Integrated crop and livestock systems utilize manure as an organic source of fertilizer, but within this manure are bacteria that may contaminate water bodies if transported off the field by rain. Iowa State University professor Michelle Soupir describes her field and lab studies of bacterial movement from manure to soil to water, as well as the survival of potentially disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics used to treat livestock and humans.
Filmed June 2013
See the On the Ground Video, here.