Fertilizer

One year away from a federal deadline to reduce nutrient runoff into the Gulf of Mexico by 20%, increases in tile drainage, livestock and fertilizer use have made success unlikely.

Biosolids — a type of treated sewage byproduct from wastewater treatment plants — are used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer on farms across the Midwest. But a group of toxic “forever chemicals” are slipping through the cracks and could be inadvertently contaminating millions of acres of farmland.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week reversed a restriction put in place in January that was intended to help the endangered American burying beetle. The agency now says the Enlist brand of weed killer doesn’t pose a risk.

Russia is a big exporter of fertilizer and its raw ingredients, and without them on the market, Midwestern farmers are reeling.

The fertilizer applied to corn, soybean and hay fields costs up to twice as much as a year ago, and that's creating uncertainty as farmers approach planting season.

Agriculture is among the largest contributors to the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone. Farmers upriver are trying to change their agricultural practices to prevent further damage, but so far are having little luck.

When corn and soybean farmer Kenny Reichard stopped plowing some of his fields in northern Missouri in 1982, other farmers told him that it was a terrible…

Someday, farmers may no longer need to use fertilizer for their crops. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have recently made a crucial step…

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 7, 2012 - Over the past few years, the area where the Mississippi River connects with the Gulf…