DATE:     12/08/98
CONTACT:  Dr. Jim Palmer, (864) 656-3519            
          Dr. Jeff Novak, (843) 662-3526
WRITER:   Tom Lollis, (803) 284-3343

New Agricultural Methods Reduce Runoff and Erosion

     FLORENCE -- Making a smaller impact on the environment both
on and off the farm is one of the goals of Clemson University's
Agroecology Program.
     Keeping valuable organic matter from going up in smoke is
one way to do it, and reducing runoff and erosion is another.
     Farmers who burn off fields in the spring lose to the
atmosphere about 80 percent of the carbon that could be added to
the soil as a mulch, according to Jeffrey Novak, USDA-ARS soil
scientist at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center.
      He's analyzing sediment and water that runs off the two
fields to see what's leaving in the way of phosphorus, nitrogen,
salts and pesticides.
     "We had five rainfalls that produced runoff on the 1995 side
of the split landscape study in 1998, but only two on the
innovative side," he said, pointing out that leaving crop
residues on the soil surface also reduces soil erosion.
     Minimizing potential sediment and pesticide residue problems
is important, according to Clemson Extension soybean specialist
Jim Palmer, since watersheds in the Pee Dee drain right into
coastal estuaries.
     "Sediment is currently the worst agricultural pollutant we
have," he said. "Every time we have heavy rains you can see the
Broad River turn red and the Greater Pee Dee River turn yellow-red
because of sediment from agricultural and construction
sites."
     Novak, Clemson agricultural engineer John Hayes and Steve
Klaine of Clemson Environmental Toxicology are also beginning to
study whether these new cropping systems reduce the potential for
agricultural chemicals to move into the state's groundwaters.
     "The program is not stopping at the farm gate with respect
to profitability. Bill Patterson in Sociology is on the team to
help determine our impact on society," Palmer said.
     "Our first step will be to look at the basic demographics of
the counties in the Pee Dee watershed -- including the number and
sizes of farms and the types of crops grown," Patterson said. "We
will also look at tourism in these counties, then see what types
of benefits we can expect from the innovations coming out of the
project."
                              END