Yes, but its use has been steadily increasing on a per acre basis for a long time. Developing farming best practices that can reduce artificial fertilizer use would be in everyone's best interest, including farmers, as it's an added expense. These issues go way deeper than government regulation, and are at the heart of the food system's race to the bottom. Even if polluted run off were a moot issue, there is plenty of reason to reduce fertilizer usage. I would argue that better food policy would lead to better farm practices, independent of any new, specific water regulation. This is an instance of treating the symptom and not the disease.But, as anyone with a backyard garden knows, phosphorus is not an exotic laboratory chemical cooked up to sell more Miracle-Gro. It's one of the three main nutrients needed for plant growth.