October 11, 2000

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Ben Lilliston, 612-870-3416, blilliston@iatp.org

Mark Muller, 612-870-3420, mmuller@iatp.org

Minneapolis – There are opportunities to reinvent agricultural systems within the Midwest Corn Belt that could dramatically reduce the harmful effects of excess nitrogen entering the Mississippi River, according to a new report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

The report is being released today to coincide with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)- led task force meeting being held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to discuss strategies for reducing nitrogen inputs into the Mississippi. The task force is composed of representatives from 11 Mississippi River basin states. The report, Nitrogen and the Upper Mississippi River, is authored by IATP Senior Fellow and former Director of the Leopold Center, Dr. Dennis Keeney, and IATP Senior Associate Mark Muller.

"The nitrogen problem is so significant that small, incremental improvements will make little difference," says Dr. Dennis Keeney, the report’s co-author. "The states involved need to consider large, long-term reductions of approximately 30 percent to positively improve the Gulf ecosystem."

Excessive use of nitrogen in agriculture and other areas such as transportation and sewage treatment is adversely affecting the Gulf of Mexico, increasing concentrations of nitrogen in surface and ground waters, creating high levels of erosion and siltation, and contributing to global climate change. The Gulf of Mexico in particular has been impacted, with nitrogen inputs in the upper Midwest playing a large part in causing hypoxia (low oxygen levels) in an area from Louisiana to Texas - also known as the Dead Zone.

The paper directly links the nitrogen problem to an agricultural system which encourages farmers in the Midwest to rotate from soybeans to corn each year. This model results in heavy use of nitrogen fertilizers and high concentrations flowing into rivers and streams. The five states of the Upper Midwest River Basin - Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and Minnesota – have the greatest amount of artificially drained soil, the highest percentage of total land in agriculture and the highest use of nitrogen fertilizers in the nation.

It is now estimated that the amount of nitrogen produced from humans equals the amount of nitrogen produced by natural sources. Excess nitrogen in rivers, lakes and groundwater can be toxic to humans, and causes water quality problems in natural water systems. The nitrogen problem has been exacerbated by tributary rivers that have been straightened, dams installed, and wetlands destroyed in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

"Further domination of the Mississippi River through a proposed expansion of the lock and dam system for barge navigation will unquestionably add to, not address, the river’s woes," says Mark Muller, co-author and Senior Associate at IATP.

The report suggests a number of strategies to reduce nitrogen inputs into the river including:

* Substituting nitrogen-fixing legumes in place of fertilizers. These legumes follow an age-old practice that was finely honed in the last century. Rotations including legumes would greatly lessen weed pressures, break insect and soil borne pathogen cycles, and provide a diverse agriculture.

* Rates of land application of animal manures could be based on phosphorus-needs. This will create problems for the concentrated animal feeding operations that dispose of manure on legumes in addition to corn. Pasture and hoop-house raised swine provide an environmentally friendly alternative.

* Instead of solely being dedicated to feed grains, fragile lands could be converted to perennial energy crops such as switchgrass and coupled with locally owned and operated ethanol and electricity plants. The grassland systems would need to be integrated with a nitrogen-fixing legume, eliminating the need for nitrogen fertilizers.

* Alfalfa is a source of high quality protein and helps build soil quality, but has high processing costs. With adequate research, alfalfa could become a substitute for soy protein.

* If a shift is made away from the corn/soybean model, more opportunities would exist for local foods and community supported value-added programs. Smaller farmers would be the main beneficiaries of this new agriculture.

* Finally, pesticide use would be greatly reduced because of the breaking of pest cycles with extended rotations.

The full report can be found on IATP’s webpage: http://www.iatp.org/foodsec/library/admin/uploadedfiles/showfile.cfm?FileName=Nitrogen_and_the_Mississippi.doc