Back in January I repeated one of my time-worn rants about the environmental damage being done by factory-style cultivation of corn. I
stated,
A good field in mid-illinois these days
is likely to have more than 30,000 corn plants per acre. Such intense corn
production is responsible for increased fertilizer use (and consequent water
pollution), increased production of greenhouse gases and consumption of such
massive amounts of water that corn might be changing mid-Illinois weather.
Apparently I was mistaken in one respect. As David Mercer of The Associated Press reported this month, the level of nitrates left unused by crop plants that wash off Illinois farm fields dropped 10
percent between 2010 and 2014. That excess fertilizer is a significant
contributor to the so-called “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, where algae
feasting on nitrates consume so much of the oxygen in water that fish and other
marine life can’t survive in it.
Why the drop? Possibly because newer corn varieties make better use
of fertilizers and so leave leaving less of the chemicals in the soil to wash away.
In sum, saving farmers’ money might also save the
Gulf. Let’s hope so.
This article appears in May 26 – Jun 1, 2016.
