At a Senate committee hearing this past week, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-IL, blamed Illinois farm runoff for the large dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico at a recent Senate Ag hearing.  When it comes to preventing farm runoff, Sen. Durbin told USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack at a recent Ag hearing that his state does not have such a good record, stating, “We’re about number four in the nation in terms of agricultural production, pretty big state, but we rank 37th in the nation when it comes to participation in the major conservation programs, soil conservation programs, that might avoid some of this runoff.”

 

Secretary Vilsack's response: “The resources that you all provided under the Inflation Reduction Act provide some ammunition to begin to address this issue in a more meaningful way. We’ve expanded the number of cooperative groups that are reaching out to farmers to encourage them to participate in basic conservation that could potentially, significantly reduce the need.” Nutrient research and precision ag are also key—and not just for IL, “I’ve been told that perhaps, as many as 30% of our corn acres in IA and IL may not require any fertilizer at all. We have resources that have been applied from the CCC that we’re using to create alternatives to the fertilizer, so we’re going to look at different ways to fertilize the land.”

 

Vilsack states USDA’s Climate Smart practices, which encourage farmers to produce crops sustainably and receive a premium for doing so, should also help reduce runoff in the Mississippi and other rivers. He also says that better conservation will improve the productivity and value of farmland, making it a better investment.

 

 

IFCA is concerned with these comments from Senator Durbin and Secretary Vilsack. IFCA will be in touch with Senator Durbin and USDA on how IFCA members and the industry are moving the ball forward on nutrient farm runoff.