Poor Compliance Assistance and Lax Enforcement Undermine U.S. Soil Conservation Program

Nearly 75 percent of U.S. farmer requests for voluntary conservation assistance go unfunded and soil erosion rules for subsidy recipients are barely enforced. The result: 1.7 billion tons of topsoil erodes off agricultural fields nationwide, polluting America's waters and fisheries with sediment and millions of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides, according to a new report from Environmental Working Group (EWG), Trouble Downstream: Upgrading Conservation Compliance.

Conservation compliance policy requires farmers to implement basic soil conservation practices to receive government subsidies. However, the report asserts that, for a number of factors, including poor enforcement, conservation compliance alone has proven woefully inadequate to solve the nation's water quality problems and therefore should be updated.

Slack enforcement of conservation compliance and significant under-funding of voluntary cost-share conservation programs contribute to a massive and chronic water pollution problem: the 'Dead Zone' where the Mississippi River pours into the Gulf of Mexico.

Each spring, soil erosion and fertilizer run-off from farms in the Mississippi River Basin contributes to the destruction of most aquatic life in an area the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico called the 'Dead Zone.' This year, the 'Dead Zone' is estimated to be the third largest on record. Scientists have identified fertilizer and animal manure run-off from farmland as the primary culprit in the formation and growth of the 'Dead Zone' every year.

The EWG report argues that outdated "conservation compliance" program, which provided federal tax dollars to commodity crop farmers for the prevention of soil erosion, ignore the environmental hazards caused by fertilizer runoff.

Even more disturbing, according to the report, taxpayer dollars in the form of federal farm subsidies to commodity crop producers (heavy users of fertilizer nutrients) are contributing to this environmental catastrophe. The problem could grow worse with the rapidly expanding production of corn and other crops as a result of the biofuels boom. Furthermore, conservation compliance singularly focuses on soil erosion while much of today's agricultural-environmental challenges involve fertilizer pollution, which is not managed by conservation compliance.

"It makes sense to expect that taxpayer dollars spent supporting crop production does not result in soil erosion or fertilizer pollution of our nation's waters. It's high time for Congress to require more environmental protection in exchange for farm subsidies, especially now, when budgets are tight, and there isn't enough money to solve problems with the conventional voluntary cost-share approach," says Michelle Perez, Senior Analyst and primary author of the EWG report.

"The Mississippi River Basin Water Quality Collaborative feels that expanding and strengthening Conservation Compliance on farmland is critical to the health of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico as well as water quality in the rivers and lakes in our states," says Susan Heathcote, Water Program Director for the Iowa Environmental Council and Chair of the Collaborative's Farm Program Workgroup.

"Reducing the size of the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico needs to become a national priority. While nitrogen and phosphorus pollution comes from many sources, one of the main strategies to fight the growing threat of the Dead Zone is to reduce the amount of fertilizer pollution that reaches our nation's waters from our agricultural fields-much of this pollution could be prevented if our farmland wasn't being allowed to erode away," says Matt Rota, Water Program Director for the Gulf Restoration Network.

"Soil erosion and fertilizer runoff are degrading Kentucky's waters and contributing to major problems in the Ohio River, Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. Conservation Compliance is an established program in the Farm Bill that should be expanded and strengthened to benefit farmers who responsibly protect our waters through proven conservation practices," says Jason Flickner, Water Resources Program Director for the Kentucky Waterways Alliance.

"To save our soil, our rivers, and fisheries, we need reform in the conservation compliance program. We can think of the need to set, uphold, and enforce effective standards as 'no farm left behind,'" says Kathleen Logan Smith, Executive Director of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.

"The Environmental Working Group's report on conservation compliance shows that improvements in agricultural practices and policies could result in much cleaner water for American citizens," says Stacy James, PhD, Clean Water Program Coordinator for the Prairie Rivers Network.

Access the full version of Trouble Downstream: Upgrading Conservation Compliance at this address (PDF).

For more information, contact Donald Carr, 202-939-9141/.