Agriculture needs to respond to this. The reauthorization of the U.S. Clean Water Act will be a very important piece of legislation when it is finished and will probably have more impact on agriculture than the new Farm Bill. There is work under way right now that will put an 11-digit Watershed zip code on every piece of farmland in the United States. This watershed zip code will allow the appropriate regulatory agencies to manage the activities going on within watersheds. Farmers will need to know their place in the watershed and how their farm affects other areas within the watershed.
Clean water can be possible without rigid regulation.
Agriculture needs to be proactive in adapting Precision Agriculture processes. Farmers will need to have a conservation plan or water quality plan in place in order to use the products they want to use in a profitable way on their respective farms. One key mission of the 90's is for farmers to know their environmental address to the last zip code digit. When we examine Step 4 of Precision Agriculture, we are using a GIS based open architecture software program to generate detailed application prescriptions for any material to be applied. The use of a GIS based computer software program is the tool to help create these new prescriptions.