Guest editorial

Excerpt

The protection of surface water quality along with the enhancement of U.S. agricultural productivity, are equally important national goals. The challenge is to accomplish the maximum productivity without negatively impacting nearby water sources.

Modern row crop agriculture depends on herbicides to economically control weeds, while reducing soil erosion. Two triazine herbicides, atrazine, and cyanazine, have been very important production inputs for over 30 years, especially in conservation tillage systems. However, their use for weed control in Midwestern corn and sorghum fields often results in a very small percentage of applied product being carried in surface run-off in the dissolved state and to a lesser extent adsorbed to sediment. Run-off moves these herbicides from the edge of fields into intermittent and perennial surface water bodies.

Over the years significant research has been conducted to understand the factors which control surface run-off and the nutrients, sediment, and pesticides associated with this hydrological process. One outcome of this research has been the development of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce run-off.

It has been demonstrated that vegetated areas (i.e., edge of field buffer strips and in-field grass waterways) are effective BMPs in reducing sediment, nutrient, and …