DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- High fertilizer costs have some Iowa farmers coddling up to a previously shunned byproduct of the business - manure.
There's no indication that Iowans have taken to the smell of manure that hovers around many of the state's hog lots, but a new
survey from the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University shows farmers are placing a higher value on the commodity. Farmers said that's because manure is a much cheaper alternative to commercial fertilizer.
Matt Russell of the center says the survey of 61 farmers makes clear that as commercial fertilizer has grown more expensive, more farmers have turned to simple manure. But as Lake City farmer Dwight Dial puts it, if chemical fertilizer costs drop, "hog manure will stink again."
(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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