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Category: Farm to Trouble

“We should have a sense of urgency”: Drainage tile drives nutrient pollution

Agricultural drainage tile, a system used by farmers to increase crop yields, is a main contributor to excess nutrients in waterways.
by Joy Mazur, Columbia Missourian June 18, 2024 Updated June 18, 2024

Could the Mississippi River benefit from Chesapeake Bay’s strategy to improve water quality?

Sluggish progress on reducing nutrient runoff into the Bay marks an inconvenient truth, but offers lessons for others seeking to clean their watersheds.
by Bennet Goldstein, Wisconsin Watch June 18, 2024 Updated June 18, 2024

Not just a Gulf problem: Mississippi River farm runoff pollutes upstream waters

Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”
by Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel June 18, 2024 Updated June 18, 2024

At the mouth of the Mississippi, Louisiana bears the burden of upstream runoff. Why doesn’t it push for solutions?

This summer’s “dead zone,” a low-oxygen area where the river empties into the sea, could span 5,827 square miles across the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana has the power to call for change.
by Delaney Dryfoos June 18, 2024 Updated June 19, 2024

As conservation lags, so does progress in slashing Gulf’s ‘dead zone’

One year away from a federal deadline to reduce nutrient runoff into the Gulf of Mexico by 20%, increases in tile drainage, livestock and fertilizer use have made success unlikely.
by Erin Jordan, Cedar Rapids Gazette June 18, 2024 Updated June 18, 2024

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