Kilgus Dairy in Fairbury, Illinois was the venue for the nutrient management portion of CTIC’s 2013 Conservation in Action Tour last week. This part of the tour was sponsored by GROWMARK, Inc., which is a strong promoter of the 4Rs – using the right nutrient source at the right time and right rate and in the right place.
Nutrient management in general is something for which Dr. Howard Brown of GROWMARK has a passion, as we know having interviewed him many times for this site. Howard has been on loan from GROWMARK lately to work as interim nutrient utilization director for the Illinois Council of Best Management Practices and when he returns to the coop, he says his new title will be Director of Nutrient Management and Environmental Stewardship.
Dr. Brown introduced the nutrient management portion of the conservation tour by talking about something very dear to his heart – MOM. “MOM is very important to all of us,” he said. “What’s MOM? Minimize environmental impact by Optimizing harvest yield and Maximizing impact utilization.”
“It’s time for agriculture to step up to the plate and we are doing that,” he continued. “Let’s not give up on agriculture.”
He also talked about the work being done by the Nutrient Research and Education Council (NREC). “Probably a little over $2 million directed toward applied research in Illinois and that’s not governmental dollars, it’s farmer dollars to promote applied research,” said Brown.
Listen to his comments here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/ctic/ctic-13-brown.mp3″ text=”GROWMARK’s Howard Brown comments”]