The Fertilizer Institute Applauds Hypoxia Task Force’s Report to Congress

The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) has responded to the release of the Hypoxia Task Force’s 2023 Report to Congress, highlighting the significant progress made toward attainment of the goals of the Gulf Hypoxia Action plan of 2008.

“This report is fantastic news, plain and simple,” said TFI president and CEO Corey Rosenbusch. “We still have work to do and goals to meet, but this fourth report to Congress from the Hypoxia Task Force shows that we are making significant progress in lowering nutrient loses to the marine environment.”

Of specific note in the report is the decline in nitrogen loads by 20%, a goal that was not anticipated to be achieved until 2025.

“TFI has long advocated for grower adoption of nutrient stewardship practices such as the 4Rs because they work,” Rosenbusch continued. “These practices keep fertilizers on fields where they belong and out of our nation’s waterways where they do not. This report is proof that science- and industry-backed conservation practices being voluntarily adopted by farmers and ranchers are having a tremendous impact on our nation’s water quality and should be lauded for their continued efforts to grow more food with less environmental impact.”

TFI says they will use the report to continue educating growers and policymakers about the benefits of implementing nutrient stewardship practices.

“Food security is national security, but we also have to be good stewards of the land and our shared resources,” Rosenbusch concluded. “We are on the right path and this report shows it. TFI looks forward to continuing to work with the Hypoxia Task Force and its partners in educating growers about the benefits of nutrient stewardship, to those growers in the nearly 1-billion-acre watershed of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and beyond.”

Formed in 2017, the Hypoxia Task Force is comprised of five federal agencies, 12 states bordering the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, and the National Tribal Water Council.