A USDA assessment shows benefits of farmer-led conservation efforts to reducing runoff, Agriculture Secretary highlights the need for conservation programs provided by a Food, Farm and Jobs Bill

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report that shows farmers have significantly reduced the loss of sediment and nutrients from farm fields through voluntary conservation work in the lower Mississippi River basin. Secretary Vilsack highlighted the value of conservation programs to these efforts, and called on Congress to pass a comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs Bill that would enable USDA to continue supporting conservation work on farms and ranches.
The report, released by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) this week, marks the completion of a watershed-wide assessment of conservation efforts in the Mississippi River watershed. Its findings demonstrate that conservation work, like controlling erosion and managing nutrients, has reduced the edge-of-field losses of sediment by 35 percent, nitrogen by 21 percent and phosphorous by 52 percent.

"Farmers and ranchers work hard to conserve the land and water, and today's report shows the tremendous impact they've had for the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico," Vilsack said. "We need to keep up the momentum by providing scientific and technical expertise that supports conservation in agriculture. To continue these efforts, we need Congress to act on a comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs Bill as soon as possible."
While the report shows the positive impacts of conservation, it also signals the need for additional conservation work. The most critical conservation concern in the region is controlling runoff of surface water and better management of nutrients, meaning the appropriate rate, form, timing and method of application for nitrogen and phosphorous.
Model simulations show that an increase in cover crops will have a significant impact on reducing edge-of-field losses of sediment and nutrients and improve water quality.
The information in the report will help further develop NRCS' work in the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative and Gulf of Mexico Initiative, aimed at helping producers improve water quality, restore wetlands and sustain agricultural profitability.
The report is part of USDA's Conservation Effects Assessment Project, or CEAP, which uses advanced modeling techniques to assess the effects of conservation practices. The lower Mississippi report covers cropland in Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
By comparing losses of sediment and nutrients from cultivated cropland to losses that would be expected if conservation practices weren't used, CEAP reports give science-based insight into the techniques that most benefit water quality, soil health and other resource concerns.