NPR Quotes RSS Member Arbuckle About How Planting Cover Crops Can Reduce the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico
National Public Radio’s Eric Schmid spoke to RSS Member J Arbuckle about how to convince farmers to plant more cover crops. Those crops are important because they permit farmers to use less fertilizer, runoff from which is a major cause of the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone,” an area so low in oxygen that fish and other aquatic life can’t live there.
“Cover crops do make more nitrogen available in the soil over time. That means farmers could spend less money on additional fertilizer, boosting their profits and keeping pollutants from getting into waterways. But it could take years before an operation like that becomes profitable, years that many farmers simply can’t afford.” J Arbuckle, Iowa State University