Iowa may limits liquid manure applications

The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission approved a limit of 100 pounds of actual nitrogen and asked for public comment. A law may get approval in April or May.

The proposed limit will last for five years. After that, the rule would ban all nitrogen applications from manure on soybean fields unless there is scientific evidence to change the ban.

The idea is to prevent overuse of manure as a fertilizer.

A provision for bad weather would allow farmers to plant a manure-applied field to soybeans if their original plans to plant corn were thwarted. BF