You’ve got to be doing something right if lots of people keep coming to you for advice. That’s what’s happening in Illinois as the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association (IFCA) continues to be inundated with requests to share how it’s hammered out a number of solutions to help curb nutrient loss in fields. IFCA and its partners — which include the state’s Farm Bureau and corn and soybean associations — have no magic formula, but instead a series of carefully orchestrated programs to help retailers and growers ultimately protect waterways while at the same time increase yields.

 

The efforts were spurred in part by increasing concern about nitrogen and phosphorus loads in water, both in Illinois and throughout U.S. One particular trigger was EPA’s Gulf of Mexico hypoxia action plan, released in 2008, that required the 12 states along the Mississippi River develop nutrient loss reduction strategies by 2013. Although Illinois contributes just 7% of the water flow to the Gulf, it is responsible for 20% of the nutrient load.

 

More locally, Illinois had its own issues. “We’re a major ag production state with lots of rivers and streams, so we knew we had to be proactive,” says Jean Payne, president of IFCA. In 2010 the association began cultivating relationships with key stakeholders in the state’s water issues, including water utilities, environmental groups, and commodity associations.

 

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