Mississippi River watershed states have fallen short of their goal of reducing the size of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s according to a report issued by the Mississippi River Watershed Nutrient Task Force. Iowa Soybean Association’s Director of Environmental Programs Roger Wolf says officials are realizing it will take some time to reach that goal of reducing the oxygen depleting problem that’s been attributed to nutrient run off.

The goal was to reduce the hypoxia zone to 1,930 square miles by 2015. The 5,792 mile zone has been largely unchanged since 1994. Wolf says voluntary efforts by farmers to reduce nutrient run off have worked well and they are making progress in Iowa.

The task force member states say they will give themselves another 20 years until 2035 to reduce the size of the zone to a less ambitious goal of 2,000 square miles.