ARS | Publication request: Non-point source pesticide pollution in CEAP watersheds - controlling factors and mitigation strategies

Submitted to: Soil and Water Conservation Society Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: May 15, 2012
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: For more than 70 years, crop production in the USA has depended heavily on synthetic chemical pesticides for weed, insect, and disease management. These products continue to be critical components of pest management programs that sustain food and fiber production and protect public health, homes and property and their intensive use is anticipated into the foreseeable future. However, decades of pesticide usage in the USA has resulted in contamination of water resources to levels that may be harmful to humans and aquatic ecosystems. Currently there is substantial emphasis on development of products that reduce human and ecological risks of pesticide use. While progress has been made, it is clear that crop protection with pesticides will continue to threaten water quality. This has sustained a need for understanding factors controlling pesticide movement in agricultural landscapes and for mitigation strategies that reduce and limit pesticide transport from farm fields to streams, rivers, and groundwater. In this presentation we will highlight work in ARS CEAP Benchmark watersheds that have delineated and quantified the factors controlling hydrologic transport pathways and demonstrate efficacy of management practices at field, farm, and watershed scales that serve to minimize off-site transport.