Hundreds of landowners attended seven public listening sessions over the last two months hosted by Minnesota Department of Ag officials on the state’s draft nitrogen fertilizer rule.

The draft N rule supports the state’s Nitrogen Fertilizer Management Plan to prevent and minimize the impacts of N fertilizer on groundwater. At the hearings, Dan Stoddard, MDA assistant director of the fertilizer division, said the goal during the comment period is to make sure farmers are informed about the economically viable practices to reduce N impact.

“This is a draft,” Stoddard said. “Everything is subject to change. August 11 is the end of the comment period.”

Ag stakeholders, including representatives from farm groups, met as an advisory committee 18 times over a two-year period to work on the Nitrogen Fertilizer Management Plan draft.

The majority of Minnesota households have access to safe drinking water supplies. However, depending on soils and topography, some areas of the state are vulnerable to groundwater contamination and have high nitrate levels. In infants, too much nitrate in drinking water can cause methemoglobinemia, also known as blue baby syndrome.

“N leaching from fertilizer is a very challenging problem,” Stoddard said. N leaching occurs in row crop production in vulnerable soils, and it varies each year depending on weather. N leaching is known to last long after N application and changing agronomic practices, sometimes as long as 20 years. And N leaching has enormous variability between and within aquifers.

State private well testing has shown that 9.5% of nearly 20,000 wells sampled in 167 townships in 19 counties exceed or are equal to the nitrate limit of 10 mg/liter, said Larry Gunderson, MDA supervisor of the fertilizer technical unit.

Rule based on BMPs
The draft N fertilizer rule is based on best management practices developed by the University of Minnesota and contains two parts, each with its own criteria and requirements. Depending on your location, your farm may fall under Part 1 of the proposed rule, both parts or not at all. Part 1 addresses restricted nitrogen use as fertilizer in the fall, and on frozen soils in vulnerable groundwater areas. Part 2 discusses the requirement to follow BMPs in areas found to have high nitrogen concentration in groundwater.

At listening sessions around the state, farmers in attendance have been asking questions about the vulnerable groundwater areas, the logistics involved in changing from fall to spring nitrogen applications, and the BMPs, said Gunderson.

Warren Formo, executive director of the Minnesota Ag Water Resources Center, noted that farmers have concerns about some areas labeled as vulnerable, and believe they are not.

“There also is confusion over what exactly the rule will do,” Formo added.

Specifically at the St. Cloud listening session, some farmers voiced concerns about N research cited by MDA. A few noted that many farmers already are following BMPs and questioned what happens next.

Stoddard said the overall goal in working on the draft N rule is to collaborate with growers in targeted vulnerable areas on BMPs and alternative practices.

“We want to get local people together to solve problems,” he said. “We want farmers at the table to discuss the issue and see if we can do better.”

Some farmers have asked how manure is impacted by the draft rule. Gunderson explained that manure’s nitrogen rate is included in BMPs, so farmers should know the amount of N in the manure in order to figure their N credits. What gets a tad confusing is the fact that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency regulates manure, and MDA regulates N fertilizer.

“MPCA will regulate manure as it has in the past,” Gunderson said. “The crossover between the two is nitrogen rate.”

Dennis Fuchs, Stearns Soil and Water Conservation administrator, said he thinks the N rule is very farmer-friendly.

“MDA is giving farmers lots of opportunities for this to work,” he said. Mainly, they need to implement BMPs.

MDA offers several websites to go to for more information. Farmers are encouraged check out their farms on MDA's interactive Draft Vulnerable Groundwater Area Map, which shows the draft vulnerable groundwater areas.

To learn about BMPs, visit MDA's Nitrogen Fertilizer Best Management Practices webpage.

To get a good overview of the mitigation process that falls under part two of the draft N fertilizer rule, check out the MDA Draft Nitrogen Fertilizer Rule fact sheet.

To view MDA's public hearing presentation or to submit comments on the draft rule, go to the MDA Public Participation webpage.

MDA officials say the draft rule is expected to be adopted in fall 2018.