[The Deadly Dust: Part 1 Online Free
Amancio Mccrae
A year ago today, a rare and intense dust storm caused a deadly 90-vehicle pileup on Interstate 55 in central Illinois. 55-mph winds carried soil from recently tilled fields across both lanes of the highway May 1, 2023, reducing visibility near zero. 8 people died as a result of the crash.
No-Till Legends Don Reicosky, Randall Reeder and Dave Brandt, along with longtime Ohio State University soil scientist Rattan Lal, wrote an essay pointing out the role of tillage in the crash and how the deadly pileup could have been avoided had the fields been no-tilled. They said education is key to preventing more deadly and destructive dust storms.
The deadly dust storm and the education necessary to prevent future tragedy resurfaced during a No-Till Innovator panel discussion at the 2024 National No-Tillage Conference in January. Reeder, retired USDA deputy secretary of agriculture Jim Moseley and No-Till Legend Ray McCormick speculated on the regulation that could come from tillage-related incidents:
Moseley: We had an exceptionally bad blow several years ago in the middle of the winter. I had farmed it for years, and it had been all no-till, but it went to seed production, and the seed company required moldboard plowing. I haven't gotten that logic yet, but it was a large track, and it was the middle of the winter, frozen ground, and the outcome was just you couldn't see 300-400 feet away from where you were because the dust was so bad.
Dust comes at all times of the year, and it's all dependent upon the conditions, but the fact that we're bearing this soil in large quantities across the Midwest does not bode well. I've worked in the policy arena for 30 years, and the moment will arise when it will end up in the courts or in legislative bodies. There's going to be action taken. When that happens, farmers are going to be very unhappy because I think we're going to begin to see the insurance companies walk away from the great risks that are being felt. I-55 was really a major tragedy that I think has set the stage for that to happen.
Reeder: There are dust storms every year in different parts of the country. Don Reicosky researched and found a stretch in Arizona along Interstate 10 between Tucson and Phoenix where there are frequent dust storms, and once in a while, there'll be a tragic accident. The state of Arizona actually paid to spray many acres of farmland with a product that would control the dust. It was extremely expensive to spray and cover that land, and guess what that farmer did the next year? They went in and tilled it up, destroying that million-dollar application of a product to prevent the dust.
McCormick: I could propose another scenario. I rented a farm that I'd driven by my 60-some years of life. It was a highly erodible farm that had been moldboard plowed, and then it had been disc and so forth. When I went to rent it, the landlord pulled out a sheet of paper and showed me how much money she had been spending every year for a bulldozer bill to fix the erosion on that farm. I said, "Rosemarie, I'm going to cover it up with a cover crop and no-till it, and you're never going to see that soil again." As soon as I did that, I had neighbors that came to me and said, "Thank God somebody is finally taking care of this farm." One person stopped and said, "Thank you. I'm tired of driving through the mud coming up to the stop sign every year because the road is covered with mud."
It's not just dust. When your land is melting away across a main road in this case, there might be some liability there. Taking care of the land affects more than just that piece of ground. It affects how people perceive the care of the land from the neighbors. People who don't have anything in relation to farming notice that topsoil going across that road.
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A potentially deadly, dust-borne fungal disease, Valley Fever is one of the most commonly reported infectious diseases in Arizona. Endemic to the desert Southwest, it is spreading throughout the region as well as Mexico and South America. The microscopic fungus lives in desert soils and typically enters the body through the lungs. Valley Fever infects an estimated 150,000 Americans annually, and kills as many as 500 each year.
Although 60 percent of people infected experience no or mild symptoms, 40 percent experience fever, cough, fatigue, chest pain, shortness of breath, and rash. In fewer than five percent of people with symptoms, it can cause severe respiratory disease requiring treatment with antifungal medication. There is no vaccine or cure, and preventing infection is difficult.
Barker is currently focusing on several major projects. As one of the leading Valley Fever researchers in Arizona, Barker recently joined a partnership between NAU, The University of Arizona, and Arizona State University. Funded through a $3.1 million grant from the Arizona Board of Regents, this integrated, statewide project brings together scientists to learn more about the environmental markers of Valley Fever and find a solution to this longstanding problem. Researchers will work together to identify, characterize, and map hotspots and routes of exposure for Valley Fever, boosting detection technology, genomics, and seasonal outbreak patterns. Barker will lead a team pairing air and soil sampling.
The moment I realized this was my passion was while traveling to a meeting to present my first results on the work I had done, and I sat next to someone who had been impacted by the disease. That really brought it home that this work would help people, and no one else was doing it!
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