![The headwaters of the Cedar River, which flows 338 miles from southern Minnesota through Iowa, are choked by algae, the result of excess farm nutrients running off farm fields and from large swine production facilities.](https://aliciapatterson.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Schneider_Agricul1178-300x200.jpg?ver=1690304991)
Agriculture Evades Accountability, Responsibility for America’s Worst Water Pollution
Law, Policy, and Power Insulate Crop and Livestock Producers In 1990, following intensive field trials, a respected agronomist at Iowa State University named Fred Blackmer formally introduced an inexpensive tool to accurately measure how much nitrogen farmers actually require to produce abundant harvests of corn,