An Urban's Rural View
Nutrient Stewardship and Freedom to Operate
Because agriculture contributes 70% of the nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico's massive "dead zone," agriculture must be part of the solution. But how? What will it take to reduce nutrient runoff from farms?
Regulation, some argue: Only tough enforcement will get the job done, they say.
Wrong, retorts Sean McMahon. Regulation won't work. To reduce nitrogen and phosphorus 45% -- the goal of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy adopted by the state's legislature -- farmers must be convinced to voluntarily adopt better practices.
As of September 15, McMahon is executive director of the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance, a new joint venture of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association.
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According to its website (http://tiny.cc/…), the alliance is "committed to advancing the success of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy by increasing farmer awareness of the initiative and their adoption of science-based practices proven to have quantifiable environmental benefits."
The problem with regulation, McMahon says, is there are too many farms for regulators to cope with. Regulation is feasible if the problem is "point source" pollution—discharges into the water from a sewage-treatment plant or factory. There are, McMahon says, only 16,000 point sources in the country.
By comparison, there are 88,000 farms in Iowa alone, "I don't see how a state or federal agency could scale up" to enforce a regulatory regime, McMahon says. Even if it could be enforced, a one-size-fits-all approach would founder on the variability in soil types and climates between farms.
But while regulation won't make the water cleaner, neither will farmers' current voluntary efforts. Kirk Leeds, the chief executive officer of the Iowa Soybean Association, made that clear at the press conference announcing the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance.
"If we just simply let farmers do what they are already doing," Leeds said, "we're not going to see the improvement needed and adoption of conservation practices that we all want to see" (http://tiny.cc/… ).
Convincing farmers of the economic benefits of better practices will be part of the alliance's push. Another part will be encouraging companies, foundations and other private donors to supplement state funds in support of those practices.
"If you incentivize producers to reduce nutrients," McMahon says, "they'll find the most effective way to do that."
McMahon is the right person to lead the alliance's efforts. I interviewed him in 2012 when he was the Nature Conservancy's director of North American Agriculture and was impressed with his belief that large-scale, modern commercial farming is necessary to feed the world and can be done sustainably (http://tiny.cc/…).
At the Ag Summit DTN and the Progressive Farmer are hosting in Chicago this December, McMahon will discuss Nutrient Stewardship and Freedom to Operate in a 90-minute breakout session. For more information on the Ag Summit and how to register for it, see http://tiny.cc/….
Urban Lehner can be reached at urbanity@hotmail.com
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