Wal-Mart to require suppliers of crops to reduce fertilizer use, which could reduce water pollution

Wal-Mart says that beginning in the fall it will "require suppliers of crops, including corn, wheat and soy, to begin developing fertilizer-optimization plans," Jonathan Ellis reports for USA Today. "Wal-Mart said it hopes to reduce fertilizer — one of the biggest sources of pollution in lakes and rivers — on 14 million acres of farmland by 2020." (Sioux Falls Argus Leader photo by Elisha Page: Larry Dietrich rinses a fertilizer line filter while planting corn on his farm near Elkton, S.D.)

The move, which would include food supplier Cargill and producer Kellogg's, could help reduce water pollution while making agriculture production more efficient, Ellis writes. Lisa Richardson, the executive director of the South Dakota Corn Growers Association, told Ellis, "This is significant, there's no question, because Wal-Mart is a player throughout the world." It is also a major employer in rural areas.

"Over-fertilization is blamed for water-quality problems across the country," Ellis writes. Most of the attention has been focused on the Mississippi River and the annual "dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, but Ellis notes that "Last month, the International Joint Commission — a U.S. and Canadian group that oversees shared water bodies — issued a report calling for reductions in phosphorous used in fertilizers in states around Lake Erie. The report noted that phosphorous was contributing to massive algae blooms and dead zones in Lake Erie, threatening fisheries, drinking water and recreation." (Read more)