Posted September 11, 2013
A new report released by USDA’s Natural Resource
Conservation Service (NRCS) shows significant reductions in the loss of
sediment and nutrients from farm fields through voluntary conservation practices
in the lower Mississippi River basin, according to a news release by USDA,
available here. The report is available here.
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack highlighted the
value of conservation programs, and called on Congress to pass a comprehensive
farm bill that would “enable USDA to continue supporting conservation work on
farms and ranches.”
The report marks the completion of an assessment of conservation
efforts in the Mississippi River watershed.
The findings show that “conservation work, like controlling erosion and
managing nutrients, has reduced the edge-of-field losses of sediment by 35
percent, nitrogen by 21 percent and phosphorus by 52 percent.”
The report is part of USDA’s Conservation Effects
Assessment Project (CEAP), which uses advanced modeling techniques to assess
the effects of conservation practices.
The lower Mississippi report covers cropland in Arkansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee.
Similar assessments in recent years were completed in
the upper Mississippi River, Tennessee-Ohio, Missouri and Arkansas-Red-White basins. The assessments in the project as a whole
have shown: “Conservation on cropland prevents an estimated 243 million tons of
sediment, 2.1 billion pounds of nitrogen and 375 million pounds of phosphorus
from leaving fields each year.” These
figures translate to a “55 percent, 34 percent and 46 percent reduction in
sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus edge-of-field losses, respectively,” compared
to losses if no conservation practices were in place. Information on these assessments is available
here.
For more information on conservation programs, please
visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website, here.
