The nitrates from the farms leak into the Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri rivers, which empty into the Mississippi River and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico. The agriculture lobby says that unlike industrial polluters, who control the amount of chemicals they produce, farmers cannot easily contain the problem. They can't do anything, for instance, about rain, which they view as the top reason nitrates dribble into the water supply. John Hall, who runs a Wisconsin agricultural institute that promotes ecofriendly farming, says the answer is for farmers to branch out. If the Corn Belt grew other crops such as winter grain and alfalfa, which suck up water during the rainy spring season, less water would run off and fewer nutrients would creep into it.
Farmers say they're being unfairly blamed for the nation's water woes.
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