Nitrogen and phosphorus are running off farm fields in Illinois at ever increasing rates despite millions of dollars spent on research and conservation practices designed to mitigate the problem, according to the state’s recently-released report on nutrient loss.
Conventional farming practices followed in the Midwest are untenable as climate change accelerates and massive rain events flush more fertilizer and chemicals off farm fields.
What’s needed, according to Catie Gregg, agricultural programs specialist with Prairie Rivers Network, is a complete systemic change in farming.
“Our conventional farming is less adapted to our climate,” she said. “Look at the millions of acres in cover crops, the buffers and less tillage –– all overshadowed by the impact of climate.”
The third biennial Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy report issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency shows more nitrogen and phosphorus running off farm fields and into streams, rivers and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico, adding to the hypoxic dead zone.
Gregg said cover crops are effective and low cost but “the benefit of cover crops is undermined with (increased) field tiling.”
She said increased field tiling and levies are frustrating and “shift the problem to someplace else away from whoever can afford protection.” And that leaves the most vulnerable at increased risk.
Demands over property rights and freedom end when land management practices jeopardize the property rights and freedom of others, she said. If voluntary programs can’t mitigate the problem, mandates are inevitable.
Urban areas also add to the problem when heavy rains overwhelm sewage systems and raw sewage is dumped into rivers and streams.
People living in towns must make changes.
Gregg’s advice: don’t sweep leaves into the gutter; pick up pet waste; pay attention to where water flows from your property; install rain gardens/bioswales; use permeable paving on your driveway.
“If these measures can be followed when homes are constructed, there is not a lot of extra cost,” she said.
Dave Bishop, part of a multi-generational organic farm family in central Illinois and instructor at Heartland Community College teaching “Principles of Regenerative Ag,” stated:
“In my view, as long as our focus is on monocultural cropping systems and ever higher yields produced by ever increasing applications of crop nutrients there is little hope of a trend line reversal. Add to that an increasing frequency of extreme weather events and general uncertainty brought on by climate change and you have conditions that require fundamental changes to our farming systems.
“Certainly, conservation practices that buffer streams against surface runoff, and subsurface drainage tile control structures where appropriate play a meaningful and common-sense role on all farms and should be a requirement for all government assistance programs. But more fundamental change to our food system is needed. By adopting regenerative farming practices, such as minimizing soil disturbance, using cover crops to ensure that all the farmland is covered all the time, increasing the diversity of crops we grow like maybe replacing a meaningful amount (say . . . one third) of our corn and soybean acres with industrial hemp that can be processed locally and marketed domestically as building materials or paper and packaging products (bio-degradable plastics) etc., to mention a few of the thousands of uses for industrial hemp.
“Regenerative farming practices can protect our whole environment, create wealth on main street and ensure a reliable supply of healthy food. But only if two groups of people are willing to support the effort –– those who grow food and those who eat food. If you’re in one of those groups, please vote with your food dollars –– every week!”