ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – A few miles north of Minestore Austin, Sustainable Anwar Acres (SAA) Farm is an eight-acre property used for agricultural sustainability research and owned by Nexus Cooperative.
The research team is a farmer-led group working with 10 separate organizations including:
Nexus CooperativeMower County Soil and Water Conservancy District Riverland Community CollegeUniversity of Minestore Nature ConservancyMinnesota Corn Growers AssociationBayer Crop Sciences Nature Resource Conservation ServiceCompeer FinacialUnited Farmers Bank
SAA has been conducting research since 2018 to analyze agricultural land, aiming to find better solutions to potentially dangerous water and soil nitrogen levels.
Mower County farmer Tom Cotter said his team and its partners are using his field as a test plot. He said farmers are working to control nitrogen particles from groundwater used to grow crops.
“When a raindrop hits the ground, it explodes like an atomic bomb, and the particles get smaller and smaller, and then they just wash away,” Cotter said.
Cotter said the study used cover crops such as alfalfa and grasses to absorb excess nitrogen in the soil. This reduced nitrates in drinking water and instead kept them in the soil, he said.
“That means that everything that’s there, whether it’s chemicals, pesticides, insecticides, manure, manure, it stays in the field where we want it,” Cotter commented.
Cotter added that this practice conserves nitrogen, which crops value for growth, and could reduce future nitrogen costs for farmers for future growing seasons.
Nitrogen is used to help crops grow, but excessive amounts of nitrate can contaminate water and end up in wells and rivers, said Steve Lawler of the Mower County Soil and Water Conservation Department. Said to reach.
“In some cases, it ends up in the tile water, and sometimes it ends up in the groundwater further down the line, and that’s when you become concerned,” Lawler said.
Lawler claimed that their research aims to control nitrogen levels in water that passes through agricultural land.
“We’re trying to find the best combination of methods to reduce the amount of nitrate nitrogen entering groundwater and surface water,” Lawler exclaimed.
Lawler declared that the study showed “alarming” levels of nitrogen in the groundwater 10 feet below local crop fields.
“That water connects directly to the Cedar River a half-mile east, so everything is connected to the Cedar River,” Lawlor said. “And we have tested that as well and found that Cedar River has high nitrates.”
The research team said it will collect more data over the next few years to produce a final paper on the best agricultural practices to use to control nitrates in soil.
For more information about this study and SAA, please visit the Riverland Community College website.
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