Farmers say growing more corn doesn't mean more water pollution

TOLEDO, Ohio - It seems like a simple equation.

Because of the rising demand for ethanol, farmers are growing more corn, which needs more nitrogen fertilizer than other crops.

Then it stands to reason that applying more chemicals means more of it will wind up polluting rivers and lakes.

Farmers say that's not necessarily so.

They say new technology allows them to apply fertilizer with more precision, reducing the amount that drains into waterways. And they point out that more farmers are planting grass strips along streams and rivers to reduce runoff.

"It isn't as simple as saying more fertilizer will lead to more runoff," said Matt Roberts, an agricultural economist at Ohio State University. "It's a lot more complicated."

How much rain fields get and when it rains both play a role in how much fertilizer is washed away too, he said. But he adds that "it's not unreasonable to think that a large increase in corn will lead to increase in runoff."

Until researchers can study the issue, it's difficult to say what will happen.

A study predicting the impact on the Chesapeake Bay concluded that an increase in corn production over the next five years could add as much as 16 million pounds of pollution.

About 300 million pounds of nitrogen flow in the bay each year, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

"It simply means the ethanol boom is pointing us in the wrong direction in which we want to go in cleaning up the bay," said James Pease, an agriculture professor at Virginia Tech University.

Pease, who helped write the study, said farmers are expected to plant at least 500,000 more acres of corn in the bay's watershed, which stretches from New York to Virginia.

"We're obviously going to get more runoff," he said.

Much of that, though, can be negated if farmers embrace conservation management practices such as planting buffer strips and applying fertilizer more precisely, Pease said.
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