The commission met this week and instructed the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to craft a notice that begins the rule-making process for the ban.

If the rules change is approved, it could have a big effect on the farming community. Row crop farmers use manure as fertilizer, and livestock producers get rid of tons of animal waste by applying it to fields. Environmentalists have argued that soybeans don't need the nutrients provided by manure.

They say that its application on soybean fields creates nitrate pollution by leaving too much nitrogen in the soil, which then runs off into the state's waterways - some of the most nitrogen-rich waters in the world.

Source: AP via Forbes