For Immediate Release

September 23, 2002

Contact: Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, 612-870-3416

Dr. Dennis Keeney, cell - 703-585-0799

Minneapolis – Dr. Dennis Keeney, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, will testify before the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy at a hearing held in Chicago on September 24, 2002.

Dr. Keeney will discuss strategies for reducing nitrogen related to agricultural production.

The 16-member Commission on Ocean Policy was selected by Congress to undertake an 18-month study and to make recommendations to the President and Congress for a national ocean policy. At the meeting tomorrow, the Commission will hear presentations on coastal and ocean issues of concern to the Great Lakes Region. The agenda will include invited speakers representing local and regional government agencies and non-governmental organizations and comments from the public. Issues to be highlighted at the meeting include: Natural Resources; Non-point Source Pollution; Invasive Species; and Climate Prediction.

The landscape of the Upper Midwest is considered the Corn Belt, dependent on a grain economy that has resulted in low economic returns and high nutrient and sediment losses. Nitrogen is the most widely used plant nutrient in fertilizers. Nitrogen compounds are recognized for their potential adverse impacts on the environment and health including increased sediment, diminished biodiversity, and increases in hypoxia – also known as the dead zone – in the Gulf of Mexico. A more ecologically based landscape is possible, IATP Senior Fellow Dr. Dennis Keeney will tell the Commission tomorrow.

Keeney proposes the utilization of nutrient sinks, especially for nitrogen, and a legume base for supplementing fertilizer nitrogen. These new systems would require a higher level of management to lessen nitrogen and phosphorus losses while supporting family farms and strengthening rural communities. This reinvented agriculture would ultimately benefit the Gulf of Mexico by significantly lowering the amount of nitrate exported to the Gulf.

Who: Dr. Dennis Keeney – Senior Fellow at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Other speakers include: James Connaughton – White House Council on Environmental Quality; William Hartwig – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Robert Wayland – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Dr. Dan Walker – National Academies of Science; Dennis Schornack – International Joint Commission.

When: 9 am. September 24, 2002

Where: John G. Shedd Aquarium’s Phelps Auditorium, 1200 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois.

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy.

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