Losing ground

A new campaign for soil conservation

By Culinate staff

April 21, 2011

You’ve probably heard of the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, created by fertilizer runoff from the Midwest flowing down the Mississippi and into the Gulf. Now the nonprofit Environmental Working Group has launched an awareness campaign about soil loss and chemical pollution in the nation’s farm belt, titled "Losing Ground." At fault, says the EWG, is federal farm policy, which encourages overuse of chemicals and allows fertile topsoil to run off into waterways, poisoning drinking water as well as aquatic habitat. There goes the heartland.