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Pros and cons of Denmark groundwater model discussed by Wisconsin panel

A farmer questions if Denmark’s groundwater protection strategies would be a good fit for American areas with high nitrate contamination.

USDA groundwater quality researcher Mark Borchardt says Denmark has light soils over a shallow aquifer with 30 years of cover cropping and manure management knowledge that can be applied in places like central Wisconsin. “A whole suite of things that they’ve actually documented that their nitrate levels in groundwater have gone down. It’s not a panacea. They still have some hotspot problems, but the point I was trying to make tonight is we don’t have to start from scratch.”

Potato farmer and state Ag Board member Andy Dierks tells Brownfield some parts of the Denmark water protection model such as nitrogen limits might not work well for agriculture. “Regulatorily, just limiting nitrogen applications or the amount you can buy, something like that to me isn’t necessarily a good solution. It just sooner cuts down my yield or my quality, and in most cases isn’t going to reduce the leaching. I’m not saying there aren’t solutions in the Denmark model, but just that one in particular really jumps out at the industry and really puts everybody in a corner.”

Borchardt tells Brownfield Denmark is livestock and crop intensive with a lot of rain and cold winters, but he’s not sure how the crop rotations compared to Wisconsin.

Dierks says farmers drink the water, too and not one of them wants to harm the environment.  He says it’s also important not to regulate farmers out of a market. “If you’re a Wisconsin potato grower, you’re going to have less yield, less quality than an Idaho potato grower just because you’re in Wisconsin, that puts us really in a tough spot.” He adds, “It would one thing if you were fixing the problem but I don’t think that particular solution is going to fix the problem.”

Borchardt and Dierks spoke to Brownfield at the Wood County Citizens Groundwater Group discussion in Nekoosa, Wisconsin Monday.