The Feed

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Along the shores of Chesapeake Bay, farmers like Temple Rhodes, of Centreville, Md., prove farming can be productive and profitable while preserving the Bay.  Few regions of the country are more closely scrutinized, and Rhodes is not alone in his efforts to reduce nutrient losses from his crop land.

The fertilizer industry shares America's sympathy for the people of West, Texas. The stories of lives lost, lives uprooted and a community that has been devastated are heartbreaking.

This week, the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) released an issue paper titled, “Food, Fuel, and Plant Nutrient Use in the Future.” Two authors of the paper, David Zilberman, chair of the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of California at Berkeley, and Bruce Dale of the department of chemical engineering and materials science at Michigan State University in East Lansing, presented key points of the paper in Washington, D.C.

The impact of agricultural cropping systems on water and air resources is continually debated. Right or wrong, many stakeholders point to nutrient and sediment concentrations in surface and groundwater such as lakes, rivers and wells when they target the agricultural sector.