MSU Receives USDA Grant to Improve Agricultural Water Quality

Nov 19, 2020

By Ricardo Costa

USDA grant provides opportunity to improve agricultural water quality by accelerating the adoption of a conservation drainage practice.

Saturated buffer

Saturated buffer.

Ehsan Ghane, assistant professor and Extension specialist at the Michigan State University Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, will lead a three-year, $614,00 grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The goal of the project is to improve agricultural water quality by accelerating the adoption of saturated buffers. A saturated buffer is a type of a conservation drainage practice that reduces nitrate loss from subsurface-drained fields. Too much nitrate in surface water causes low levels of oxygen (hypoxia). Low oxygen levels in water kill fish, which negatively affect the economy and environment.

In this project, a qualified team of experts with diverse backgrounds will develop a user-friendly online tool to improve the design of saturated buffers on specific farms. The value of the online tool is to show the best design that removes more nitrate at a lower cost of the saturated buffer.

Farmers want to protect water quality while producing crops. This tool will give them the means to see the benefit of a saturated buffer on their farm. Once the tool is developed, Michigan State University Extension will offer workshops to educate people on using the tool.

Source : msu.edu

Video: How Can We Grow More Food With Less Impact?

For over two decades, Dr. Mitloehner has been at the forefront of research on how animal agriculture affects our air and our climate. With deep expertise in emissions and volatile organic compounds, his work initially focused on air quality in regions like California’s Central Valley—home to both the nation’s richest agricultural output and some of its poorest air quality.

In recent years, methane has taken center stage in climate discourse—not just scientifically, but politically. Once a topic reserved for technical discussions about manure management and feed efficiency, it has become a flashpoint in debates over sustainability, regulation, and even the legitimacy of livestock farming itself.

Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Professor and Air Quality Specialist with the CLEAR Center sits down with Associate Director for Communications at the CLEAR Center, Joe Proudman.