UPFRONT

Freeing phosphorus

hosphorus has been getting a bum rap. The mineral is a basic ingredient for life. For starters, it helps make up the DNA in all organisms and is needed for development of strong bones. But lately, it’s been getting more attention as a polluter.

When excess phosphorus loads are allowed to drain from the land, they can tilt the fragile balance of life in rivers and oceans, causing numbers of some marine species to rocket and others to crash.

Now Agricultural Research Service scientists have discovered a way to help animal producers rein in this runaway nutrient. Their logic: If livestock and poultry could retain more of the phosphorus in their plant-based feeds, less would be excreted. And that would mean less potential nutrient waste and pollution.

Phosphorus is tricky to deal with because of its multiple, naturally occurring forms. In rocks, the mineral occurs as phosphate; in plants, as phytic acid. But animals with simple stomachs—including pigs, chickens, and people—can’t make use of these alternate forms. Our bodies just don’t churn out the right enzymes.

So, in their search for a way to help livestock unlock tied-up phytic acid, the researchers turned to one of nature’s most efficient degraders. The organism, a fungus called Aspergillus niger, is typically known for its food-spoiling ways, causing a black mold to grow on stored fruits, nuts and seeds. But it does have a redeeming quality.

1. niger produces phytase, which allows the fungus to break down the phytic acid in plants.

Since this discovery, researchers have developed a phytase enzyme that can be added to livestock diets to encourage better nutrition and reduce the costs associated with phosphorus supplementation. Eventually scientists would like to introduce the valuable enzyme to a range of crop plants.The project could have a staggering impact.

Back from Brazil

Members of the Missouri Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow Class XI recently returned from Brazil, where they spent 10 days absorbing the culture and studying South American agriculture. Class members learned the powerful scope of the Brazilian farm output, where agriculture accounts for 10 percent of the total economy (as compared to 1 percent in the United States). Agriculture in Brazil accounts for about 40 percent of the country’s total exports. Agriculture represents 7 percent of total U.S. exports. But ALOT members learned that there are limits to the pace of growth for Brazil’s ag sector. According to the U.S. Foreign Agriculture Service, the cost in Brazil to get to port with a ton of soybeans is 50 percent greater than in the United States and may equal a full 40 percent of the crop’s export value. While more land is coming into production and while what is in production is becoming more efficient, grain storage is increasing at a more modest pace. The FAS estimates that over the past several years storage capacity has increased only 10 percent of grain production, leaving a storage deficit of 35 percent.

Until Sept. 15, ALOT is accepting applications for Class XII. Contact: Kristin Perry, Box 418, Bowling Green, MO 63334, (573) 324-6538. E-mail ALOT@onemain.com.

Conservation Reserve Program turns 20

Missouri Conservation Commission Chairman Lowell Mohler, third from left, was among dignitaries who traveled to Saline County, Mo., June 28 to celebrate the 20th birthday of the Conservation Reserve Program in Missouri. Here Mohler discusses the use of special machinery to speed tree planting.

It was the Federal Food Security Act, the farm bill of 1985, that started it all. Article XII of the act provided financial incentives for farmers to take cropland out of production. The program sought to reduce both soil erosion and farm commodity surpluses.

The program succeeded at both goals. Missouri, whose annual losses to soil erosion were the second-largest in the nation, reaped enormous soil-conservation benefits. Wildlife conservationists hailed the program for the help it could give quail, pheasants and other grassland wildlife. It was a win-win situation where landowners got financial help they needed to control soil erosion and boost wildlife.

Since its inception, the program has resulted in:

• 400 million tons of topsoil saved

• 50 million tons of atmospheric carbon tied up in vegetation each year

• 36 million acres enrolled nationwide (8 percent of available cropland), with an average payment to landowners of $48.90 per acre

• 1.6 million acres enrolled in Missouri (7.5 percent of the state's cropland) on 22,000 farms, saving soil and enhancing wildlife

• $105 million in annual payments to Missouri farmers.

While working land conservation programs like EQIP and WRP have been growing recently, CRP, a land retirement program, still accounts for most conservation spending.

Ethanol shifts crop acres to corn, away from soybeans

“Ethanol has major implications for corn acreage,” said Pat Westhoff, with the MU Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.

“Ethanol production has doubled in the last 4 years and is projected to double again over the next 4 years,” according to Westhoff.

New FAPRI projections indicate fewer acres planted to soybeans and wheat as more acres are planted to corn to meet ethanol demand.

At present, corn and soybean acreage is about evenly divided in the Corn Belt, which covers Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. For 2006, each crop takes about 36 million acres.

By 2010, end of the 5-year revised FAPRI baseline, the 5-state acreage for corn could reach 39 million.

Soybean acres would drop to 33 million. In spite of rising corn production, FAPRI projections say corn prices also go up due to increased demand from the growing number of ethanol plants in the Midwest.

The average corn price is $1.98 per bushel for the 2005 marketing year just ending. The price for the crop now growing in the field is projected at $2.33. By 2010 the average price jumps to $2.69 per bushel in the outlook.