Farmers in the Ozarks continue to wrestle with pressures to increase production and remain profitable, while at the same time try to minimize nutrient export to surface and ground waters. Added to these pressures, areas like Arkansas and Oklahoma face impacts of the lawsuit governing the land application of phosphorus in the Eucha-Spavinaw Watershed (ESW), which supplies water to the metropolitan area of Tulsa, Okla.
In 2003, the City of Tulsa and Tulsa Metropolitan Utility Authority agreed to a settlement with several poultry companies and the City of Decatur wastewater treatment plant, in Arkansas. This addressed concerns that phosphorus, in runoff from pastures fertilized with poultry litter and in wastewater discharge from Decatur, accelerated algae growth, which caused subsequent taste and odor problems in drinking water.
The role of phosphorus in accelerating eutrophication of fresh waters is well documented. In many areas of the U.S., regulatory and non-regulatory agencies have changed their strategic approach to nutrient management planning with respect to water quality impacts, because it has become cheaper to control nutrient sources than treat the symptoms of nutrient enrichment.
The ESW lawsuit settlement required poultry farmers to have a nutrient management plan (NMP) that determined appropriate rates of poultry litter application based on the potential for phosphorus loss in runoff. Each year since 2004, the plan writing has had a direct impact on nutrient management and has decreased land application of poultry litter in the watershed. Reports indicate that approximately 82,000 tons of poultry litter are produced within ESW annually. From amounts of litter applied determined by NMPs, it was calculated that 69 to 78 percent of the litter produced in ESW was exported. This has created a severe economic impact on beef cattle farmers within the watershed. As poultry litter has been an inexpensive source of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to maximize forage production and quality for beef-cattle grazing, changes in litter management have significantly impacted the profits of these farmers.
If you are farming outside the ESW and thinking you are glad it is happening to them and not to you, you had better take notice because watersheds like the ESW are setting the standard for other adjacent watersheds in the region.
In any watershed, when striving to achieve a dual system of profitable farming and effective environmental management, the NMP process must go beyond addressing nutrient application rates and environmental risk assessment by including an educational effort to help farmers develop sustainable whole-farm operations. Some management practices that can contribute to the economic and environmental sustainability of beef-cattle grazing operations include: incorporation of N2-fixing legumes into pastures, rotational grazing, exclusion of livestock from streams, forage harvest and feed management, forage species diversification and introduction of tall fescue containing a non-toxic endophyte. For long-term success, farmers will have to work persistently with their Extension Service and NRCS District, but will also have to develop a profitable plan unique to their land and operation.
Sheri Herron is with Litter Link in Decatur, Ark., a not-for-profit group that connects poultry growers with landowners needing poultry litter for fertilizer.
