Conservation Progress Statistics

Iowa farmers are successfully taking on the challenge of additional soil and water quality improvement. Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have published a new study that demonstrates that agricultural conservation practices in the upper Mississippi River watershed can reduce nitrogen inputs to streams and rivers by as much as 34 percent and phosphorus by as much as 10 percent. Until now, nutrient reductions have been difficult to detect in the streams because changes in multiple sources of nutrients (including non-agricultural sources) and natural processes (e.g., hydrological variability, channel erosion) can have confounding influences that conceal the effects of improved farming practices on downstream water quality. The models used in this study overcame these difficulties to help validate that farmers' conservation actions on the land are improving water quality (Garcia et al, May 31, 2016, Regional Effects of Agricultural Conservation Practices on Nutrient Transport in the Upper Mississippi River Basin , Environmental Science & Technology).