"Dead Zone" Grows in Gulf Of Mexico

Here is a stark example of what "factory" farming can do:

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1815305,00.html?cnn=yes

To summarize, millions of tons of fertilizer is used in the American Midwest to grow our food. Rains drain it out into the Mississippi and then dumps it in the Gulf of Mexico. The fertilizer feeds oxygen-sucking algae, creating a "dead zone" where nothing can live. The most telling part of the article I'll quote here:

"Unfortunately, the dead zone isn't simply an environmental failure, but also a consequence of our national agricultural policy, which subsidizes farmers to grow vast, heavily fertilized quantities of corn and other grains. The pork-laden farm bill, which recently passed Congress over President George W. Bush's veto, will only worsen the problem. And even if we can begin to reduce the future flow of fertilizer, repeated dead zones are having a cumulative effect, with smaller amounts of nitrates and other chemicals in the Gulf having a larger hypoxic impact than in the past. "We have to decide how much we're willing to spend to save the Gulf fisheries," says Daigle. "Right now, we don't seem to be willing to invest much." Put simply, the Gulf is running out of air — and we're running out of time to fix it."