DJ69,
Ever spend some time actually looking at modern farming methods popular these days ? Successful farmers use sat photo data, GPS and computer-controls to preciselyh regulate the application of everything - from fertilizer to herb/pest cides - these days due to sheer economic neccessity.
Don’t suppose all that alleged “farm fertilizer” ran off lawns and from septic systems perchance ? Or sewage plants ? Even the USDA acknowledges more fertilizer, and control chemicals are used on lawns than crop land.
I’ve long proposed sampling of development runoff and comparing it to the same samplings of field runoff. Not had any takers yet....>PS
Indeed, I have. A goodly chunk of my OSU Master Gardener training was spent on working farms. It was required. And you’re right, it’s quite impressive. I singled out corn because, despite all due diligence, science IS science. Corn cannot survive without a good deal of fertilizer, proportionate to many other crops.
But your point about golf courses, for example, is a good one. Something I know a bit about. My dad was a golf course superintentent for a few decades, and they used a TON of fertilizer then. I know they’ve made it more efficient & precise nowadays, but your point still stands as valid. Of course, the heartbreaking decision to flood farmland to relieve the flooding on the Mississippi only makes much of this worse. I shudder to think of the nutritious topsoil that’s been washed away.
The other point I was trying to make was the kneejerk reaction of the bureaucrats....eliminate the measly amounts of phosphorous in our cleaning products!