Nonpoint-source pollution control: The USDA position

Excerpt

NONPOINT-SOURCE pollution is among the nation's most serious natural resource problems. In 6 of the 10 Environmental Protection Agency regions nonpoint sources are the main cause of water pollution. In almost every state nonpoint sources contribute to impaired water quality. Some of these problems, but not all of them, can be layed at agriculture's door.

Nearly two-thirds of the nation's nonfederal land is cropland or grazing land. Some five billion tons of soil erode on this land each year. Farmers use more than 20 million nutrient tons of commercial fertilizer annually. The active ingredients in pesticides used on major field crops come to around 500 million pounds each year. Some 60 million acres are irrigated. There are more than 100 million cattle, over 50 million hogs and pigs, and other livestock on open land or in confinement. Some of these activities are a potential threat to the quality of the environment.

Fortunately, only a fraction of the po-tential degradation occurs. Unfortunately, because of the scale of American agriculture, that fraction causes real problems. The agricultural community is working hard to correct these problems.

A policy position

The U.S. Department of …