Runoff/Erosion Mitigation Calculator

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Current points0
Minimum number of points that must be achievedN/A
Do I have enough runoff/erosion points to apply this product?No

EPA created the Runoff/Erosion Mitigation Calculator in response to feedback that applicators will need assistance in understanding how mitigation and mitigation relief in and around fields count toward mitigation point totals required on pesticide product labels.

This calculator can help assess the potential number of points available for the mitigation and mitigation relief measures entered by the user. The number of mitigation points required varies by specific pesticide, crop and rate applied, and the location of the application. The actual number of points achieved is dependent on design and implementation of mitigation measures in accordance with their descriptions on EPA's mitigation menu. Note that each measure in the calculator includes a link that directs you to its detailed description on this website.

Enter Field/Management Unit, Product, and Crop/Use Site details (optional)

Enter a Field/Management Unit Name for your records (if desired). For the purposes of this calculator a field or management unit is defined as the single contiguous piece of land that is managed as a single unit in production or in preparation for production of a single crop. A uniform field may be sub-divided based upon different crops (e.g., soybeans and corn) or sub-divided based upon different features (e.g., flat portion and contoured portion). The other sections (Product Information and Crop/Use Site) below are for the user's reference and will not affect the mitigation points or mitigation options available in this tool. They are for the user's record and will be present in the final summary report.

Evaluate the farm/field(s) being treated

For any one of the following questions, if a box is selected (indicating "yes") then no further runoff/erosion mitigation is needed.

Does the application area (farm/field) use any of the following systems that capture runoff and discharge? (check all that apply)
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Does the application use any of the following application methods or parameters? (check all that apply)
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Managed areas are defined as:

  • Agricultural fields, pastures, forage fields, and private rangelands, including untreated portions of the treated field;
  • Roads, paved or gravel surfaces, mowed grassy/fallowed areas adjacent to field, and areas of bare ground from recent plowing or grading that are contiguous with the treated area;
  • Buildings and their perimeters, silos, or other man-made structures with walls and/or roof;
  • Areas present and/or maintained as a runoff/erosion measure as listed on EPA's Mitigation Menu Website. Examples include vegetative filter strips (VFS), field borders, grassed waterways, vegetated ditch that keeps irrigated water on-farm, riparian areas, managed/constructed wetlands, or other areas of intentional habitat improvement;
  • Areas present and/or maintained as a drift buffer reduction measure as listed on EPA's Mitigation Menu Website. Examples include vegetative windbreaks, hedgerows, shelterbelts, riparian areas, private forests, woodlots, and shrublands;
  • Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) lands (applicators may need to ensure that pesticide use does not cause degradation of the CRP habitat).On-farm contained irrigation water resources that are not connected to adjacent water bodies, including on-farm irrigation canals and ditches, water conveyances, managed irrigation/runoff retention basins, farm ponds, and tailwater collection ponds.

Pesticide Label Points

Pesticide applicators will need to plan their pesticide applications in advance to determine whether they are subject to runoff/erosion mitigation. These mitigation requirements will appear on product labels and/or bulletins for the product in the Bulletins Live! Two System. If a label directs users to check bulletins, they must do so to determine if additional mitigation requirements apply to their farm/field(s), beyond the requirements that appear on the label. The applicator must choose among the mitigation and/or mitigation relief measures on EPA's Mitigation Menu website to meet or exceed these points before or at the time of applying this product.

Learn how to achieve the necessary mitigation points

Systems that Capture Runoff and Discharge

Select the systems that capture runoff and discharge that are applicable to your field. These systems that capture runoff and discharge are described in EPA's Mitigation Menu Website.

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Mitigation Relief Based on Pesticide Runoff Vulnerability

Select the State and County where the field/management unit is located, to determine the number of runoff/erosion Mitigation Relief Points available. Your county may receive mitigation relief points if in a geographic area with reduced pesticide runoff vulnerability.

Determine potential mitigation relief points

 

Conservation Program, Runoff/Erosion Specialists, and Mitigation Tracking

Users should indicate if they are tracking their mitigations for the field/management unit, and whether they are working with a runoff/erosion specialist or are in a conservation program (see criteria on EPA's mitigation measure website).

Mitigation Tracking - this tool will provide an opportunity to use the final summary as mitigation tracking and achieve this point.

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Field Characteristics

Select the field slope and soil type specific to your field. See EPA's mitigation measure website for more details.

Field with Slope ≤3% (naturally low slope or flat fields; flat or laser-leveled fields)
Predominantly Sandy Soils (fields with 10-20% clay and 50-90% sand [includes loam, silt loam, or silt soil] without a restrictive layer that impedes the movement of water through the soil [also described as Hydrologic Soil Group B]). This option can only be used if the product label does not prohibit application on sandy soils.

In-Field Mitigation Measures

Select relevant in-field mitigation measures below. This section combines some subcategories of the EPA's in-field mitigation measures (e.g., Reduced Tillage Management) to enable the user to more easily select the production practices used within their field.

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Reservoir Tillage (reservoir tillage, furrow diking, basin tillage)
Contour Farming (contour farming, contour tillage, contour orchard and perennial crops)
Vegetative Strips – In-Field (inter-row vegetated strips, strip cropping or intercropping, alley cropping, prairie strips, contour buffer strips, contour strip cropping, vegetative barrier (occurring in a contoured field))
Terrace Farming (terrace farming, terracing, field terracing)

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Anionic Polyacrylamide (PAM)
Erosion Barriers (wattles, silt fences)

Field-adjacent Mitigation Measures

Select relevant field-adjacent mitigation measures below. This section combines some subcategories of the EPA's field-adjacent mitigation measures (e.g., Vegetative Filter Strips) to enable the user to more easily select the production practices used adjacent to their field.

Grassed Waterway

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Vegetated Ditch

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Constructed and Natural Wetlands (constructed and natural wetlands, wetland and riparian landscape/habitat improvement)

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Other Mitigation Measures

This section auto processes the user inputs in the "Systems that Capture Runoff and Discharge", "In-field Mitigation Measures", and "Adjacent to the Field Mitigation Measures" sections to provide a point if the user indicated measures from two or more of these sections.

Using mitigation measures from multiple categories (practices from at least two of the following categories: in-field, field-adjacent, or systems that capture runoff and discharge)
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Response based on previous selections: No

Application Parameters (optional)

The user can add in application parameters to calculate possible mitigation points. Base mitigation points for a field/management unit can be calculated without having this section filled out. This would provide non-application specific calculator results.

Annual application rate reduction (% below the maximum labeled annual application rate, please note max labeled for the use site regardless of target pest or method of application): N/A
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Product Incorporated in Soil before a runoff producing event when not required by the label? For products that do not require incorporation, mitigation points are available when the product is incorporated to a depth of at least 1 inch before a runoff producing rain event occurs. Methods of soil incorporation include (watering-in or mechanical incorporation before a runoff producing event; a runoff producing event is considered as follows:
  • A 50% or greater chance of rainfall of 1 inch or more is expected to occur within 48 hours of the application as predicted by the NOAA/National Weather Service. AND,
  • The precipitation potential is 50% or greater at any point during the 48-hr period.)

If soil incorporation was required on the product label, answer "No" to this question.

Resulting Mitigation Points

The results of this runoff/erosion portion of the application are presented in the "Points Summary" below. This summary includes the number of points required by the label, any mitigation relief points, and the final number of points achieved.

When appropriate, this summary will also indicate if the user inputs have resulted in their field meeting the erosion/mitigation runoff mitigation requirements.

When you are using more than one pesticide, you are required to comply with the most restrictive requirements across product labels used in the application and any applicable bulletins. Restrictions may include achieving a minimum number of runoff/erosion mitigation points (for which you would use this calculator), but could also be other restrictions (e.g., use prohibition, timing restriction, application method prohibition, sandy soil application restriction, subset of menu measures).

This summary below will meet the requirements for achieving the point for Mitigation Tracking. Printing or saving this summary serves as documentation of using this tracking application.

 

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Points Summary

  • For field ID: N/A
  • Product information: N/A
  • Crop/use site: N/A
  • Required number of points calculated from your selected pesticide label: N/A
  • Mitigation relief points based on your field location: N/A
  • Remaining number of points needed to be achieved through mitigation measures: N/A
  • Points achieved based on field and application parameters: N/A
  • Extra point achieved for using mitigation measures from multiple categories: N/A
  • Field meets the runoff/erosion mitigation requirements: No

Your Selected Mitigation Measures

If I Need More Points On My Field, What Mitigations Could I Do To Achieve Additional Points?

 

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Last updated on August 14, 2025