Sustainable Intensive Agriculture:
High Technology &
Environmental Benefits
Drew L. Kershen
Earl Sneed Centennial Professor
University of Oklahoma College of Law
Copyright 2006, Drew L. Kershen, all rights reserved
Sustainable Agriculture
 Challenges facing agriculture
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Agronomic: increased population; food
production; nutrition; food security
Environmental: Soil, Water, Air, Biodiversity;
the footprint of agriculture
Economic: Farmers and Rural Communities
Developed and Developing Countries
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Demands differ somewhat but all three
challenges
Biofuels impact on food security and food cost
Sustainable Agriculture
 Philosophical approaches
 Organic agriculture; Sustainable Agriculture as
traditionally described by ATTRA (Appropriate
Technology Transfer to Rural America)
http://www.ncat.org
 Sustainable Intensive Agriculture – high technology
such as precision farming, scientific seed
improvement, and biotechnology.
 D. Adelman & J. Barton, Environmental Regulation for
Agriculture: Towards a Framework to Promote
Sustainable Intensive Agriculture, 21 Stan. Envtl. L. J.
3-43 (2002)
 The two approaches are not necessarily antagonistic
or oppositional. But tensions do exist between these
two approaches
Relevant Legal Authority
 Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1387
 § 1288(j) Areawide waste treatment management -agricultural best management practices (BMPs)
 § 1311 and § 1314 on effluent limitations
 best available technology economically achievable;
and
 best practicable control technology currently available
 § 1329 Nonpoint source management programs – best
management practices and measures for categories
and sources
Relevant Legal Authority
 Oklahoma
 Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Act,
Okla. Stat. tit. 2, §§ 20-3 and 20-10 – authority
to OSDA to establish BMPs to prevent and
reduce pollution to water of the state or sitespecific animal waste management plan
 Registered Poultry Feeding Operations Act,
Okla. Stat. tit. 2, §§ 10-9.1 and 10-9.7 –
authority to OSDA to establish BMPs and
require animal waste management plan
Implications of Legal Authority
 Administrative Agencies have legal authority to mandate or to
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encourage technological approaches
Lawyers must think about technology and appropriate
technology to satisfy the legal requirement of “best”
Agricultural environmental issues are not just legal but
technological
Attitude towards technology – what technologies are considered
and what technologies are favored influences what technologies
are ultimately adopted.
Sustainable intensive agricultural technologies
Poultry Operations and
Water Quality
 The Illinois/Grand Rivers Oklahoma; Chesapeake Bay
 High technologies to address phosphorous and nitrogen in feed,
litter, and runoff
 Low phytate grains, non-transgenic and transgenic
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Transgenic corn – 64% phosphorous available vs. 10% non
Non-transgenic low phytate corn and barely ready for
commercial release
Improved amino acid transgenic grains
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Lysine, methionine, tryptophan, threonine
Improved protein utilization; less nitrogen excretion
Feed supplements, transgenic and nontransgenic
 Transgenic animals (e.g. Enviropig)
 Transgenic pastures
 Combining these high technologies: significant benefits
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Poultry Operations and
Water Quality
 References
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D. Kershen, Agricultural Biotechnology: Environmental
Benefits for Identifiable Environmental Problems, 32 Envt’l L.
Reptr. 11312-11316 (2002)
Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST),
Animal Diet Modification to Decrease the Potential for
Nitrogen and Phosphorous Pollution, Issue Paper # 21 (July
2002)
T. Veum, D. Ledoux, V. Raboy, Low-Phytic Acid Barley
Improves Nutrient Utilization for Growing Pigs, Research
Report for Alberta Barley Commission (Fall 2001),
http://www.albertabarley.com (“The most significant
response to feeding low phytate barley … P excretion was
reduced 55% by low phytate barley compared to normal
barley.”)
V. Raboy, Progress in Breeding Low Phytate Crops, J. Nutr.
132: 503S-505S (2002).
Hypoxia and
Agricultural Runoff
 Sediment, nutrients (P & N), pesticides – nonpoint
source pollution and local water quality
 Hypoxia – “The condition in which dissolved oxygen
is below the level necessary to sustain most animal
life – generally defined by dissolved oxygen levels
below 2 mg/l or 2 ppm.”
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Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone; largest in North America;
5 yr. average of 14,000 sq. mi.; goal of 5,000 sq. mi. by
2015
Nutrients (P & N) are primary causes of hypoxic zone
coming from the Mississippi River Basin – approx. 75%
from agricultural sources.
http://www.epa.gov/msbasin -- fact sheet
Agricultural Runoff and
High Technology Farming
 Insect-resistant (IR) crops – significant reduction in
pesticide usage; basically no pesticide runoff from IR
crops
 No-till agriculture (or reduced tillage)
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Weed control is biggest challenge
Herbicide-tolerant (HT) plants (transgenic and
nontransgenic) provide agronomic flexibility
HT technology as significant factor in adoption
No-till estimates: 83%N↓ and 86%P↓ (soil bound
nutrients)
 Sediment control – no-till and erosion reduction
Hypoxia, Runoff, and
Technology
 References
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R. Cullum & S. Smith, BT Cotton in Mississippi Delta Management
Systems Evaluation Area: Insecticides in Runoff 1996-1999 (USDAARS 2001)
G. Czapar et al., Effects of Erosion Control Practices on Nutrient
Losses (Session 9) in Gulf Hypoxia and Local Water Quality Concerns
Workshop (Iowa St. Univ. Sept 26-28, 2005)
C. Wortman et al., Agricultural Phosphorus Management and Water
Quality Protection in the Midwest (U Neb-Lincoln, 2005)
R. Fawcett & D. Towery, Conservation Tillage and Plant Biotechnology
(Conservation Technology Information Center, Purdue, 2002) (“… crops
developed through plant biotechnology are facilitating the continued
expansion of conservation tillage, especially no-till. As more acres are
converted to conservation tillage, and especially no-till, significant
environmental benefits will be derived.”
S. Sankula, G. Marmon, E. Blumenthal, Biotechnology-Derived Crops
Planted in 2004: Impacts on US Agriculture (National Center for Food
and Agricultural Policy, Dec. 2005)
Superfund Sites and
Remediation
 Hazardous wastes – often heavy metals from prior
industrial use of the landsite
 Tar Creek, Ottawa County, OK
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Acid water from mine shafts
Three primary heavy metal contaminants from mining
 Lead
 Cadmium
 Zinc
 CERCLA cleanups – costly, litigious, slow and (at
times) ineffective
Bioremediation:
Transgenic Plants
 Laboratory tests of transgenic plants for
phytoremediation
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Transgenic poplars for cadmium and zinc – field test
Transgenic plants for lead and cadmium – basic
science
Transgenic geraniums for cadmium, lead, copper
 Guelf University, Canada – successful field tests
 Phytoremediation needs regulatory support and
funding to move to field trials and commercialization
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Transgenic cottonwoods for mercury
 Field Trial in Danbury, CT; grant from EPA
 Initial results encouraging
Slow response by regulatory agencies and attorneys
Superfund Sites and
Bioremediation
 References
 EPA Publication, Tar Creek 1 (Oct. 4, 2005)
 T. Koimves et al., Ability of transgenic poplars with
elevated glutathione content ot tolerate zinc2+ stress,
Environment International, 31: 252-254 (2005)
 Y. Lee et al., Transgenic plants for Phytoremediation of
Lead and Cadmium, Nature Biotech., 21 No. 8
 H. Barr, City turns to trees to purge mercury, Danbury
News-Times (Oct. 10, 2004)
 B. Shmaefsky, Heavy Metal Tolerant Transgenic
Plants, ISB News Report pp. 8-10 (Nov. 2003)