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Des Moines Register
02/19/06
Legacy felt in many fields
By JERRY PERKINS
REGISTER FARM EDITOR
They called Alfred Blackmer "Dr. N" because of his trailblazing research
into nitrogen fertilizer.
Blackmer, who was a professor of agronomy at Iowa State University, died
Jan. 28 at age 62. The influence of his research went far beyond the farm and
played a role in the quality of drinking water in Iowa homes.
His legacy will be highlighted Wednesday at the Iowa Soybean Association OnFarm Network Nitrogen Conference, which features the on-farm nitrogen
management research that Blackmer began.
That pioneering research pre-dated the days when Iowa's water quality became
a hot political topic with proposals to limit or ban fall application of crop fertilizer.
Blackmer often warned Iowa farmers that if they didn't manage their use of
fertilizer wisely, they could count on more government regulation of their farming
practices.
If it isn't done properly, research has shown, the chemicals can wash away.
That's one of the reasons that Iowa's rivers have some of the highest levels of
nitrates in the world, environmentalists and others say.
Although scientists are still debating the health risks of nitrates in drinking water,
some studies have linked the compounds to cancers, miscarriages and a
condition that robs babies' blood of oxygen, thus suffocating them.
James Andrew, a Jefferson farmer who participated in the on-farm nitrogen
management research, said Blackmer was not an "ivory tower" scientist.
"He was there working in the field with farmers and with graduate students," said
Andrew. "Fred left a legacy of farmers and young people who could take his work
on into the future."
Andrew was one of the first farmers to join Blackmer's research project.
With petroleum-based fertilizer prices rising rapidly, Andrew said, it is even more
critical for farmers to use nitrogen fertilizers in the most effective way.
Blackmer's interest in nitrogen fertilizer and where it moved within the soil
stretched back to the 1970s, when he was a graduate student at Iowa State.
His on-farm research plots began on a small scale in the 1980s and were
expanded when yield monitors, Global Positioning Systems and remote sensing
technologies came online and gave out even more information that showed
farmers how to improve their efficiency.
Blackmer's son, Tracy, who is director of research for the Iowa Soybean
Association, said the association combined his father's on-farm nitrogen
management research efforts with soybean association funding and other
sources of money in 2001.
There are about 20 sources cooperatively funding the program, Tracy Blackmer
said.
Results of the on-farm research have been presented at an annual conference
since 2001.
Using the results from nitrogen research at hundreds of Iowa farms like
Andrew's, Blackmer concluded that Iowa farmers apply too much nitrogen
fertilizer in some cases.
When it is applied excessively, nitrogen fertilizer can cost farmers money, run off
the soil and foul the state's waterways, Blackmer said. It also can lead to lower
on-farm income and could invite government regulation of farm fertilizer use.
His message was controversial, but Blackmer stuck by it.
In 2003, Blackmer was named Progressive Farmer magazine's Leader in Service
to Agriculture.
Blackmer, the magazine said, "espouses a few controversial theories about
nitrogen use. More importantly, he is on a crusade to get farmers to question
conventional wisdom about fertilizer management."
One way to prevent regulation of fertilizer application is for farmers to show they
know how to use it, not abuse it, Blackmer said.
Farmers want to know when and how much nitrogen they need to apply for
maximum profit, he said.
Tracy Blackmer said his father's legacy will be his use of research techniques on
working farms that measured performance and evaluated the data so farmers
could continually improve their management of nitrogen and give them a
competitive edge.
Farmers are a practical lot and will do what they can to maximize yields and
reduce costs, Blackmer told The Des Moines Register.
"I've never met a farmer who wanted to put fertilizer down that he knew he was
going to lose," Blackmer said.
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