Minnesota Soybean Farmers Speak Up for Clean Water

Meeting with Iowa Soybean Farmers Clarifies Farmer Responsibilities in Respective States

MANKATO, MN (08/06/2010)(readMedia)-- Minnesota soybean farmers are stepping up their involvement in the state's water quality management program in hopes of helping state agencies and various water organizations better understand agriculture's effect on water, as well as the initiatives farmers are undertaking to minimize impact on the state's rivers and lakes.

"Clean water is an important concern to farmers across the country," said Gary Joachim, an Owatonna farmer and member of the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association. "Since we share several watersheds with our neighbors in Iowa, we invited farmers and staff from the Iowa Soybean Growers Association to meet with us today in Mankato. We discussed ideas how, as farmers, we can work with the public officials and fellow farmers in our respective states to make sure agriculture has a seat at the table in the policy discussions about water quality."

Even though state agencies in the two states took different approaches in establishing the designated uses for the streams and lakes of Iowa and Minnesota there was agreement that farmers in each state must be involved in the process of developing plans to achieve water quality goals.

Through their Minnesota soybean checkoff, Joachim and other farmers want people to understand that agriculture is not the primary source of sediment in Minnesota rivers or phosphorus in Minnesota lakes, as some believe. "It has always been in the individual farmers best interest to reduce soil movement both within and from each field. Adequate and balanced fertility is one of the components that lead to more organic matter returned to the soil and long term productivity of the land." MSR&PC, which manages the Minnesota soybean checkoff, points out that the state of Minnesota has identified several sources of sediment, with erosion from farm fields being only one of them.

"According to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency data, natural sources, such as ravines, streambanks and bluffs, are the most prominent sediment sources in Minnesota," says Warren Formo, Executive Director of the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resources Coalition (MAWRC.) Agricultural organizations, including the Minnesota Corn Growers, Minnesota Soybean Growers and Minnesota Farm Bureau, have formed the coalition in order to help involve farmers in Minnesota's clean water programs.

To help better understand the affect of agricultural practices on water quality, Minnesota soybean farmers, through their checkoff are currently funding seven University of Minnesota studies on water quality. One of these shows that sediment loads in the Minnesota River were as high in the 19th and early 20th centuries as today.

As one of the many sources of sediment in water, Minnesota agriculture has a role to play in the water quality solution, and MSR&PC advocates voluntary and scientific solutions to water quality improvement.

"In order for farmers to feed the world, clean water and modern agriculture must coexist, and they can," Joachim said.

The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council is made up of an elected board of 15 soybean producers from across the state. The mission of the council is to invest soybean checkoff dollars in well-defined research, marketing, education and commercialization programs designed to increase demand and thereby improve the profitability of Minnesota's soybean farmers. For more information, visit www.mnsoybean.org.