An overview. @profsecchi.bsky.social and @anneschech.bsky.social also write about this and point out the absurdity of USDA crowing about 2M farms to justify welfare programs. Reality: there is high concentration and only 1.9M "farms" and shrinking.

www.ers.usda.gov/publications...

Ag conservation practices can help. We found that adopting the four best conservation practices on just 1% of continuous corn acres each in the four states would reduce total greenhouse gas emissions at an amount that would be like taking over 850,000 cars off the road. See report for more info. 4/4

Significant fertilizer use to grow continuous corn also generates nitrate pollution of drinking water, which has dangerous public health harms including several types of cancer and birth defects in babies. EWG has previously found widespread nitrate pollution in drinking water in Midwest states. 3/4

This matters because corn requires significant fertilizer to grow, which generates greenhouse gas emissions including nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, and agriculture is the main contributor, representing 79% of all U.S. nitrous oxide emissions. 2/4