On
August 27, 2013, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new Conservation
Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) report detailing the effects of environmental
practices on cropland in the lower Mississippi River Basin. The report, compiled by USDA’s National
Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), asserts that recent conservation efforts
have led to a significant reduction in the amount of sediment and nutrient
runoff throughout the Mississippi River watershed.
Employing
scientific modeling techniques, CEAP’s lower Mississippi River Basin report assessed
the effects of conservation efforts in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Missouri and Tennessee. The report
determined that while there had been a noteworthy decline in the amount of sediment,
nitrogen and phosphorous being lost from cropland throughout the region,
further efforts are still needed to control surface water runoff and manage nutrient
application.
To
view the lower Mississippi River Basin CEAP report, as well as previous river
basin cropland modeling study reports, please see NRCS’s CEAP Website.
Written
by M. Sean High – Research Fellow
The
Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center
Penn
State University, Dickinson School of Law
August
28, 2013
