This simplistic Iowa farm scene, just outside of Ames, exhibits a seemingly harmless sea of corn that's ready for harvest. Iowa's land use is centered on farming, with more than 85 percent planted with a corn crop. The corn belt states have answered the strong demand for ethanol and planted over 93 million acres, the most since 1944. Along with doubling the profit, due to the strong demand, the amounts of nitrogen based fertilizer that has entered the Mississippi River Basin has also substantially increased. The EPA estimates 210 million pounds of nitrogen based fertilizer poured into the Gulf during 2006, and has issued a warning for a substantial increase for 2007.
Corn that's grown hundreds, and even thousands of miles away, has create a huge dead zone in the Mississippi Delta. Concentrations of nitrogen has created an oxygen depleted 8,000 square mile area, that has suffocated fish, shrimp and crabs and has driven local fisherman packing up, off to new territory. A water resources group, Gulf Restoration Network, had hoped for improvement, but now is facing further impacts to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.