States want 20 more years to meet Gulf dead-zone goals By Donelle Eller - DeMoines RegisterFebruary 12, 2015 (Photo: The Register) A task force representing Iowa and 11 other states said Thursday it needs another 20 years to reduce the size of a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico by two-thirds. The Hypoxic Task [...]
States Develop New Strategies to Reduce Nutrient Levels in Mississippi River, Gulf of Mexico By Robert Daguillard February 12, 2015Summary The 12 states of the Hypoxia Task Force have devised new strategies to speed up reduction of nutrient levels in waterways in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin. High nutrients levels are a key contributor each summer [...]
Mitchell County farmers present Conservation in the Cab By Laura Bird - Globe Gazette.comJanuary 3, 2015 Farming around waterways, practicing strip till and Iowa's Nutrient Reduction Strategy were just some of the topics discussed as two Mitchell County farmers participated in the county's first Conservation in the Cab this fall. Partnering with the [...]
Millions Go To Reducing Nutrients in Kentucky Waterways...By Controlling Manure By WKMS Murray State University EditorialFebruary 9, 2015 A new public-private partnership in Kentucky will help the state’s livestock producers control their animals’ poop. The project will direct more than $4 million toward planning resources and on-the-ground solutions designed to help keep excess nutrients out of the [...]
Connecticut-Sized Dead Zones Are Killing Off Fish Worldwide By Lauren Rothman - Vice.comJanuary 28, 2015 It’s a bleak time to be a seafood lover. It seems like every day, reports of worldwide overfishing clog our news feed, warning us that soon, we’ll no longer be able to enjoy tasty halibut steaks, crispy battered cod, and lunchtime spicy tuna [...]
Climate change could mean massive ocean dead zones By Josh Dzieza January 29, 2015Record of past climate change indicates abrupt loss of oxygen In 2002, fishermen off the Oregon coast pulled up their traps to find them full of dead crabs. Baby octopuses were climbing up their lines, seemingly struggling to get out [...]
Business Leaders Say Midwestern Agriculture Threatened by Climate Change By Alison Rice - Ag WebJanuary 26, 2015 ‘Heat in the Heartland’ report suggests corn production in Illinois, Iowa could be at risk from rising temperatures. Even with a bumper crop in the bin, Midwestern farmers can’t afford to ignore the risks that climate change poses [...]
Report: Three-pronged approach needed to battle dead zone-causing nutrients By Amy Wold - Baton Rouge AdvocateFebruary 4, 2015 Photo provided by NASA -- A satellite image shows the Mississippi River drainage, carrying vast quantities of sediment and depositing it along the shore of Louisiana and into the Gulf of Mexico. Careful management of fertilizers [...]
Past water dispute shows opportunity to fix nitrate problem By Dick Goodson - Des Moines Register OpinionFebruary 8, 2015Over the past few weeks a number of articles and editorials have been written about the Des Moines Water Works suing three northern Iowa counties because of high levels of nitrates, creating a huge cost to the [...]
World-Herald editorial: Nitrate issue confronts Iowa By Omaha World-HeraldJanuary 29, 2015Rain is a welcome sight to Midlands farmers. But that rainfall, along with melting snow, poses a problem when drainage carries away agricultural nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus that can build up to environmentally harmful levels. Perhaps the nation’s most troubling example is the [...]