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Farming Practices and Water Quality
Citation:
Yuan, Y. AND W. Hu. Farming Practices and Water Quality. 2019 American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting, Boston, MA, July 07 - 10, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
Presented at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Annual International Meeting, 2019
Description:
Water bodies and coastal areas around the world are threatened by increases in sediment and nutrient loads, which influence drinking water sources, aquatic species, and other ecologic functions and services of streams, lakes, and coastal water bodies. Intensive agriculture has played a major role in water pollution worldwide based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (http://www.fao.org/land-water/news-archive/news-detail/en/c/1032702/). In the US, more than 70% of the nitrogen and phosphorus delivery to the Gulf of Mexico, the largest hypoxia zone in US, are from agricultural lands. Although agricultural conservation practices have been implemented across the nation for water quality improvement, the nation still faces considerable challenges regarding sustainable land use and effects of current land use as well as future land use on water quality and adjacent coastal ecosystems and their services. Scientists continue to look for ways to reduce nutrient loss from agricultural production while maintaining the productivity of agricultural land to meet the increased demand for food due to population growth. Thus, the objectives of this study are to: 1) review organic farming and its impact on water quality; 2) compare water quality impacts of organic farming versus traditional farming; 3) compare water quality impacts of integrated farming practices versus traditional farming. Outcomes of this study would help scientists better understand the interconnections between water quality and agricultural production, as both are vital for human well-being. Managing one of them cannot be considered in isolation but should be seen as part of an integrated system. Furthermore, outcomes of this study would help develop better integrated farming practices to sustain agricultural production while meeting water quality goals.
