Arkansas farms contribute to the expansion of the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico

A “dead zone” the size of Connecticut is choking plant and animal life in the Gulf of Mexico, and Arkansas is contributing to the problem – although it’s unclear to what extent.

Fertilizers that promote plant growth contain high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus. When these nutrients enter the Mississippi from fields and urban areas, they contribute to massive algae growth that deprives other aquatic life of oxygen.

As part of its efforts to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus inputs into the Mississippi River, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture is working with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Hypoxia Task Force to collect data and work with farmers and others to implement voluntary strategies to reduce nutrient inputs into the Mississippi River.

“A lot of work has been done, but not to the extent needed to achieve these goals,” said Doug Daigle, a 20-year member of the Louisiana Hypoxia Working Group. “Because the goal is to reduce the growth trend over time, we know we can’t make it disappear completely.”

Hypoxia refers to low oxygen levels in water. The Hypoxia Task Force is working in all states in the Mississippi River basin to reduce the hypoxia problem in the Gulf of Mexico.

But while the Arkansas Department of Agriculture reported a decline in nitrogen and phosphorus runoff statewide in 2022, there is insufficient data for many watersheds in eastern Arkansas along the Mississippi River to show a decline in nutrient runoff.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture was asked to comment on the lack of data and referred to the Arkansas Times on the Department’s 2022 Arkansas Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

“Previous efforts over the past 30 years to reduce nutrient concentrations appear to be successful, but insufficient data are available for many watersheds, primarily due to a lack of water quality monitoring sites,” the document states. The document further explains that the biggest challenge in reducing nutrient runoff is the lack of solid water quality data.

“It’s always good to have more data, you want to know what you can do, what results you’re getting,” Daigle said. “So if we don’t have … watershed numbers for some of these basins, while it would be nice to have those, in and of itself, that’s not a big problem because states aren’t required to reduce a certain amount.” Daigle also stressed that Arkansas has taken numerous other steps to comply with the Hypoxia Taskforce’s action plan and that the lack of data does not violate the voluntary agreement among taskforce members.

While the Mississippi River Hypoxia Task Force has been working on the problem since 1997, the state’s contribution to the problem is unknown due to Arkansas’ incomplete data on nutrient runoff. According to the Department of Agriculture’s 2021 Fertilizer Report (the most recent fertilizer report released), farmers in eastern Delta counties like Crittenden and Cross buy most of the state’s fertilizer.

“Nutrient runoff is the main problem leading to hypoxia in the Gulf,” said Professor Clifford Ochs, a professor emeritus in the biology department at the University of Mississippi. His research focused on the Mississippi River between Memphis and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

“We’ve known about the problem for decades, and there’s this hypoxia working group that’s trying to address the problem with input from the states along the Mississippi,” Ochs said. “Part of the problem is getting landowners, and perhaps especially farmers, to change the way they fertilize and use their land.”

The United States Geological Survey said average totals of phosphorus and nitrogen runoff are not coming close to meeting the original goal of a 20% reduction by 2025. As states in the Mississippi River basin fail to meet their reduction targets, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the dead zone will reach 5,827 square miles this year — an area roughly the size of Connecticut. That’s up from an approximate size of 3,058 square miles in 2023.

The consequences of the dead zone are devastating. The Mississippi River Basin Agriculture and Water Desk outlined some of the impacts in its Farm to Trouble series in June. Shrimp fishermen in New Orleans continue to see their livelihoods suffer as shrimp in the Gulf shrink and become extinct. Toxic algal blooms can also contain toxins that can make people and animals sick. Federal health officials reported 117 human illnesses and more than 2,700 animal illnesses linked to algal blooms in 2021.

“There are economic concerns. In the Gulf of Mexico, hypoxia is a problem for fishing, oyster fishing and other fisheries. So that’s that problem,” Ochs said. “And then there’s the broader problem of pollution, which causes the death of many marine organisms, and particularly the organisms that live on the sea floor.”

Limitations on nitrogen and phosphorus are largely voluntary. The Clean Water Act does not apply to nutrient runoff because it is a “diffuse source of pollution,” meaning it comes from diffuse sources.

Addressing this exception is the main reason for the creation of the Hypoxia Task Force, Daigle said. He emphasized that while reducing fertilizer use is helpful, better drainage systems could also prevent some of the nutrient runoff into the Mississippi.

Cities also dump nutrients into the Mississippi River from lawn fertilizers, sewage systems, pet waste and car exhaust. Yet, according to the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, the Little Rock metropolitan area has seen a steady decline in nitrogen and phosphorus levels over the past 20 years.

The department’s 2022 Nutrient Reduction Strategy states that 51% of nitrogen runoff and 76% of phosphorus runoff in the state comes from agriculture. And phosphorus runoff into the Mississippi is declining more slowly than nitrogen runoff, according to the 2023 Hypoxia Taskforce report, further underscoring the influence of Arkansas farms on the problem.

It is largely up to farmers to reduce the nutrient inputs that contribute to the Gulf dead zone. Will they do so?

“There seems to be little regulation of how farmers can use fertilizers and land to grow their crops,” Ochs said. “And in some cases, paradoxically, farmers are being encouraged to use more fertilizers to grow corn for the ethanol market.”

This report is based on the work of the Mississippi River Basin Agriculture and Water Desk series entitled From the farm to troublepublished in June this year. The photos included in the report also come from the “Farm to Trouble” project.