So, have you been invited to the annual “dead zone” party? All the top Dead Zoners will be there.
There will be representatives of the farm chemicals industry, which is selling more synthetic fertilizer to Midwest farmers than they need. A bunch of it flows into Iowa waterways and on to the Gulf of Mexico, causing algae blooms and die-offs that rob aquatic life of oxygen.
“Many of our corn acres are being overfertilized,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said this spring. He’ll also be at the big shindig.
Also on hand will be politicians from both parties who refuse to require any conservation practices, even by using the next Farm Bill to push farmers to improve water quality.
The tile-layers will be there, celebrating the remarkable efficiency of tile drainage sending runoff into waterways. And of course, the ethanol industry wouldn’t miss a chance to marvel how the overproduction of corn for fuel helps make the dead zone possible.
No doubt a huge banner will hang above the buffet: “Iowa, the Dead Zone Starts Here!”
Extra small gulf shrimp will be on the menu.
Scientists backed by NOAA have made their yearly estimate of the dead zone’s size. This summer it’s a whopper — 6,705 square miles, the 12th largest on record after 38 years of measurements.
That’s as big as New Jersey. It’s as big as Yellowstone National Park. It’s bigger than the governor’s campaign donations from agriculture. OK, nothing is that big.
So why do we care about some gulf shrimp? Well, we are a member of the Mississippi River Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force. The task force’s goal is to shrink the dead zone to 1,900 square miles by 2035.
This year’s dead zone is more than three times larger than the 1,900 square mile goal. The task for objective is also falls well short the dead zone’s five-year average size of 4,298.
The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates the damage to marine habitat is $2.4 billion annually. Sorry, shrimpers.
We know how to turn the tide. We have the technology. For instance, cover crops providing winter cover can reduce nitrogen loss. But like so many practices, some farmers are planting cover crops but the vast majority are not, even after being offered a discount on crop insurance.
Otherwise, farm programs encourage farmers to produce as much as possible, which helps drive overuse of fertilizer.
Dead Zoners also balk at human-made climate change, which dumps record rainfall on states such as Iowa and heats up the gulf. A hotter gulf feeds that Midwest rainfall that runs off, causing worsening algae blooms. It’s as if it is all connected.
And we’re peeing in our own pool. The same nutrients that feed the dead zone cause algae blooms on Iowa lakes and rivers spawning swimming advisories.
But the party continues. So many are making so much money on the status quo. We promised to fix the problem. But our voluntary efforts aren’t working.
Politicians, faced with overwhelming evidence of that fact, should, for example, put, uch sharper teeth in the crop insurance program, pushing famers and landowners to do the right thing.
It’s time, past time, to yank out the voluntary system like a stubborn weed. If only we had the political courage to do it.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
There will be representatives of the farm chemicals industry, which is selling more synthetic fertilizer to Midwest farmers than they need. A bunch of it flows into Iowa waterways and on to the Gulf of Mexico, causing algae blooms and die-offs that rob aquatic life of oxygen.
“Many of our corn acres are being overfertilized,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said this spring. He’ll also be at the big shindig.
Also on hand will be politicians from both parties who refuse to require any conservation practices, even by using the next Farm Bill to push farmers to improve water quality.
The tile-layers will be there, celebrating the remarkable efficiency of tile drainage sending runoff into waterways. And of course, the ethanol industry wouldn’t miss a chance to marvel how the overproduction of corn for fuel helps make the dead zone possible.
No doubt a huge banner will hang above the buffet: “Iowa, the Dead Zone Starts Here!”
Extra small gulf shrimp will be on the menu.
Scientists backed by NOAA have made their yearly estimate of the dead zone’s size. This summer it’s a whopper — 6,705 square miles, the 12th largest on record after 38 years of measurements.
That’s as big as New Jersey. It’s as big as Yellowstone National Park. It’s bigger than the governor’s campaign donations from agriculture. OK, nothing is that big.
So why do we care about some gulf shrimp? Well, we are a member of the Mississippi River Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force. The task force’s goal is to shrink the dead zone to 1,900 square miles by 2035.
This year’s dead zone is more than three times larger than the 1,900 square mile goal. The task for objective is also falls well short the dead zone’s five-year average size of 4,298.
The Union of Concerned Scientists estimates the damage to marine habitat is $2.4 billion annually. Sorry, shrimpers.
We know how to turn the tide. We have the technology. For instance, cover crops providing winter cover can reduce nitrogen loss. But like so many practices, some farmers are planting cover crops but the vast majority are not, even after being offered a discount on crop insurance.
Otherwise, farm programs encourage farmers to produce as much as possible, which helps drive overuse of fertilizer.
Dead Zoners also balk at human-made climate change, which dumps record rainfall on states such as Iowa and heats up the gulf. A hotter gulf feeds that Midwest rainfall that runs off, causing worsening algae blooms. It’s as if it is all connected.
And we’re peeing in our own pool. The same nutrients that feed the dead zone cause algae blooms on Iowa lakes and rivers spawning swimming advisories.
But the party continues. So many are making so much money on the status quo. We promised to fix the problem. But our voluntary efforts aren’t working.
Politicians, faced with overwhelming evidence of that fact, should, for example, put, uch sharper teeth in the crop insurance program, pushing famers and landowners to do the right thing.
It’s time, past time, to yank out the voluntary system like a stubborn weed. If only we had the political courage to do it.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
