Noted: Chris Kucharik is an agronomy professor in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kucharik said any slowdown in phosphorus reductions puts the state behind where it should be. “I mean phosphorus, nitrogen — these are known pollutants,” said Kucharik. “We really need to start making some headway on these problems. They’re not going to go away. And I think if we would have known what we know today 50 years ago, we would have been able to get on a better path.”
Laura Good of the UW-Madison Soil Science Department said a recent study in Dane, Green and Iowa counties — all in the Pecatonica River watershed — showed farmers can make significant reductions in phosphorus runoff.