Cover Story - From Trash to Treasure
Turning by-products into profits

By Henry Gantz
hgantz@meistermedia.com

They say one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Cherokee Nitrogen of Colbert County, AL, near Muscle Shoals, is one of the South's leading manufacturers of nitrogen fertilizer. Water used in the cooling process can be diverted into the Tennessee River, only a few hundred yards north of the facility. But water with nitrate levels that are too high cannot. Trash.

The company makes urea, ammonium nitrate, anhydrous ammonia and 83% nitrate for dynamite production. "There is actually a dynamite plant not too far from here," says Neal Isbell.

Isbell farms with his sons, Shane and Todd, adjacent to Cherokee Nitrogen, and they have a use for the water that can't be pumped into the river. "We use that water in irrigation," he says. Treasure.

But what would happen if the Isbells didn't take that water? "I don't know," Neal laughs. "I guess they'd be in trouble."

It's a win-win proposition for Cherokee Nitrogen and the farming operation, Neal says. "We handle their water and they pump it for us. We have pipes that run to our center-pivots. It's beneficial to us, and it's beneficial to them." Pipes reach as far out as three miles.

But for the Isbells, it's more than the pumping-costs savings that makes this an attractive relationship. "We don't have to add any more nitrate on fields where we have pivots," Neal explains. "We get all of our nitrates from the water. It's a tremendous savings."

Cherokee Nitrogen tests for nitrate levels in the water the Isbell's use and that enters the Tennessee River. "They test almost daily, and we know exactly what we are putting out," Neal continues. "Most of the time, we can put out about 150-400 units on our corn, and about 100 units on our cotton. We don't have a well in this section of the county, but we use some ground water closer to Muscle Shoals."

This past year, the Isbells planted 2,200 acres of corn and 1,800 acres of cotton. But in what Isbell said was a normal year, they would have 1,000 acres or corn and 3,000 acres of cotton.

They have 16 pivots, covering 1,800 acres, that can take advantage of Cherokee Nitrogen's outflow that is not allowed in the river. This water is collected in a diversion pond, then pumped to the pivots through a piping system. One center-pivot has a three-mile long pipe servicing it.

Obviously the EPA has regulations on what can be pumped onto specific fields - "It's mandatory that we check the nitrate levels," says Shane - but with this many pivots spreading the water, the regulations have not been a factor.

"We started irrigating in the late ‘80s, and we've been adding pivots ever since," Neal says. In the beginning, Cherokee Nitrogen had two center pivots of its own that were used on hay fields, but the company was having problems regulating the nitrate levels. "They were putting out too much nitrate out under those pivots," he explains. "They came to us because we had irrigation experience. We've worked with them over the years to expand the irrigation, and we can spread the nitrate out to a manageable level."

Shane Isbell adds, "They have been good to us; they have been easy to work with."

What's New?
Neal Isbell began farming in 1970 - "That was my first crop and I've never had a real job," he laughs - and he is the fourth of five generations on the land. "It's a real blessing to be able to work my with sons every day," he says.

The Isbells are on the cutting edge of precision-ag technology, and Neal has been working with NASA for many years. "The space industry has been an ally of agriculture," he says. "Most of our advances in technology have come through the space program. People don't give the space industry enough credit for a lot of the new technologies we have."

With help from the Alabama Extension Service, particularly Shannon Norwood at Auburn, Neal got started in precision ag. "Everything we do," he says, "is based on precision ag." That begins with Veris technology and GPS-guided grid sampling, then right on to planting. "We use variable-rate seeding for cotton and corn," Neal says. "We even have a pivot that has a GPS unit on it. You run into places that don't need as much water; it varies the water. We have the ability to turn one pivot off where it laps another one. That's real important where we are putting the nitrate water out. If you overlap, you get too much nitrogen and too much water."

Adds Shane, "With precision ag, hands down, we have been able to raise our production on our good ground. I don't think we know what the top is yet, but our yields have picked up over the last few years."

Along the way, applications of pesticides, plant-growth regulators and defoliants are precision-applied, based on aerial imagery. Then it's on the yield monitors on harvest equipment.

And believe it or not, the Isbells even make precision applications of chicken litter that they get from Neal's two brothers.

The Isbell's aerial imagery services are provided by InTime and John Deere.

Conventional vs. Transgenic

The Isbells bell-cow variety is Stoneville ST 5242 BR (a Bollgard, Roundup Ready variety), and they like what they are seeing with ST 4427 B2RF (Bollgard II, Roundup Ready Flex). There is also some acreage in Delta and Pine Land's DP 555 BR.

"We think we can farm conventional cotton just as cheaply, but Bollgard has been very beneficial since the boll-weevil program took us out of weevil problems," Neal says. "We like the convenience (of Bollgard and Roundup Ready traits)."

But there remains a problem in northwest Alabama with nematodes that rotation with corn has "not cured," says Todd, although they do see some suppression of reniform nematodes with Temik. But where the rotation with corn pays dividends is in yield. "One hundred pounds more (per acre)," he adds. And Neal estimates that corn after cotton can see yield increases of 10 bushels per acre.

It Is Rocket Science
In 2002, Science@NASA Headline News - yes, that NASA - ran a story on Neal Isbell and his move to what we have come to know as "precision agriculture."

Three years earlier, NASA said, "Many farmers simply didn't know the technology existed, while others weren't convinced that it made economic sense." Hoping to change that perception for the better, NASA launched a program in 1999 called "Ag20/20," which was a partnership that included USDA.

In 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped out of Apollo 11 and took that historic one small step for man, and that one giant leap for mankind. So it was that 33 years later, Neal Isbell stepped into his truck with a laptop computer.

"The laptop is now an essential part of our farming operation," Isbell said then. "And I have a hard time keeping the dog from stepping on it."

NASA went on to predict that, "Indeed, perhaps only a decade or so hence, Isbell will climb down from his tractor holding a palm-sized computer in direct contact with earth-orbiting satellites. The screen will reveal a map of crop stresses only minutes old. A few buttons punched ... and automated systems rush to trouble spots, spraying precise amounts of pesticides, fertilizer and water."

Hammer, meet nail, but it took way less than a decade for that happen. What was "precision agriculture" in 2002, has now become simply "agriculture."

And the dog? After the interview, Isbell couldn't find him, so he said, "I must've forgotten his GPS collar again."