Posted December 11, 2013
USDA recently released a report finding that farm bill
conservation practices are reducing runoff of nutrients and sediment in the
Chesapeake Bay Watershed, according to a USDA news release available here. The full report is available here.
The report, part of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) “estimates that
since 2006, conservation practices applied by farmers and landowners are
reducing nitrogen leaving fields by 48.6 million pounds each year, or 26
percent, and reducing phosphorus by 7.1 million pounds, or 46 percent.”
The report also says that conservation practices have
lowered the estimated average eroded soil “by about 15.1 million tons a year,
or 60 percent – enough soil to fill 150,000 rail cars stretching more than 1,700
miles.” In addition, some form of
erosion control has been adopted on 97 percent of cropland acres in the area. Land with cover crops also increased from 12
percent to 52 percent in that time period.
The “majority of these conservation practices in the Chesapeake Bay were
made possible through Farm Bill conservation programs, which are now expired.”
Conservation groups like the National Association of
Conservation Districts (NACD), say the report shows voluntary use of good
conservation practices “is paying off in a big way,” according to an article by
Farm Futures available here.
“The report highlights the importance of conservation
planning,” said NACD President Earl Garber.
“No single practice applies for every producer on cultivated cropland;
the use of a comprehensive conservation plan has been critical to these water
quality successes.”
For more information on conservation programs, please
visit the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
