URBANDALE, Iowa - At its regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 14, the Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) included discussion of a proposed rule to ban manure application on soybeans. Several agricultural representatives spoke against the action during the public participation, including Ray Gaesser, president of the Iowa Soybean Association.

“Speaking as the president of the Iowa Soybean Association, I believe our organization has been a leader in working with environmental organizations to reach farmers with agronomic and environmental solutions to agriculture’s challenges,” says Gaesser. “We believe that as the EPC, you have been given science-based data from Iowa State University (ISU) that you may be ignoring. In the absence of hard data (on any water quality impacts of manure application to soybean ground at crop uptake rates) ISU has developed its best recommendations for an interim process until the appropriate data can be collected. That recommendation does not support a ban of manure on soybean ground.”

In addition to Gaesser, Tom Vincent, crop farmer and pork producer and an ISA member from Perry, joined nine other farmers in speaking against the ban.

Once the public participation period ended, Dr. Tracy Blackmer, ISA director of research, presented information to the EPC which focused on the lack of evidence linking manure applied at rates that match crop-uptake levels of nitrogen on soybean ground to any water quality problems. The Commission questioned Blackmer intensely and during its final two hour session, voted to accept ISU’s recommendation of allowing 100 pounds of nitrogen applied as liquid manure from facilities required to have manure management plans to ground intended to be planted to soybeans.

However, an amendment was also added to the rule which required that after five years, the Commission intends to ban all liquid manure applications to soybean ground within manure management plans.

“While we didn’t succeed in totally eliminating the ban, we were able to encourage the EPC to direct its attention to the recommendations of our land-grant university, “ explains Blackmer. “We believe further research will show that manure applications at lower rates will have little if any detrimental effect on water quality.”

ISA will continue its research to help ISU and other research institutions come to a conclusion concerning the appropriate level of manure application to soybeans.

To learn more about ISA or about soy biodiesel, visit ISA’s Web site at www.iasoybeans.com or www.biodiesel.org.