Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
For a broader discussion of US agricultural policy and its dynamics, see Browne
1988, 1995, 1998. The political reluctance to address environmental problems
in agriculture continues despite the fact that agriculture is among the most heav-
ily regulated economic activities in the US.
17. See Andrews 1999 and Hendrickson and Heffernan 2002.
18. Regulating agriculture is seen by many as impinging on land-use decision
making, a process that has been jealously guarded by local governments at their
domain. Land-use planning is known as the “L-word” at the USEPA because of
the political conflicts that surround any federal effort to address it (Rosenbaum
1994).
19. For an analysis of these challenges, see Rosenbaum 1994.
20. See National Research Council 1993 and US Geological Survey 1999.
21. National Research Council 2000, p. 2. On hypoxia outbreaks in US coastal
waters, see Pew Oceans Commission 2003, p. 22.
22. Although this organism and its threat to human health is poorly understood,
it appears that exposure to waters where toxic forms of
Pfiesteria
are active may
cause memory loss, confusion, and a variety of other symptoms including respi-
ratory, skin, and gastro-intestinal problems.
23. US Geological Survey 1999, pp. 26-37.
24. US Geological Survey 1998b, p. 22.
25. Source: Aspelin 2000, appendix. These crude figures do not reflect the
changes in type of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc.) over time.
Aspelin estimates agricultural pesticide expenditures from 1961 to 1997 to have
risen from $1.5 billion to $4.2 billion (in constant dollars), a rise from 2 percent
to 4.5 percent of total US agricultural expenses. Benbrook (1996) drew from
USDA agrochemical use surveys and estimated total pesticide use to be about
600 million pounds in the US in 1992. For more on California pesticide use, see
chapter 3 below.
26. Aspelin (Aspelin 2000; Aspelin and Grube 1999) estimates US pesticide use
at between 800 million and 1 billion pounds. California's proportion of insecti-
cides is much greater than 25 percent because more than half of all US pesticides
are now herbicides, intensively used in the farm belt.
27. See chapter 2 of Wright 1990.
28. On the environmental contamination of California, see the following
NAWQA reports: US Geological Survey 1998a) on the San Joaquin Valley, US
Geological Survey 2000) on the Sacramento Valley. The USGS found the levels
of organochlorine pesticides, PCBs, and nutrients in the San Joaquin River to be
among the highest in the nation. This river flows through most of state's top agri-
cultural production counties.
29. For more on the environmental impacts of diazanon, see chapter 3.
30. See Andrews 1999, pp. 262-266.
31. See Gottlieb 2001.
