Sustainability Now! | Laura Bowling | Purdue Agronomy | On-Farm Drought Resilience | 8-12-24

On this week’s program, your host, Justin Mog, puts on his overalls for a chat with Purdue University professor of agronomy, Laura Bowling. Laura is the hydrologist working in collaboration with others at Purdue’s Agronomy Center for Research and Education (ACRE) (https://ag.purdue.edu/department/agry/acre/index.html). The team is addressing an issue that Midwestern farmers are increasingly facing with climate chaos: drought tolerance. Adequate rainfall has spared most of the Midwest from drought conditions (https://www.drought.gov/) so far this summer. However, in the future, farmers must be prepared, placing an importance on tools that manage dry periods throughout the growing season. Purdue’s Drainage Water Recycling project (https://transformingdrainage.org/), based at (ACRE), works to capture drainage water to prevent downstream flow and redirect it back to fields during drier conditions later in the growing season. Through drip irrigation–lines that run directly beneath crop rows–water and fertilizers are placed precisely as needed. Laura Bowling, professor of agronomy, estimates that the program will reduce nitrate going downstream by 30-40%. While Shaun Casteel, professor of agronomy, notes that soybean production has increased around four to six bushels since the project’s beginning. This collaboration has resulted in major developments for the reutilization of runoff, the moisture stability of corn and an increase in crop production. The Purdue team, Bowling, Casteel, Daniel Quinn (assistant professor of agronomy specializing in corn production), Keith Cherkauer (direct of the Indiana Water Resource Research Center and professor of agricultural and biological engineering) and Juan Sesmero (professor of agricultural economics) is continuing to refine their system to maximize the water recycling and nutrient supply, as well as benefit Midwestern farmers throughout drought seasons. For more information, please view Purdue College of Agriculture’s story: https://ag.purdue.edu/news/2024/06/maximizing-midwest-drought-resilience-through-sustainable-solutions.html As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at http://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at http://appalatin.com