George Rhem On AM Minnesota

George Rhem, who is the Discovery Farms Coordinator with the Minnesota Agriculture Water Resources Center, was on AM Minnesota today. The Discovery Farms idea started in Wisconsin and was adopted in Minnesota. The first Discovery Farm was set up in 2010 and now we have 11 Discovery Farms in Minnesota. The concept is to scientifically measure sediment and any crop nutrients that are leaving a farm either from the soil surface or in tile lines. Those 11 farms are actually working farms including all types, cash grain and all species of livestock.

It is no secret that a lot of attention is focused on water quality both from sediment and crop nutrients like phosphorus and nitrate nitrogen. There are those who sit at their desks running "computer models" coming up with results that farmers are major contributors to poor surface water quality. Well, George said we have data from five years that show the "computer models" greatly overestimated the sediment and crop nutrients leaving farm fields. The plan is to take this data to regulators or the Minnesota Legislature when they try and address water quality concerns.