."

The new position feeds two of Milander's passions: working with farmers and helping protect one of the state's most valuable natural resources, water. 

Milander, who grew up on his family’s corn and soybean farm near Coleridge, received his BS and MS degrees in agronomy from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His MS specialization was in crop production physiology and ecology and his research and thesis addressed how plant population and environment influenced corn yield components. 

After graduate school he worked at two university research sites as a research technologist. At the Henry J. Stumpf International Wheat Center near Grant he worked on collaborative wheat management studies with Monsanto and assisted faculty at the West Central Research and Extension Center with farm research projects. At the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory near Concord he worked with Soils Specialist Charles Shapiro on soil fertility, tillage, and cover crops studies. 

Milander's office will be at the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resource District, 1508 Square Turn Blvd., Norfolk, Nebr. 68701. The LENRD phone is (402) 371-7313 and his email is jmilander2@unl.edu.