The idea is to add a third crop beyond corn and soybeans in environmentally sensitive areas.

“The point isn’t to eliminate corn and soybeans. The point is to take the most environmentally sensitive 5 or 10 percent of the land in the basin and get it into something other than row crops.”

Some of the alternative crops include alfalfa and native grasses from which seeds are harvested and sold. There is also growing interest in growing grasses or other crops that can be used for bioenergy, such as to make ethanol. Those types of crops hold soil in place better than row crops and they filter out fertilizers that carry phosphorus into streams.

“We have a lot of interest in alternative crops. Economically, there are opportunities out there to have crops that are competitive with corn and soybeans,” Meschke said.

Rural Advantage, which has a board of directors, already has received grants of more than $1 million, from groups like Excel, McKnight Foundation, the Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service.