Too much fertilizer

Farmers are facing many challenges, such as not enough workers, very high fuel costs this year, some bad weather that has delayed planting. Speaker2: And one of the challenges that farmers face today is this issue of fertilizer. Speaker1: Low supplies, high prices. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says there's not a lot that can be done short term on fertilizer, but on a longer term basis. Speaker2: Part of what we're doing at USDA is looking for ways in which we can equip farmers with conservation practices that result in them needing less fertilizer, provide them with tools to be able to measure accurately the fertilizer that is being used so that it's the right way and the right time and the right method and the right amount. Working on sensor technology that may at some point in time encourage us not to fertilize a particular acre because it doesn't need it. A side note to Vilsack’s last observation about not needing it, I read an environmental report about the use of too much nitrogen by farmers is fouling too many bodies of water in this country. Speaker1: Also, Vilsack says, we're obviously too dependent on getting fertilizer materials from other countries. And so USDA has launched a program designed to gather the best ideas on… How we in the U.S. may become more self-sufficient in fertilizer.