Some cities have restricted the sale of lawn fertilizers with high phosphorous numbers to reduce phosphorous runoff into waterways. They also mail out reduced lawn fertilizing guild lines to each home and business.
Over the last twenty years I've seen a lot of fields fully tiled across the entire field, hills and all rather than just tiled through the low spots. At first though, that seems like a fast track to drain extra nutrients into the waterways, but any nutrients that have made their way below the root zone are already headed for the ground water anyway. A person who finds a way for crops to use more or nearly all of the fertilizers applied each year could help farmers, get rich himself, and do a lot to save our waterways.
Any areas that have standing water for more than a couple of days suffer high nitrogen losses, most of the loss is leached into the water ground water or runs off into the waterways. Planting crops that require high amounts of nitrogen fertilizer in flood prone areas every year seems like a waste of nitrogen fertilizer and a hazard to our waterways. Would alfalfa, small grains, grass hay, wetland grasses or some other crop be better suited to flood prone areas? Some states already require buffer strips along all waterways. That's not ideal, but is there a better way to control runoff?
Last week I read an interesting comment: if 40 percent of the corn crop is just being burned off as ethanol and corn prices are still declining, why are we still trying to increase corn production? If ethanol use was eliminated, the total corn acreage could be reduced by 40 percent and there would still be an oversupply of corn. Another alternative would be that yields could be allowed to drop 40 percent, i.e. from 200 bushel per acre to 120 bushels per acre. Fertilizer and chemical applications could be reduced to match the lower yield requirements with higher fertilizer efficiency, reducing the amount of nitrates and maybe other chemicals going into the water. Dumb question: if corn stover and switch grass can be used to make ethanol, can green chopped alfalfa or green reeds-canary grass be used to make ethanol too?
Our ground water now has stored up 70 years of leached nitrates, 50 years of Atrizine, 40 years of Roundup and decades of the newer chemicals. Is reverse osmosis the best way to filter those out of the drinking water?
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Today's Featured Article - History of the Nuffield Tractor - by Anthony West. The Nuffield tractor story started in early 1945. The British government still reeling from the effects of the war on the economy, approached the Nuffield organization to see if they would design and build an "ALL NEW" British built wheeled tractor, suitable for both British and world farming.
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