Managing for Profit

Strategy aimed at preventing nutrient loss

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the state’s Department of Agriculture unveiled its Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy July 22.  The goal is to keep nutrients from entering the Gulf of Mexico through the Mississippi River system.  Adhering to the strategy is not without its costs, but there may be a benefit to a farmer’s bottom line.

The approach outlines voluntary and mandatory practices to reduce phosphorus and nitrogen that result in the algal blooms, which lower oxygen levels. The practices are expected to result in a 45 percent reduction in the nutrients reaching Illinois waterways.

All 12 Mississippi River Basin States are supposed to develop plans to reduce nutrient losses to the Gulf.

AUDIO: Jennifer Tirey and David Droste (3 min. MP3)