allgie

[troy1976]

Snook-
Yes Farmers who raise corn and wheat use a lot of nitrogen...But Nitrogen rarely runs off due to the volatile nature of its chemical compound. THere are 3 most common forms of nitrogen that are used in modern farm practices. 1. Anhydrous AMmonia, 2. Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN or 28% solution), and 3. Urea. Anhydrous ammonia is injected into the ground in nitrite form which is unavailable for plant nutrient uptake. It goes through a conversion process into a nitrate form which is then plant available. This product is only used in corn production and is the most succeptible to leaching of the 3 sources of nitrogen. It forms chemical bonds with organic matter in the soil which generally hold it in place. As I said in my earlier post heavy spring rains have the best chance to leach nitrogen, but most early preplant applications of ammonia have a stabilizer added to it which helps hold it in place. I have done studies on this product and it retains 75 to 90 plus percent of the applied nitrogen-You will always have some leaching due to soil type differences. For example sandy groud typically has lower organic matter and thus cannot hold as much ammonia in place versus clay soil. Most farmers know this and adjust their nitrogen plans by the type of soil they are working with. Both UAN and Urea are already in nitrate form when they hit the ground. THese two have more of a chane to leach. However there are also stabilizer products that are used with each of them. Also both of these products will actually volatilize into the air if left on top of the ground quicker than they will leach into a water system. The same holds with heavy spring rains, but most of the nitrogen used in corn production is applied in mid to late april all the way into june, depending on planting timing. Wheat fertilizer is applied from late february till mid april. These wheat applications have the best chance to end up in lake erie. THat being said though nitrogen cost per acre to a farmer is approaching $100/acre, so we try to make the applications as timely as possible to prevent loss.
The biggest difference between phosphourous and nitrogen is how phosphourus bonds to soil particles and nitrogen bonds to organic matter. When the maumee river turns brown that is soil sediment which probably has some phosphourus tied to it. As I said earlier thogh farmers have cut way back on phosphourus applications and most apply as they are planting any more. There are also laws in place regarding application of manure...but there is very little livestock in NW ohio and SE michigan anymore compared to 30 40 years ago.

To answer your questions regarding farm drainage, yes farmers put tile in the ground to help draw moisture out of their fields. THese tile are roughly 3 feet below ground, depending on the slope of the field. A 1/2 inch raid more than likely will not make it to the tile as the ground soaks it up especially if the ground is fairly dry. A hard 2 inch rain will actually have more surface runoff as well if it comes down hard and fast. These rains too have little to do with fertilizere runoff as the water doesn't go down in the soil profile. A rain like we are having now is the kind that tends to get into creeks as the ground becomes saturated. Water that moves through tile ends up in creeks and streams that eventually end up somewhere most likely lake erie. Tile help dry up fields quicker so that they can plant earlier. Once planting is over tile also help get the rain off as the crop is growing. Heavy rains can really damage young crops as their root systems become stunted.

I probably made this as clear as mud...but I hope I helped clear the picture a little more. Let me know if you have any more questions.
troy

[Snook]

Troy--WOW!!! Thank you for your great reply/post. It was informative and I do know the fertilizer induxtry is trying to get better and more efficient every year, but we all know more work still needs to be done. I fished Lake Erie 2 weeks ago and it looked worse than in the 1970's when I fished it, so something is up and nobody seems to have answers. My guess it is a combination of many factors--probably the Maumee river and Portage river and Lake St. Clair into Lake Erie being the 3 biggest "issues" that have to be looked into. It is a little sad when you fish and say there is no way you would swim in it--sure the fish also are pissed-HaHa. We did manage to catch some Smallies around Pelee and Sugar Island, but not the number we were hoping for, and we even had "candy" aka softshells to fish with. Hope the cold winter kills the algae for good and look forward to May fishing.

[troy1976]

Snook,
I am too young to remember the 70s but I do remember the 80s and I agree that the water is worse today than it was then. Trust me the ag industry is very aware of the spotlight being shone upon them in regard to water quality. Most of my customers want to be and are good stewards of their land and practices. It is hard to pass farms on to new generations without being good stewards.
Here is a little food for thought as I end this post. I farm 100 acres and apply 200#/acre of nitrogen/phosphourous which equals 1 ton on 100 acres. My water has to go through the ground to the ditch to the stream to the maumee river to lake erie. Sediment falls to the bottom the entire way which is about 50 miles from the lake. Now lets say I own a house in a subdivision. I apply 2 50# bags of fertilizer to my 1/12th of an acre grass yard, 1 bag of nitrogen and 1 bag of phosphourus, throughout the entire year. That is 100# on 1/12th of an acre. 100 times 12 equals 1200 lbs/ac equivalent whish is 2/3rds of a ton. Now the water in my subdivision hits the stormsewer system, the system is overwhelmed, and I live 20 miles from the lake. Now times this by the number of homes in close proximity to each other in an urban setting. THe numbers are astronomical. As I have said before I am not defending agriculture, but we are not as large a contributor to this issue as we get credit for. Everyone has a share in the problem, but somtimes you need to put things in perspective. Good luck in 2012 fishing!!

[Snook]

Troy--Did you mean 10 tons for 100 acres--You said you use 200 lbs per acre, which means 2000 lbs or a ton for 10 acres?? I know farmers get more "****" than they deserve. I am involved in a golf course in Fla and we work so hard to be environmental friendly and really are better than housing development and great for wildlife--better even than pure native matelucal trees everywhere. Interesting, give me more info re fertilizer uses!!!!--I am looking at fertilizer companies and trying to ascertain wqith low cost of Natural Gas why they are charging so much for Nitrogen, they are making 65% margins when historically they were 20%. Price of corn is so high they just feel we will pay it I guess is the answer. And I did catch a 13 inch perch 2 weeks ago in the slim, so just maybe the stuff is not on the bottom?? PS Maybe I will give you my e-mail off line.