skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Where Has All the Soil Gone?

play audio
Play

Monday, August 12, 2013   

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The combination of last year's record drought and this year's heavy spring rains has scientists wondering if efforts to restore Missouri farmland are going to waste. Thirty years ago, Missouri had one of the worst soil-erosion rates in the nation, but conservation practices over the years cut that in half. The Agriculture Department says that in the past five years though, Missouri farmers have taken a half a million acres of land out of conservation programs. As a result, wetlands are disappearing - and so is the soil.

Kat Logan-Smith, director of environmental policy, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, blamed rising grain prices.

"With corn prices the way they are, the incentives are all stacked against conservation," Logan-Smith said.

According to the USDA, nationwide 10 million acres have been dropped from conservation programs, and scientists are seeing the worst erosion in years. If it continues, food prices and crop-insurance costs will rise.

Logan-Smith said one solution is for the new farm bill to require farmers to protect their land in order to qualify for crop insurance. The Senate included that provision in its version of the bill, but the House did not.

The president of the National Wildlife Federation, Larry Schweiger, has warned that the nation is at risk of making the same mistakes that led to the Dust Bowl. Logan-Smith shares his concern. She said she doesn't want heavily fertilized soil to wash into Missouri's drinking water, as it has elsewhere.

"Iowa is sort of the poster child for nutrient pollution. They had to build a nitrate-removal system in their public water supply in Des Moines because their rivers are so high in farm fertilizers that they're not safe to put through the drinking-water system," she said.

Even without congressional action, insurance companies could save money by giving premium discounts to farmers who practice good stewardship of the land, she pointed out.

"They could say, 'If you are going to be a good steward of your soil and water, we know that you are going to have fewer crop losses. We know that your land is going to be more fertile and more productive - and for that, we are going to give you a discount on your premiums,'" she said.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources said soil-conservation programs have saved more than 100 million tons of soil during the last 30 years. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that tying conservation practices to crop insurance could save taxpayers $55 billion over the next 10 years. Logan-Smith said it could also help to protect drinking water, wildlife and wetlands.

More information is available at http://static.ewg.org.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021