Spring 1995 (v7n2)
	Soil and water quality: An agenda for agriculture. National Academy Press, Washington, DC. 1993 In 1989, the same year the National Research Council published its landmark book Alternative Agriculture, the Council's Board on Agriculture convened a committee to address the critical issues of soil and water quality in the U.S. Their purpose was to identify what agriculture could do to protect and improve the quality of these natural resources. The result of the committee's work is Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture. The book contains 12 chapters. The main part of the committee's analysis and recommendations are included in the first four chapters, in which they define the problems and issues. The remaining eight chapters provide the technical information that form the basis of their recommendations. What is the Agenda? According to the book's Executive Summary, "the committee's deliberations were based on three basic concepts of soil and water resource management: 1) the fundamental importance of the soil and of the links between soil quality and water pollution, 2) the importance of preventing rather than mitigating water pollution, and 3) the need to sustain profitable and productive farming systems to provide the food and fiber society demands." From this foundation, the report outlines four areas which hold the greatest opportunities for maintaining or improving soil and water quality. These four areas comprise the "agenda for agriculture" referred to in the title of the book. Enhancing soil quality. The report suggests that soil quality has been defined too narrowly by erosion potential and soil nutrient status. In fact, soil quality encompasses much more than these two areas: salinization, compaction, acidification, and loss of biological activity are also concerns. The importance of maintaining and improving soil quality is not just a productivity or yield issue. The quality of our air and water resources are also at stake since they are so closely linked to soil quality. Improving efficiency in the use of inputs. Protecting soil quality alone will not prevent water pollution unless farm inputs are also used efficiently. Many technologies and management practices are available to farmers and ranchers to improve efficiency. In some cases efficiency may mean improving yield with the same level of inputs; in other cases it involves maintaining yield and quality while reducing inputs. The most important factor determining the success of new technologies and practices is whether or not the farmer or rancher has an economic incentive for adopting the new methods. In the absence of economic incentives, regulations will play a key role. Preventing erosion and runoff. Much progress has been made in developing conservation tillage and residue management systems over the last decade. These have been adopted to varying degrees, but where they have been implemented they result in dramatic decreases in erosion and runoff from farms and watersheds. To improve on these conservation practices, the report says, we need also to design farming systems that account for the infrequent and unpredictable storm events that can do so much damage. These design changes could include on-farm flood control, the use of vegetative cover, or the planting of hedgerows and windbreaks. Use of field and landscape buffer zones. A farm-by-farm approach to conserving soil and water quality will not be adequate to protect regions where overland and subsurface movements of nutrients, pesticides, salts, and sediment occur "Buffer zones," according to the report, "to intercept or immobilize pollutants and reduce the amount and energy of runoff need to be created." Buffer zones can include riparian corridors, grass strips, wetlands, and shelterbelts.   Implementing the Agenda To implement this agenda, according to the committee, we must first make better use of available technologies and information. Many of these are alluded to in the four points of the agenda and include the use of cover crops and green manures, improved management and use of livestock wastes, conservation tillage, irrigation management technologies, drip irrigation, environmental monitoring on farms and ranches, improved fertilizer and pesticide application techniques, crop rotation, biological control, and hedgerows and other plantings for habitat and erosion control. These and other practices are helping us achieve some soil and water quality goals, but to make real progress will require a greater emphasis on and awareness of the interrelationships and links that exist within farming systems and watersheds. The committee recognizes this need and devotes one chapter to the subject.   A Systems Approach to Soil and Water Quality Management The farming system includes the crops grown, and/or the livestock managed; the ecosystem and landscape in which the farm or ranch exists; the environmental and human resources involved in production; inputs and management skills; and the policies and programs affecting the farm or ranch. The challenge for farmers and ranchers in imple- menting a soil and water quality agenda is to balance the multiple and linked objectives involved in the production system. A change in one management practice affects other components of the farm or ranch, therefore an integrated approach to the four points of the agenda is essential to meet soil and water quality goals and ensure that farms and ranches remain economically viable. This systems-level perspective is also important for policy makers and regulators. A broad range of local, state, and federal programs have a significant impact on farmers and ranchers. Ideally these programs should complement and reinforce one another. Without a systems perspective, however, programs may contradict and counteract each other, placing an undue burden on the farmer or rancher. The report provides an overview of many of the programs currently in place. Use of a farming systems approach rather than emphasizing individual best management practices pays off in five ways, according to the book. A farming systems approach: 1) accounts for resource and enterprise variability, 2) provides a basis for targeting programs and financial support where improved soil and water quality is most needed, 3) encourages better coordination of local, state, and federal programs, 4) increase the likelihood of finding practices and programs that simultaneously improve financial and environmental performance; and 5) allows for greater flexibility to adapt programs, policies and practices to changing resource or market conditions. In closing this discussion, the report builds a strong case for the current USDA emphasis on developing integrated farming system plans. This process is currently underway throughout the country, coordinated mainly through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The success of this planning effort will be measured by farmers' and ranchers' ability to meet their own goals as well as the objectives or standards set by state and federal policies. Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture can be purchased for $54.95 plus $4.00 shipping and handling from the National Academy Press, (202) 334-3313, or through your local bookseller. Contributed by David Chaney   [ Back | Search | Feedback ]