Symposium Explores Ag , Environment Connection
NEWARK, Del. Since the
19705, public concern over en
vironmental issues in the United
States has grown steadily. Efforts
0 protect the nation’s natural
•esources especially water
irst focused on industrial
dilution. Today fanning practices
irhich affect water quality are also
oming under close scrutiny.
The result of this scrutiny could
veil be more legislation aimed
lirectly at agriculture. But for
■nvironmental controls to be ef
fective, many questions must be
mswered, economist Dr. Sandra S.
Satie told a roomful of soil
scientists and agronomists during
1 recent symposium at the
University of Delaware on
‘Building a Stronger Agriculture
n a Quality Environment.”
The symposium was part of the
innual meeting of the Nor
heastern Branch of the American
Society of Agronomy, hosted this
by members of the univer
sity’s department of plant science,
t focused on current public at
itudes toward agriculture and the
environment, and the challenge
armers face to produce food
irofitably while managing fer-
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tilizers, livestock manure and
pesticides in ways which protect
water quality.
The speakers described research
being conducted as well as other
research needed to help farmers
meet this challenge. One report
also discussed progress being
made in developing non
agricultural uses for recycled
urban waste.
Batie, a resource economist at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and
State University, is currently on
leave to study the impact of en
vironmental trends on agricultural
policy in Washington, D.C. She set
the stage for the morning’s
discussion by explaining how
concern for the environment is
changing public attitudes toward
farming and how this could affect
farmers.
“Traditional natural resource
programs in the United States
were born as responses to the need
for relief, recover and reform in
the agricultural sector during the
Great Depression,” Batie said.
Before the rise of the en
vironmental movement, public
policy was more favorable to
agriculture. People had closer ties
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to farming, as well as greater faith
in science and technology. This led
to strong public support of
agriculture, including research
and subsidized resources (such as
irrigation water). Since the 19705,
these attitudes and the programs
they support have been in
creasingly challenged.
This trend has significant im
plications for policy makers,
policy analysts and researchers,
the economist said. “The public
now sees agriculture as part of the
problem.” The farm bill of 1985,
with its provisions to protect
swamp, marsh and highly
erodable land, is the most recent
example of this changing attitude.
Batie pointed out that the key
designers of those three provisions
belong to a new group of lobbyists
an environmental coalition with
no involvement in agriculture,
though each lobby within the group
now has an agricultural expert on
its team.
Changing public attitudes are
also influencing the probable
management of groundwater
sources, Batie said. “Agriculture,
while not the main contributor to
groundwater pollution, is,
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nonetheless, a significant source of
contaminants. The public has
recognized the need to protect
groundwater purity in the 1972
amendments to the Federal Water
Pollution Control \ct 4V '
Drinking Water Act of 1974, and the
Resources Conservation and
Recovery Act of 1976, among
others.”
There is no indication controls
will be eased. More than half the
U.S. population depends on
groundwater for drinking. The
economist cited a recent Harris
poll which shows strong public
support for legislation to protect
groundwater q lality. Ninety-three
percent of the respondents were
opposed to easing water quality
restrictions. Sixty-five percent of
those polled said they were against
relaxing standards for drinking
water quality, rtprtliss il tin cri
When Batie discussed the poll
with Harris, she said he predicted
environmental issues would be a
“real sleeper” in upcoming
elections. “The public has con
sistently indicated increasing
support for protection of en
vironmental quality, while concern
with farmers’ welfare has lost its
prior dominance,” the economist
warned.
“Recent political trends indicate
that, despite, existing federal
authority to take an active role in
water management, primary
responsibility for monitoring and
managing groundwater pollution
will likely rest with state govern
ments,” she added. “Bills
currently under consideration at
the federal level would mandate
that states establish their own
standards for groundwater quality
and regulate uncontrolled sources
of contamination.” Twenty-eight
states already have such
legislation.
For all the strength of popular
feeling, Batie said there is a lack of
public sophistication on water
quality issues. “For example,
there is little awareness of the
difference between industrial and
agricultural sources of pollution.”
The economist expressed concern
' that public fears could quickly lead
to the banning of pesticides.
“If only a few pesticides were
banned, food prices and farmer
incomes could rise,” Batie said.
“But if all pesticides were banned,
farm income would fall.” Con
sidering the plight of American
farmers if this were to happen, she
said she could “easily envisage
legislation to ban pesticides, and at
the same time, legislation to help
support farm incomes.”
Predicting increased state in
volvement in groundwater con
tamination issues, the economist
pointed out that if such efforts
were not coordinated, this could
lead to problems in interstate
commerce. Farmers would also
encounter marketing problems if
large companies took a stand
against products on which certain
pesticides had been used.
Batie stressed the need for more
research-based information, as
environmental policies are
developed which affect
agriculture. This includes
determining health-based
pesticide limits and developing
inexpensive testing and screening
tools, systematic monitoring
programs, and improved models of
pesticide behavior in the en
vironment. Information is also
needed to develop environmentally
sound crop management prac
tices. Substitutes for certain
agricultural chemicals and ef
fective cleanup methods are also
needed.
“It’s been my experience,” said
Batie, “that the questions must be
raised before action is taken. The
present public concern over
groundwater quality is sincere;
there is a strong need for research
in this area.”