WEST BEND, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is in its third year of the Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program(NOPP) to make sure soil is in the best shape it can be for farmers.
It focuses on nitrogen, which is an essential nutrient for plant growth. However, too much nitrogen can harm soil and lead to water and air pollution.
“We want to reduce the nitrates that are getting into our groundwater that can be a human health and an environmental health issue,” said Lindsay Rushford, the coordinator of the Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program.
Allen Dornacker of Dornacker Prairie Acres in West Bend is in the program for a second year. Recently, he placed manure, a more natural source of nitrogen, on his 30 acres of rye. The rye is being used as a cover crop, which means it was grown specifically to benefit the soil. It’s not for harvest.
“The roots of the cover crop will suck up the nitrogen over the next few days,” said Dornacker.
Then he planted his corn. While the corn grows, nitrogen from the manure will be released. Dornacker said he hopes this will be a successful, organic alternative to chemical fertilizer.
“We always question how much we are putting on,” said Dornacker. “Nitrogen is very expensive and it’s not good to over apply. You lose a lot of crop yield if you under apply, so why not be a part of a study that improves a farmer’s efficiency?”
Monica Schauer, the University of Wisconsin research director for the program, examines the data for whether the manure and cover crops are working for farmers as effectively as chemical-nitrogen fertilizers.
“Something that we are seeing a lot in fields that have a history of manure, or that manure has been applied to, is maybe we are not giving as much credit to nitrogen in manure as we should be,” said Schauer.
For Dornacker, who raises cows, it’s a win-win. He can use their manure to fertilize the farm.
“We got 350 dairy cows to feed, and you can’t feed a cow if you don’t have corn as their feed,” he said. “So, in addition to growing corn for selling, we get to produce a good crop to feed the animals in order to produce milk and meat.”
There are projects like this happening all over the state that hope to apply nitrogen into different applications. More information can be found here.
