“Simple and familiar conservation practices, if applied in the right places,” are key to reducing worrisome levels of nitrates and other types of farm runoff in the drinking water of rural communities, says the Environmental Working Group. In a report, “Trouble in farm country,” the green group said stewardship of all working land should be a requirement for growers who want farm and crop insurance subsidies.
“The 2018 farm bill … must include a quid pro quo: To remain eligible for farm program benefits and crop insurance premium subsidies, farmers and landowners plan and fully apply a conservation system on all annually tilled cropland,” said EWG. For years, the so-called conservation compliance has applied to highly erodible land and wetlands so the green group’s proposal would expand coverage dramatically.
For its “conservation compact,” EWG said Congress should require farmers to limit erosion on their land to the soil’s rate of regeneration, and to plant 50-foot-wide strips of perennial vegetation along waterways. Growers would have five years to write, and gain USDA approval, of a conservation plan and would be expected to have it in use within 10 years of enactment of the new farm bill.
The 2014 farm law reconnected federally subsidized crop insurance and conservation compliance. Farm groups are giving top priority to a strong crop insurance program in the 2018 farm bill. Growers traditionally oppose federal intrusion onto private land. They paint EPA as a regulatory bully compared to the voluntary and cost-sharing conservation programs offered by USDA. One farm lobbyist was dubious the EWG proposal would appear in the farm bill.
In its report, the EWG said its analysis of public water systems “shows that rural Americans are bearing the brunt of the health risks and economic costs of unchecked farm pollution.” The federal limit on nitrate in drinking water is 10 parts per million. The EWG said risk of cancer rises when levels exceed 5 ppm. Nitrate can be runoff from nitrogen fertilizer but also can come from septic systems. “Two-thirds of communities with nitrate levels at or above 5 ppm are in 10 states where agriculture is big business,” said EWG.
Soil and water conservation at the farm level is a practical alternative to expensive water treatment plants that remove nitrates and other runoff, such as phosphorus, associated with farming, said the report. “It’s more than fair to expect farmers and landowners to expand their efforts to protect the environment in return for the generous farm and insurance subsidies they receive,” said the EWG, which often favors larger spending on conservation and less spending on crop supports. Between traditional crop subsidies and crop insurance, the government spends around $16 billion a year.