Managing Soil and Crop Nutrient Systems to Protect Water Quality

Feb 08, 2018

By Timothy Harrigan

On-farm nutrient management boosts crop yields and protects water quality.

Attend A Matter of Balance: Managing Soil and Crop Nutrient Systems to Protect Water Quality conference to prevent water quality issues.

Nitrogen and phosphorus are nutrients that are essential for crop growth and profitability, but crop nutrients that escape from the field are potential pollutants. Cropland tends to be nutrient-rich and runoff from the farmstead, pastures and fields can transport sediment, organic solids, nutrients and other contaminants to surface waters. Cropping practices that stabilize the soil and quickly move crop nutrients into the root zone will protect water quality and build soil health. Many farms have adopted cropping practices that protect soil and water quality, yet water quality problems associated with algae blooms and oxygen depletion persist in Lake Erie, Saginaw Bay and other waterways.

Much of the most productive cropland in the Great Lakes Region has been improved with subsurface tile drains, a network of perforated tubes two to four feet below the surface to remove excess water. Research results and on-farm observation has shown that while conservation tillage reduces runoff, nutrient-enriched water from rainfall, snowmelt and other sources can quickly enter subsurface drains by natural channels in the soil formed by plant roots, soil fauna, and other natural phenomena. Preventing nutrient loss from cropland is increasingly difficult with the changing climate as we see more frequent, higher intensity storms and increased runoff.

On March 2, there is a conference at Michigan State University titled A Matter of Balance: Managing Soil and Crop Nutrient Systems to Protect Water Quality. Conference speakers will include national experts and experienced crop and livestock producers who will explain:

Practical management options for spring and in-season timing of nitrogen on soils with contrasting drainage
How soils and climate impact the decision to use split N applications, (at-plant + side dress) compared to at-plant only
How new technologies and practices influence manure N availability
On-farm strategies for balancing soil health and economic profitability
How farmers are changing conservation practices based on on-farm water quality monitoring
Edge-of-field nutrient monitoring in Michigan including evaluation of controlled drainage and saturated buffers

A Matter of Balance: Managing Soil and Crop Nutrient Systems to Protect Water Quality will be on Friday, March 2, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at the Kellogg Center on the Michigan State University campus. Michigan Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society and MSU Extension organize the conference. The agenda, speaker information, registration information and additional details are available at the SWCS website.

Source: msu.edu

Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”