Management reducesE. coliin irrigated pasture runoff

Comanaging fresh produce for nature conservation and food safety

“…Third, E. coli may survive longer in agricultural soils than in soils from riparian areas, and thus replacing noncrop vegetation with crops could increase disease incidence (24). Fourth, removing vegetation could increase pathogen prevalence in runoff from adjacent hill slopes, given that noncrop vegetation is known to sequester many pathogens, including E. coli (25,26).…”

“…Similarly, ranchers could mitigate crosscontamination risk by fencing waterways that eventually pass through produce fields to prevent entry of livestock and wildlife or by attracting livestock away from field crops or streams with water, food supplements, and food troughs (33). Rather than removing vegetation, ranchers and growers could sequester pathogens by maintaining and/or installing vegetated buffers between crop fields and grazeable lands (25,26). Other alternatives include planting produce that is not eaten raw in areas adjacent to grazeable lands and reducing application of agrichemicals (i.e., herbicides and fungicides), which can increase EHEC through decreasing predatory and competitor bacterial abundance (34).…”

“…Collaborative action among growers, ranchers, and feedlot operators could reduce food-safety risk while maintaining the conservation value of agricultural landscapes. Promising practices include (1) planting low-risk crops between leafy green vegetables and pathogen sources (e.g., grazeable lands); (2) buffering farm fields with noncrop vegetation to filter pathogens from runoff (25,26); (3) fencing upstream waterways from cattle and wildlife; (4) attracting livestock away from upstream waterways with water troughs, food supplements, and feed (33); (5) vaccinating cattle against foodborne pathogens (31); (6) creating secondary treatment wetlands near feedlots and high-intensity grazing operations (32); (7) reducing agri-chemical applications to bolster bacteria that depredate and compete with E. coli (34); (8) exposing compost heaps to high temperatures through regular turning to enhance soil fertility without compromising food safety (4); and (9) maintaining diverse wildlife communities with fewer competent disease hosts (21). traps, and California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) were trapped using Tomahawk live traps.…”

Animal Waste, Water Quality and Human Health

“…Other reported rates of EC or FC attenuation in CFWs range from 1.61-3.56 log 10 (excluding the site in SE Scotland where reports an increase in FC due to faecal inputs from wild birds), and Knox, Tate et al (2007) report lower rates of EC attenuation at higher flow rates in irrigated beef cattle pasture in California. For municipal/domestic wastewater treatment the reported range is from 1.29-3.00 log 10 for raw wastewater to 0.19-3.30 log 10 for secondary or tertiary treatment.…”

Water Quality in the Agronomic Context: Flood Irrigation Impacts on Summer In-Stream Temperature Extremes in the Interior Pacific Northwest (USA)

“…From a management standpoint the issues of sediment, nutrient and pathogen contaminants have collectively been addressed using stream-side vegetation buffer strips in an attempt to attenuate pollutant entry into stream systems (Castelle et al, 1994;Schmitt et al, 1999;Dosskey 2002;Dorioz et al, 2006;Mayer et al, 2007). Vegetation buffers have been effective at reducing nutrient (Yates and Sheridan, 1983;Lowrance et al, 1985), pathogen (Tate et al, 2004;Knox et al, 2007) and sediment loading (Lyons et al, 2000;Lee et al, 2003) in streams. However, development of effective policy concerning the use of buffer strips has been complicated by the fact that the efficacy of buffers in reducing pollutant loading varies strongly in accordance with a number of design and environmental factors including buffer width, cover and height of plant material, slope, and soil attributes (Pearce et al, 1997, Atwill et al, 2005, George et al, 2011.…”