Professor Testifies Before U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture and Water Pollution

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Marty Matlock

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas professor Marty Matlock testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Wednesday morning, Dec. 3 on the topic of “Farmers and Fresh Water: Voluntary Conservation to Protect our Land and Waters.” Arkansas Senator John Boozman is a member of the committee.

Matlock is professor of biological and agricultural engineering in the College of Engineering and serves as executive director of the University of Arkansas Office for Sustainability.

Matlock was asked to testify about the effectiveness of voluntary conservation programs in reducing water pollution from agriculture, as opposed to government regulations. Matlock cited his 25 years of experience researching agricultural impacts on water quality, and said the current system of “incentivized” implementation is working well and should continue.

Matlock said that government regulation works when there are clear sources of pollution, such as pipelines from wastewater treatment facilities or concentrated animal feeding operations. In the case of most farming operations, however, he said there were too many potential sources of pollution to effectively regulate.

Matlock said that all farmers who take part in a U.S. Department of Agriculture programs must implement conservation plans, and argued that this requirement has been effective at reducing soil erosion and nutrient losses from agricultural landscapes. He cited statistics showing that these conservation plans, developed by agriculture scientists over the past 80 years, have been proven to reduce pollution.  

Matlock serves on the executive committee of the Field to Market Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, made up of representatives from the entire U.S. agricultural supply chain and conservation organizations. The Field to Market program defines sustainable agriculture as meeting the needs of the present while improving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The University of Arkansas hosted the Field to Market Plenary Meeting in June.

“We have made a lot of progress in the past 40 years, but we are not done yet” Matlock said.  “Field to Market is committed to developing science-based and proven initiatives to share with farmers to increase productivity while improving the environment and the social and economic well being of agricultural communities.”

Matlock argued that as these innovations are developed they will be adopted more efficiently under the current system, without direct government regulation.