The Agricultural Watershed Improvement Network (AWIN)
A
goal to improve drinking and surface water quality prompted the creation of
a group that focuses on enhancing environmental, community, and economic aspects
of agricultural operations. The Agricultural Watershed Improvement Network
(AWIN) is a partnership of the Wisconsin Agriculture Stewardship Initiative
(WASI), the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Wisconsin
Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), UW Extension
Service, County Soil and Water Conservation Departments, and the Lakeshore
Natural Resource Partnership (LNRP) with initial funding that came from
The Joyce Foundation.
A major emphasis of the project is to elevate farmers’ capacity for best practice environmental management and to show by results and conversation how transformation can occur from adversarial community engagement and traditional regulation into stakeholder driven environmental performance. This emphasis will bring about the needed transparency of environmental management and its direct ties to environmental quality.
AWIN does this by helping farmers move up a progressive spectrum of farm practices including emergency response plans, winter spreading plans, nutrient management plans, comprehensive nutrient management plans, and environmental management systems.