|
| | ||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| HOME | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE | NEWSSTAND LOCATIONS | ||||
| ||||
|
|
| | |
Farmer hopes to retain nutrients, improve water quality Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Agri News staff writer
GRANADA, Minn. -- Darwin Roberts hopes a new drainage water management system will improve water quality in his area and help him retain nutrients in his field.
"I've been wanting to do this for several years," Roberts said of installing the system during the second week of December. His new system consists of tiling pipe that drains into an outlet at the field's edge, which has a control structure right before it to maintain drainage levels.
In the system, the gates inside the structure can be removed to control drainage at different times of the year. The control structure allows the water level in the field to be raised after harvest to reduce nitrate and other mineral delivery to the water supply. The gates are lowered a few weeks before planting and harvest to allow field drainage. Water levels are raised after planting to store water for the crops.
"This is the first one in Martin County," Roberts said.
Roberts is a supervisor on the Martin Soil and Water Conservation District board. He heard that the Greater Blue Earth Watershed Initiative was looking for a farmer interested in having a drainage water management system installed.
Joe Domeier, the watershed coordinator, contacted Roberts about the system, which was installed using money from a three-year Environmental Protection Agency grant aimed at projects that will improve water quality.
Domeier said the grant pays for the tiling pipe in the fields, the control structure and the outlet in about 12 acres of Roberts' land, which cost about $7,000.
The planning for the project started in August, but without a winter as mild as it's been, Roberts said the ground would have been too frozen for the system to be dug.
Domeier said the advantage of the system from a watershed point of view is reducing nitrates in the water and improving quality. He said the nitrate concentration isn't lower, there's just less water coming out of the field.
"Nitrogen is spendy," Roberts said of applying it to his fields. It's one nutrient he hopes to retain with the system. "If this proves out and does reduce water pollution (and had added value by retaining nutrients) then we've all won."
Domeier said the drainage water management system is a hard sell right now to farmers because it's difficult to change the existing system.
"This is going to be a demonstration," Domeier said of Robert's system along County Road 53 north of Granada.
Roberts said he will be sampling and testing the water and sharing the results.
"Had I had this in (during the 2006 planting season), it would have been perfect," he said. |
| | |
| |
Copyright 2008 Agri News
All Rights Reserved
