Author(s)

Michael Thomas Aide, Indi Sue Braden, Samantha Siemers, Sven Svenson

Department of Agriculture, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA.

Nutrient migration from agricultural land to freshwater resources is a fundamental global concern. The Department of Agriculture at Southeast Missouri State University has installed technology to research aspects of nutrient migration and propose mitigation strategies. The installed technologies include: 1) controlled subsurface drainage and irrigation technology, 2) a denitrification bioreactor to reduce nitrate concentrations in tile-drainage effluent, 3) an off-season water storage reservoir to capture and retain nitrate-bearing tile-drain effluent which will be applied as in-season liquid fertilizer, 4) riparian buffers, and 5) cover crops. For our beef livestock operation, we are installing a constructed wetland to capture nutrient-laden runoff from manure amended pastures associated with a confined feeding facility. Modern pasture management and row-crop nitrogen research augment the environmental stewardship potential of these infrastructures, while preserving farm profitability. The goal is to demonstrate that environmental stewardship, agriculture production and farm profitability are synergistic and may be explicitly demonstrated to the agriculture community.

Edge of Field, Nitrate, Tile Drainage, Hypoxia, Constructed Wetlands

Aide, M. , Braden, I. , Siemers, S. and Svenson, S. (2022) Soil Water Infrastructure to Eliminate Off-Site Nutrient Migration and Support Farm Profitability. Agricultural Sciences, 13, 776-789. doi: 10.4236/as.2022.136050.